Frequently Needed Answers

Shopping is a normal “everyday” activity; we think nothing of hopping on a bus or in the car and going to the shop.

However, this normal everyday activity can be a complete nightmare to children with autism and autistic parents.

Autism spectrum disorder is a disorder affecting the brain and social development of the individual on the autism spectrum disorder scale.

If your child is on the autism spectrum disorder scale taking them shopping can be stressful and will need careful planning.

Children with autism are very sensitive to stimuli affecting, touch, smell, light and sound; making shopping an anxious and often painful experience.

Things we do not even notice like the strip lights in the shop, or spotlights above some displays can hurt their eyes. The bright lights in the fridges or flashing signs can all be autism anxiety triggers.

The smell of the shop, the fresh food display, aromas from perfumes, soaps, deodorant and the smell from a flower stand. Smell of the stale air in the shopping mall, the smell of the perfume the lady at the checkout is wearing; the aftershave of the man behind you, the smell of the gum the little girl in front of you is chewing. The smell from the bakers shop to us tempting and yummy to an autistic child can all be autism anxiety triggers.

The sound of the checkout, the loud speakers, people chatting, a shrill laugh, the drone of the escalator, the ping of the lift, children laughing, giggling a baby crying, a mobile phone ring all normal noises we shut out and put into the background.

But to an autistic child these noises can be overwhelming and frightening.

Children with autism don’t process sensations in the same way we do and although to us these normal everyday sounds are ok to them they can be dreadful.

Touch is a big issue also with children with autism, some autistic children do not like being touched, and in a busy bustling shop sometimes this can not be avoided!

As a parent your child’s safety is always your first thought; in a busy supermarket, what do you do when that child won’t let you hold their hand? How do you keep that child safe?

Autistic children are sensitive to touch; they may dislike rough material, silky material, and bubbly feeling fabric. They may dislike the feel of the chair in the cafe or the cold metal table.

The journey to the shop on the bus the uncomfortable fabric of the seat the sound of the engine the lights the buzzer the chatter the laughter, a mum telling of her child, a cry a mobile phone ring all can cause autistic anxiety triggers.

So how are you going to make this normal everyday activity less stressful and painful for your child?

A good starting point is to have these autistic anxiety triggers in mind before setting out on a shopping trip, choose a less busy day, and prepare your child for the trip.

A good place to begin is with social stories for children with autism. Social stories are an excellent autism resource for teaching social skills like “I can go shopping” to an autistic child-giving clear focus to the key points the autism social skills story will focus on the main points and give clear instruction on how, why, where and when we shop.

Helping the child make sense and feel more comfortable with the shopping trip, a good social skills story will prepare the autistic child for the shopping trip and find coping strategies and methods of dealing with the anxious moments and fears the autistic child will have.

Autistic parents use social stories for children with autism going shopping as well as other stories to help their child cope with social skills, personal care, events and all of life’s normal and not so normal happenings and situations.

Download this autism resource social stories for children with autism going shopping and other autism social skills stories from

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/social_skills

www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

www.autismsocialstories.com/potty

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

www.autismsocialstories.com/valentines_day

www.autismsocialstories.com/mothers_day

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Teaching Social Skills to Kids with autism

Kids with autism need to be taught autistic social skills directly, as they do not easily pick up on these skills from their environment like a normally developing child will.

Autistic children tend not to pick up on social skills and are unable to understand body language or facial expressions, which makes interpreting the thoughts and feelings of other’s an impossible task.

Teaching social skills to autistic children can take many forms; one way is through ABA or applied behavior analysis. Another way is through the use of “social skills stories”….

 

It is very important to think about how you will help your child understand the need for certain social skills.

For example if you intend your child to be included in main stream education a certain amount of social skills is important. The ability to wait your turn in class to ask a question, manners, good eating habits and the ability to toilet themselves appropriately for their age.

While most school’s will have thought about asperger classroom accommodations, or autism classroom accommodations, there is still the need for the appropriate autistic social skills to be taught and re-enforced to make your child’s inclusion as easy as possible.

Kids with Autism and Asperger Syndrome are often capable of working at the same level as their peer’s; but are at risk of not being included in a classroom because of behavioral issues or poorly developed social skills.

