Helping your child with autism at home

Helping your child with autism at home-Treatments and interventions for autism spectrum disorders are usually conducted with the help of a qualified professional, therapist or psychiatrist.  These treatment plans often include a wide range of early intervention therapies such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, behavioural therapy (ABA therapy), and other therapies depending on your child’s diagnosis.

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But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do to treat their symptoms at home. Creating a safe space for your child at home where they feel secure and understood can help them get more from their time at therapy sessions. Kids with autism might have a few special needs that peers don’t, and there are things that you can do to help them adjust outside of autism therapy and reach their full potential. Here are some helpful exercises you can use to help your child’s development at home:

Helping your child with autism at home-Take a seat

When you need your child to sit down for an activity, encourage them by taking a seat and inviting them to sit down with you. Try making this activity as fun and tactile as you can by telling them to touch the seat next to them or to reach down and touch their toes, for example. Remember to give them a small reward or praise when they’ve successfully taken their seat.

Helping your child with autism at home-Name the emotion.

If your child has some issues with identifying and regulating their emotions, you can practice identifying emotions wherever you are. You can print out emojis or faces showing different emotions for them to identify, or you can demonstrate some facial expressions with body language and ask them to identify the emotion.

To personalize this activity for your child, you can even print out pictures of their favourite characters and ask them to tell you how the character is feeling. Place the images face down and ask them to pick them one for one and explain the emotions. As an added bonus, you can even ask your child to mimic the feeling for you or select the emotion that matches their own the best. Through this activity, you can open the door for your child to discuss their own feelings and ask questions.

Look my way

Some young children with ASD struggle to make eye contact with others and might need some encouragement that it is okay to look at others. Give your child something to look at, like a sticker on your face. This can also be incorporated with the above-mentioned activities: tell your child to sit down and identify your emotions one by one. This way, they will be looking at you while practising their eye contact skills practically. Encourage your child during other activities to look at you so that they get more comfortable with the idea of regular eye contact and identifying the expressions of other people during social interactions.

Identify the object

For this activity, you can use objects your child is familiar with, like a toothbrush or toys. Ask them what the object is used for and how you use it. You can also use printed pictures that illustrate the objects they must identify. This helps your child expand their vocabulary, enhance their confidence in speaking and develop their functional and communication skills. As an add-on to this activity, you can ask your child to sort these objects into different categories such as colours, which room they belong in, etc.

Remember that positive reinforcement is a vital part of autism treatment. Make these activities as fun and stimulating as possible and incorporate them into daily routines to encourage engagement. Try not to force your child to participate, but rather frame it as a game where they will receive positive feedback and rewards for good behaviours. You can practice this approach with various activities and at different times to discover when they will work best for your child’s individual needs.