What Does Progress Look Like For Autistic Kids

Children reach several milestones throughout their life, but children with autism may reach these milestones at a different rate than their peers. Autistic children may also have several other milestones that are more unique to their social impairments.

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By focussing on their strengths and encouraging your child’s progress, you can help them reach their goals. But what exactly does progress look like for children with ASD? Here are some autistic milestones you can celebrate with your child:

Improved Social Skills.

It is common for autistic kids to have poor social skills. It is, however, possible that your children can learn to master these skills. This includes the skills that help your child know how to act in different situations, make friends, learn from others and interact in groups, including:

• Play skills.
• Conversation skills.
• Emotional skills.
• problem-solving skills.

These skills are crucial for your child’s mental health and quality of life. These skills will help your child achieve a sense of belonging and maintain healthy relationships with friends and family.

Some ways you can help develop social skills for kids with ASD are:

1. Practice play.
2. Praise.
3. Role-play.
4. Autism social skills training.
5. Social stories.
6. Video-modelling.
7. Visual supports.

You must help your child understand how they can translate the skills they have learnt to other social situations.

Self-Soothing Abilities.

Children with social autism may have difficulty communicating emotional overload, and when these feelings are not handled carefully, they can lead to tantrums and meltdowns. There are several ways that you can help soothe your child, or even how they can soothe themselves. Learning self-soothing techniques can be an enormous milestone achievement for kids with ASD.

Some self-soothing activities children can aim to master are:

• Deep breathing activities.
• Squeezing stress balls.
• Asking for hugs.
• Movement and exercise.
• Engaging in enjoyable activities when feeling stressed.

You can help your child find the best self-calming activities. Make sure your child knows these activities are to their benefit and not a punishment. You can also make them feel more comfortable by participating in the activity with them.

Increased Change Acceptance.

Change is constant, and all people must learn to deal with change. Children with autism, however, might not know how to deal with change, causing stress and unease. These kids will often fair better when they have a sense of structure and know what they can expect from situations. 

Children with ASD may react to change in various ways, including:

• Repetitive behaviours.
• Tantrums.
• Aggression.
• Anxiety.

Children must improve their acceptance of change at a young age as it will help them deal with simple changes in routine and issues they will face in the real world as adults.  Visual supports, calm environments, extra time to adjust and parental support are crucial for helping a child adjust to change and accept stressful situations.

Improved Empathy and Understanding.

It has been widely believed that children with autism lack empathy, but more often, they just have a hard time expressing empathy. The underdeveloped skills that lead to a lack of expressed empathy can result from:

• Failure to correctly recognize the other person’s feelings.
• A lack of understanding of the other person’s hopes or expectations.
• Less emotional experience, leading to difficulty relating to others.
• Inadequate tools needed to physically and verbally express empathy.
• Not knowing the expected way to express empathy.

Empathy skills like picking up on the emotions of others and feeling them inside can be overwhelming and confusing. This could lead to a person withdrawing from social situations. They can learn to express empathy in several ways, helping children with autism reduce their stress and make social interactions more enjoyable.

You should celebrate your child’s successes, whether small or large. Everyone wants to be recognized and praised for their accomplishments. With your support and positivity, your child will be able to reach many milestones and improve their overall quality of life.

For more information, contact Autism Centre for Kids today. We’d love to hear from you!