The “autistic social skills stories” have become an excellent tool for teaching those valuable social skills.

Teaching social skills to autistic children has become one of the primary focuses when working with autistic children.

Success in teaching social skills to kids with autism can increase self-confidence and lead to positive result in other areas of the classroom and life in general for autistic children.

A good autistic social skills story will focus on a particular social situation or interaction. A trip to the dentist, moving school, going shopping, or recess - these are all good examples of situations a social story might focus on.

To learn more about autistic social skills stories and how they can be used for teaching social skills to autistic children visit us at

www.autismsocialstories.com/socialskills

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_aggression

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.org.uk

 

Have you ever stopped to consider how often you use visual supports during the day? How about when you look at a TV Guide, use a recipe, look at a map…

 

All of these are visual supports. Yes of cause we could live without visual supports, but just consider how limited our lives would be…no internet, newspapers, maps etc!

 

A similar rule applies to autism, autistic people also need visual supports, and pretty similar to the visual supports we ourselves use “everyday”.

 

Visual supports in autism include visual timetables, autism social stories, communication systems, PECS, flashcards and other visual supports used for autistic coping strategies.

 

As we are already aware autistic children and people think and learn visually.

 

Therefore, it is essential that “visual supports in autism”, is given great consideration. Autistic people have difficulties with communication, and sometimes will lack the ability to speak, or their language may be restricted.

 

Which in itself can cause problems, but when this is coupled with their lack of social awareness also, it can prove to be a recipe for social mistakes.

 

Social mistakes can cause embarrassment and stress, which can lead to anxiety and sometimes trigger violent or aggressive outburst, which then can become a vicious circle.

 

There are various ways to introduce suitable visual supports in autism.

 

One excellent tool is the use of autism social stories. Social Stories can be used for teaching social skills to children with autism and related disabilities.

 

Social skill stories present  appropriate social behaviors for situations, which include answers to questions the autistic person will need to know to interact appropriately with others…for example, answers to who, what, where, when, and why.

 

Autism social stories can provide an individual with accurate information about those situations they may find difficult or confusing.

 

The social story will describe the situation in detail and focus is given to a few key points. These are the social cues…the events and reactions the individual may expect in the situation, the actions and reactions that might be expected of them, and why.

 

Using Autism social stories will increase your child’s understanding of why things happen and why they are expected to act in certain ways or do certain things, like washing their teeth, or using public toilets.

 

You can see an example social story at www.autismsocialstories.com Studies have shown autistic people respond well to social stories. Visually social stories can be pictorially rich and colorful-giving the autistic person clear social cues and prompts for managing and understanding the situation, task, event or activity.

 

Immediately download and begin using appropriate visual supports in autism such as autism social stories, to help your autistic child, teen or adult find appropriate coping strategies for all situations they find stressful, confusing or difficult.

To view an example social story and immediately download appropriate autism social stories visit us at:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

www.autismsocialstories.com/socialskills

Asperger syndrome affects people all their lives. However, as people get older their social abilities may improve.

 

So what are asperger adolescents physical symptoms ?

•  Asperger syndrome adolescents find it hard to relate to other people.
• They may talk a lot about their own interests, and have trouble with conversations, or allowing others to speak.
• They may have trouble understanding other peoples feelings and lack the ability to “mind read” or read others They may be unaware when they hurt someone’s feelings, or when someone doesn’t want to listen to them.
• They like repetition and everything to remain the same. They can get very upset when routines change.
• The Asperger adolescents physical symptoms may vary from slightly unusual behavior to quite aggressive and anti-social behavior.
• Many scientists, writers and artists are thought to have had Asperger syndrome, including many Nobel Prize winners.

 

When the time arrives for the asperger pre teen to change schools and go to secondary school. This can be a very worrying time, not only for the asperger child but also their primary carers or parents.

 

Secondary school can be stressful for the asperger adolescent, with changing timetables, moving classrooms for different lessons and different teachers. This may trigger anxiety attacks in the asperger adolescent.

 

It may be an idea to introduce ‘aspergers and social training’… before the move to secondary school. Finding your asperger coping strategies will help to alleviate some of the anxiety triggers your adolescent may be feeling.

