Helping Children with Autism Cope with Change in their Lives
There are not many things that are a universal fear among a lot of people. The dark, being along, public speaking, spiders and heights can be categorized as common fears. So can change. Humans do not like the unknown. Especially people who suffer from the pervasive developmental disorder known as autism.
Lots and lots of kids all over the United States of America, as well as all over the world, are being born with the signs and symptoms of autism every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 out of every 1,000 boys and girls were diagnosed with autism in 2012, which is a rise of nine percent from kids who were being born with this terrible disorder four years prior.
Autism is a neurological disorder that affects the brain and can be diagnosed in children as young as three. The nerve cells of an autistic person are not receiving or incorrectly receiving the proper information and data from the synapses. This can affect a person in many ways, including the way that they are able to socialize with other people, their communication skills, cognitive abilities, and ability to create relationships with their peers. Though the exact cause of autism is unknown, many health care professionals agree that it has a very solid genetic foundation. Although there is no cure for autism, it can be treated using the right tools and methods. One way to help autistic people is to help them cope with change in the proper ways.
It is very important that you stick to a day to day routine as much as possible when it comes to dealing with an autistic person. People who have autism are extremely routine-oriented and problems can arise if changes are introduced into their normal day too soon. In a perfect world, you should feed your autistic child at the same times during the day, have set bedtime hours and also have play time hours with their chewy tubes at the same time too.
If there is a new item that is going to happen, you should make the autistic person aware of that the day before. Be sure to repeatedly let them know during different intervals of the day. For instance, tell them as you are driving your kid to school or as you are offering them a snack.
If you are taking your autistic child to a brand new place, show them pictures of the location. People with autism are very visual, and pictures, as well as other visual props can help them a lot. The same thing applies for when you are preparing to introduce them to new people. As you are holding up photos of the person you are going to introduce to your autistic child, explain to them who the person is and when they will be meeting them.
If you plan on cleaning or rearranging a room in the house, show the autistic person exactly what you plan on doing. Ask them to help you organize and clean the room and always be sure to ask for their input or options so that they can feel as if they are a part of the process.
If there is any negative behavior that occurs as a result of the change, you should ignore it. The autistic child needs to learn how to cope on their own during hard times.
It can be an unpleasant experience for an autistic child to go through change, but if you talk to them and prepare them in the right way it can make things a lot easier.
