Children are everything for their parents. If you are a parent or parent to be, I am sure that you must already be thinking about the future of your kids and you must feel anxious about your children. Every child is special and is an apple of the eye of their parents. But, a parent is more concerned, if a child suffers from a health issue or especially has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Many studies are already published on autism, strategies to cope with autism, behavioural tips, behavioural challenges etc and a list goes on.
According to the doctors of the Autism resource centre, autistic kids need more care but at times, the one caring for the autistic kid becomes tired and frustrated due to the behaviour of the child. The outburst of an autistic child can occur suddenly and it can last for hours which can be difficult to control. This particular thing would scare the adult or can even cause embarrassment.
Now before we discuss the parenting tips for the children with autism spectrum, I am sure you must think about why autism is known as “Autism Spectrum”.
Autism is considered a spectrum because the symptoms of autism vary. Some people have very mild symptoms while others may have severe or many symptoms. Hence due to this, autism is considered to be on a spectrum. Now let’s have a look at the characteristics of autism.
Autism Characteristics:
According to the pediatric neuro physicians in Islamabad, the characteristics of a person suffering from autism are as follows:
- Difficulty in understanding and using the language. It can include expressions, sarcasm and body language.
- Find trouble in understanding the sensory input in a simple or ordinary way. For example, a person with an autistic spectrum may feel extra itchy, a certain smell may be stronger than the normal one and the sound of the vacuum cleaner may be extra loud.
- Particular know-how for the routine as the autistic kid would get frustrated when things don’t happen their way.
- Difficulty in understanding other people’s feelings and recognizing their opinions.
- Trouble in switching their activity.
- If an activity has no clear ending, they find it difficult to participate in it such as a class lecture.
- In a productive play, they find trouble in playing if no proper instructions are given.
At times, these characteristics can become difficult to handle and at home, they can become behavioural problems.
Parenting Tips for Parents Having an Autistic Child
Apart from the various therapies and medical care, there are many tips for parents to help their autistic kids which are as follows:
1. Focus on the Positive Aspect
Just like normal kids, the autistic kids also respond well towards the positive reinforcements. It simply means that just like normal kids when you praise the kid with autistic spectrum would feel encouraged and they would believe that they are doing great, it will make them feel happy and good. So, you will be happy as well.
However, here you need to be specific and tell them what you liked in their behaviour. You can reward them with either any small prize or with extra playtime. You can reward your kid in general as well even if he/she isn’t on the spectrum as it is a key for your child’s growth.
2. Stay on Schedule and Be Consistent
People who are on the spectrum, they like to be on their schedule and routine. Therefore, it becomes necessary that your efforts are consistent and on schedule.
This will help the kid in adopting new behaviours and skills easily, thus making them perform well in different situations.
3. Play Should be Scheduled
Here, you need to discover such activities for your kids that are not merely for education purposes but are fun. This will help your kid in opening up to you and able to connect with you easily.
4. Give it a Time
I know, as a parent, you must be trying your best for the kid, but you need to be consistent and give some time to your efforts. You must be experimenting with various techniques to find what is best for your children. So, don’t be discouraged if your particular method won’t work well and stay positive as something would work out for sure.
5. Involve Your Child in Your Daily Activities
If your child has an unpredictable personality, you need to make sure that you shouldn’t expose your child to any situation that is not good. But, in order to help the kid to get used to the world, you need to take them on daily life activities such as grocery shopping, post office etc.
6. Get Help and Support
Last but not the least, you shouldn’t think that you are alone in this. You can reach out to help and support whether it’s face to face or from professionals, family or friends. Create a group of family and friends who are able to understand the diagnosis of your child. Friendship may be a difficult thing and your child might feel trouble dealing with it, thus needing your support. For this reason, the support groups would be really good where parents or family or even friends facing these similar issues should come and meet as this would be extremely helpful. So, don’t give up on your kid, instead think of ways to make their life a little easier.