 

Aspergers and Social training…

 

One method for doing this, which can be implemented quickly and effortlessly is by using something called asperger social skills stories…

What are asperger social skills stories?

 

…Asperger social skills stories, are short pieces of text with visual images appropriate to the instruction or explanation the story portrays…

 

For example, a social kiss…an appropriately written asperger social story will explain, what a social kiss is, when it is appropriate, and why sometimes it is not appropriate to kiss our friends or others even if the desire to kiss is their, the story will explain the consequence and why sometimes it just is not appropriate to kiss people.

 

Asperger social stories when written well by an expert will give accurate information to help the asperger adolescent make sense of the world around them. And give them clear coping stratergies plus techniques to help them understand, and be accepted socially.

 

To download appropriate, expert written asperger social stories

 

Visit us at: www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescent

We all love going out to eat…But when your child is autistic this family treat can become a family nightmare.

 

There are various ways to prepare your autistic child for eating out.

 

• You could start by a simple role play of the eating out experience…
• Maybe you could show your autistic child a sample menu…Introduce this at your own family meal time…”Isn’t this fun…can you choose your dinner from the menu (add name)
• Autism Social Stories are an excellent tool at this time…Introduce your autistic child to the idea of eating out. By using theses simple but effective social skills stories, the social skill stories will explain, what happens in a restaurant…what is expected of them and also what they can expect from others.
• Have a rehearsal in a small fast food restaurant or salad bar first
• Try to visit the restaurant to familiarize your autistic child with the establishment first.

 

A few things you may want to keep in mind before the actual eating out experience are:

 

• Have you prepared your child enough before actually setting the date
• Have you introduced an appropriate autism social story- explaining what is going to happen, and when it is going to happen.
• Make sure you have taken the time to check the restaurant is the same as when you bought your child along for a visit …No re-decorating has happened etc..
• Have you practiced with your menu at home? It may be an idea to actually bring along some food from home-just incase.
• Try and make sure all your children have used the bathroom before you leave, public bathrooms can be a whole new experience and may cause anxiety triggers in your autistic child.
• To be on the safe side bring along a social skills story for using the bathroom while you are out “autism social stories and going to the bathroom”. You may want to have already introduced this story to your child before the meal out - to be on the safe side.
• Try and choose a restaurant where the service is normally very fast, or try and have a quiet word with your waiter and explain your child is autistic and could he please hurry your orders and service along.
• Remember to always keep one eye on your autistic child…he wont think twice about helping himself to the kid on the next tables burger or fries…Or shouting out. Be aware of the people on the tables near to yours.
• If at all possible ask to be seated in a quiet part of the restaurant away from others.

 

Remember restaurants are full of stimulation, smells, noises, sights, lights. You will need to be very aware of these. But as long as you have prepared your child by using an appropriate autism social story, your child should already be aware of these and you will be able to take appropriate actions to avoid certain situations.

 

You can obtain suitable autism social skills stories from:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

 www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_Aggression

 www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

 

It can be very difficult to motivate an autistic child, mainly because of their lack of imagination and communication skills..

 

A person’s motivation is mainly influenced by their experiences, their desires and imagination…As well as past experiences, learning, and history.

 

Therefore motivation and interest come from past experiences and the desire to learn and have new experiences.  Challenges which trigger memories of past anxieties or failures will mostly stimulate avoidance reactions and self-preservation responses.

 

Motivating an autistic child can be helped by understanding the child’s interests or preoccupations, fascinations however bizarre you may find them!…Use these interests as the bases of expanding the child’s sometimes limited area of interest.

 

Try and avoid any tasks that trigger anxiety in the autistic child…these will only lead to avoidance.

 

Give re-assurance and keep the tasks small to begin with…Give reinforcement regularly…Make the task milestones very small to begin with, then give positive reinforcement…Gradually increase the milestone to be reached before positive reinforcement is given.

 

Keep a record of all anxiety triggers and how they were dealt with…what positive reinforcement was used?

 

Make certain everybody included in the child’s care is following the same strategy.

 

Create or obtain good social skills stories to help explain to the autistic child what they are doing for example a school trip or play, Christmas, making cards…The social story should be pictorially rich, most autistic children are visual learners.

 

Autism social stories are an excellent tool for helping an autistic child make sense of the world around them…giving them clear social cues as to how to act, what is expected of them, why we do certain things and what others are expecting of them..

