When your child is diagnosed as being autistic, it can be a relief, a shock and sometimes entirely confusing. As they grow older, you wonder about the future and how they will fit into this scary world around us.
Supporting them to be as independent as possible can help you to feel comforted that they will be able to fulfil their dreams and ambitions.
Here are three ways in which you can help to boost your autistic child’s levels of independence.
Step-by-step instructions
Too much information can cause an overload and lead to a meltdown or simply giving up on learning something new. When your child is learning new things, whether it be something in math or how to cope in a certain social situation, try to break everything down into smaller chunks using step-by-step instructions.
For example, when becoming more independent in terms of showing, create a visual checklist showing the things that need to be done. It may be that each aspect of showing, such as shampooing, needs to be elaborated further and broken down, like wet hair, squeeze a small amount of shampoo into your hand, etc.
You know your child best but breaking everything down and using step-by-step instructions can certainly help you to work towards a more independent future.
Enhance communication
Communication can be a challenge for many autistic people. While some children will be preverbal and rely on gestures, behavior and vocalizations to communicate their thoughts, needs, wants and feelings, others will be able to speak pretty well.
However, understanding could remain an issue. For younger children, who are still gaining communication skills, an exchange system like PECS can work wonders. Even if your child has no formal diagnosis, which is very common for the toddler age range, it would be worth looking at Action Behavior’s online MCHAT to get an idea as to whether your child is displaying autistic traits.
While communicating with known adults is definitely essential, ensuring that your child builds up their independence by having the opportunity to engage and spend time with other people within their community can help them to build independence, too.
Focus on safety
There are so many safety concerns in the modern world that we are forever worried about how our kids will cope. While we never want to think about putting our children in any kind of danger, shielding them from it and not allowing them to have a go at certain tasks will not help them to build up any independence.
It can be overwhelming for both parent and child when it comes to going on outings or even for walks, particularly if you are worried about busy roads. However, avoiding it will only lead to less awareness of the dangers and the need for road safety.
Likewise, when it comes to preparing snacks and eventually making meals, not allowing the use of metal cutlery, sharp knives and the hot oven can prevent the development of independence in these areas. Of course, it’s understandable that you want to keep your autistic child safe, but a little more freedom in a controlled environment can help.