 

They will explain why things happen and what they need to do..For example a new school, house, car, holiday etc..

 

Obtain pictorially rich autism social stories now from

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_Aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

It is not un-common for an autistic child to become aggressive as they enter the teenage years, whether this is due to hormonal changes or the rebellious onset of teenage years as a child becomes more independent of their parents we don’t know…

 

However as your child grows and enters the teenage years, if you are finding aggression a problem there are a few ways you can find help.

 

Autistic aggression can be sudden and quite out of the blue, one of the first things you need to remember is the safety of the child as well as his/her peers and any other person within the vicinity.

 

You will need to first of all determine what is causing these violent aggressive outbursts. What sort of signals do they send before an upset? Can you read his/her body language to know when he/she is becoming upset?

What sort of things are causing the behavior? Are the outbursts connected to school work? To how he/she is feeling physically? To the amount of sleep he/she had? To the clothes he/she wearing, or the clothes of a peer, or maybe teacher? To a scent/smell? To who is near him?

 

Any of these can trigger an anxiety attack and thus cause an aggressive outburst.

 

Some experts will suggest not to react to this behavior…however this can be hard and certainly easier said than done. So what do you do when faced with an autistic teenager who is becoming increasingly more aggressive?

People with autism tend to be stronger visually than auditorally. This means they take in information better that they can see, rather than what they can hear. Unfortunately, we as parents, helpers and teachers are talkers. We will talk to explain, we talk to connect. And when we are upset, we tend to talk even more.

 

An autistic teenager, even one who is highly verbal, when under stress will have increasing difficulties understanding what it is you’re saying.  Thus when he/she does not respond appropriately, the chances are you will talk even more trying to make them understand, which will actually compound his/her stress even further, rather than decreasing it.

 

It may well be a good thing to remember when a situation arises it’s better to talk less, far less than you would want too. In fact, ideally do not talk.  During the outbursts, anything you may say will do little other than aggravate the situation.

 

Instead, when you do need to speak, try and keep your sentences short and blunt – a mere one word would be best. You could then couple the words you use with visuals or hand signals.

 

Try and remember that your autistic teenager will take in information better when it is visual (i.e. what he/she can see), rather than what he/she hears.

 

Because of the problems many autistic and asperger kids have making sense of the world, they often appreciate having rules and expectations set out clearly for them.  Autistic people respond well to repetition and sameness. Therefore it has been found that they will respond well to, “The rule is…”.  This simple technique can have a great impact in many situations.

 

“Establish rules”.  You will need to make them clear and precise.  Then stick them in every place that your autistic teenager will go to. It won’t work if you simply tell him/her the rules or discuss them - they have to be visual.

 

You may well want to consider doing the same thing with the consequences you’ve set up for rule infractions. Therefore when you feel an incident or outburst may be building, rather than issuing verbal warnings, tap on the visually posted rule.

 

Also remembering autistic people are visual learners a visual concise timetable should also be put in place if it has not already been done.

 

Plus social stories should be introduced. They are an excellent tool for letting a child know what is going to happen and what is expected of him. Thus taking away some of the anxiety triggers that can cause the outbursts. When using social stories ensure they are pictorially rich showing the autistic teenager visually what is expected, “The rules”, and giving them clear cues for behavior and what is expected of them in any given situation.

 

These short pieces of text can be like the autistic teenagers best friend not only are they visual but there is text to accompany the images giving your aggressive autistic teenager clear social cues for their expected behavior, giving them the rules and possible consequence of inappropriate behaviors.

 

By using the techniques set out above and the introduction of social stories, aggressive outburst should be kept to a minimum.

To immediately download autism social stories visit

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

 www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_Aggression

 www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

 www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

 

Getting a hair cut for most of us can be quite a pleasant experience. We look forward to the time out, chatter and being pampered.

 

From an early age we take our normally developing children along to the hairdresser or barber. Where they sense the relaxed calm atmosphere, and will generally pick up on the body language, given off by customers in the shop enjoying a haircut.

 

However, if your child is autistic this normal everyday activity can be a distressing and painful experience.

 

Autistic children are very sensitive and having someone touch and cut your hair can be alarming.

 

The first thing to consider is why?, an autistic child may not understand the need to have a haircut, why should they want to get their hair cut when to them it is just fine the way it is…

 

They will not understand the need to go to this strange and smelly place and sit in a chair that to them may feel uncomfortable and wear a gown from material that may be harsh and hurt their skin.

 

A simple hair wash…using smelly shampoo that may be offensive to their oversensitive noses, the feel of the shower spray on their head can cause discomfort. A towel around their neck again could feel uncomfortable, abrasive and harsh.  The act of rubbing the hair dry could cause anxiety triggers also.

 

Then brushing the hair, maybe the hairbrush is the wrong color or too hard… The scissors may actually hurt their head as they cut the hair, the noises going on around them the low drone of the hair clipper. The noise of people talking, sudden laughter, all noises we can block out as background noise…to an autistic child these noises can be over powering…the sharp clatter of scissors a blow dryer…

 

The smell of hair products, perfume, deodorant, aftershave…can all be over powering to an autistic persons senses.

 

These are all anxiety triggers and more the, shop itself the décor, the furniture the people in it…

 

Having an autistic child is never going to be easy and a normal everyday thing like a haircut is always going to be difficult…However, there are some steps you can take which may help make this activity a bit easier to cope with..

 

Try taking along a toy or portable DVD player a distraction of some sort, to distract away from some of the sensory happenings around them.

 

Get your self autism social stories and begin to implement these before the event, get your autistic child used to the idea of getting a haircut by reading the social story to them.

 

A good autism social story will explain to your child why we need to visit the hairdresser and what we can expect when we get there as well as what other people will expect of them.

 

These valuable short pieces of text can actually help parents better cope with this and other challenges having an autistic child brings up.

 

Get social skills stories for getting a haircut and others from

 

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autisticdevelopment.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.org.uk

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_Aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

 

 www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

For most of us a visit to the dentist is a scary thought, with a large number of the population actually experiencing an un-rational fear of the drill noise, smells and even the dentist himself!

 

This fear of going to the dentist is picked up on by our children and the never ending cycle of dreading the 6 monthly check-up takes root.

 

However with autism, this fear and dread are not always picked up, autistic children and adults, don’t have the ability to “mind read” or read other peoples body language.

 

So what are the difficulties with a dental visit for your autistic child?

 

Well for a start there is the first hurdle, why do I need to see a dentist? This man or woman wearing a white coat, who expects them to lay in a chair with a bright light shining in their face, while they look into their mouth using strange equipment.

 

Although you yourself understand why it is important to have a regular check-up and keep your teeth and gums healthy. Your autistic child may not understand what healthy hygiene habits are, and indeed the importance of having healthy teeth and gums.

 

So what do you need to be aware of once you have actually gor your autistic child into the dentist…

 

Autistic children are very sensitive, and your mouth is one of the most sensitive areas on your body, so this it-self may cause an anxiety trigger for your autistic child.

 

The feel of the cold instrument entering their mouth, the drill sensation, the water spraying, the taste of the mouth wash or paste, all these things could be anxiety triggers..

 

The feel of the dentist chair, the rubber gloves the dentist will wear, the bright light above their face, even the goggles they may be asked to wear are these colored, if so this could also be an anxiety trigger.

 

The perfume or aftershave, deodorant the nurse or dentist is wearing, the smell in the dentist room, even reception area, the lady opposite you waiting maybe she has perfume on that will trigger an anxiety attack along with these factors comes the uncertainty of why they are even there, why they need to let this dentist look in their mouth.

 

All these things need consideration before you even step foot into the dentist…One tool you can use to help explain why we need to visit the dentist and some of the things that will happen while they are there is something many parents have found helpful; “autism social stories”.

 

These small carefully written social skill stories will give your autistic child clear instructions and explanations as to what is happening, why it is happening, and what they can expect from others at the time, and what others will be expecting of them.

 

Armed with a good social skills story you can help your autistic child better cope with visiting the dentist as well as many other activities and events they will come across in their everyday lives, things we take for granted as “normal”. But to an autistic child can be distressing even frightening…

 

To immediately download autism social stories to help your child visit

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

www.autismsocialstories.org.uk

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/high_functioning_autistic_Aggression

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

 

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto