As an ASD practitioner, I work with children with various disabilities to help them become more independent with day-to-day activities like eating, dressing and grooming. As a schoolteacher and EYP, I will always be a lifelong learner, striving to better meet the needs of the children I work with. In honor of World Autism Awareness Day and Autism Awareness Month, I want to share what I have learned along the way working with children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and how they taught me the importance of acceptance, patience and reflection.
Acceptance
When I first began working with children with autism, I honestly struggled to better understand and support them. Our differences made it hard for me to connect and I found myself only teaching these kids to conform to what I viewed as “typical” behavior. The more time I spent with these children, the more I began to accept that all people are different and unique. I learned that my job is to help the children I work with live life to their fullest potential, but that will look different for every person.
Patience
Patience is everything when you’re working with autistic children. Parents have thanked me for staying positive, celebrating the small victories and “not giving up” on their child.
One of the things the boy I was working with loved doing was running 🏃♀️. Most times when we were in the classroom, he would run out of the class and would run around the school compound, which was not allowed. Since I didn’t know much about him or his condition. My reaction was to chase after him in order to get him to come back to class. Which never worked. I would always get frustrated, because it was exhausting chasing after an 8-year-old boy. On the other hand, this boy loved it, he would keep running away from me and would laugh as he ran 😆.
I later realized, after my training, that in his mind it’s was a game, he thought we were playing a running game 😀
everything made sense and it completely changed my perspective and approach towards this sweet boy. And I was able to support and provide for his needs
Here are some few things I learnt from my training and working with autistic children
CONCENTRATION/FOCUS
Autistic people are more likely to give all their attention to one thing
If they’re pulled away from what they are doing, they would go bananas and it may take a while to calm them down. It underlines their difficulties with emotional control.
This is why the best advice when trying to engage with an autistic child is to start with what their interests are.
NOISES
Most autistic children will most likely be anxious in an unfamiliar and noisy environment and, instead of seeking comfort from their parents or playing with any of the toys on offer, they would just sit alone or zone out and stay away from people. They are usually overwhelmed by noisy situations.
Here are some of what they Like and Dislike
Likes
🦸 THEY LOVE TO BE ALONE
🦸♀️ MUSIC 🎵
🦸♀️ QUIET ROOM / SENSORY ROOM
🦸♀️ BLOCKS
🦸♀️
DISLIKES
🦸♀️THEY DON’T LIKE NOISES
🦸♂️STRONG PERFUME
THEY DONT LIKE LOOKING AT YOU (Lack of eye contact)
🦸♀️PEOPLE TOUCHING THEM
Not making eye contact doesn’t mean a child is not listening or doesn’t understand you.
If you have a child or a family member that is Autistic this is for you.
Some tips on how to support them.
The first thing to do is to Accept them as they are, accept that they are different and that they can’t be changed to ‘normal’ (they are already a normal and whole child), they are just wired differently.
While by the age of two most children often enjoy pretend play, many autistic boys and girls with their logical, literal minds won’t see the point.
A broom is a broom and not a rocket ship. You may receive a look of blank incomprehension when you try to pretend otherwise. Boys on the autistic spectrum don’t usually engage in lots of pretend play, preferring instead to explore the physical aspects of toys: examining the screws on the underside of their toy fire engine, for example, rather than driving it to save people from an imaginary fire.
Girls may appear to demonstrate lots of imagination, but careful observation will show a rigidity in their play: teddies sat in a circle for a tea party will have to be in the same place every time, for example. They are likely to be in charge of the activity and unwilling to let other children mess up the set-up they have in mind.
While autistic people are at a considerable disadvantage because they live in a sense-overloading world that doesn’t understand and rarely makes allowances for them, arguably what disadvantages them most is being constantly defined by what they can’t do, rather than what they can do.
Remember you cannot change them, that’s who they are. We just need to let them learn and grow at their own pace.
Accepting your children’s autistic identity and knowing how to support them is the most important thing you can do as a parent of an autistic child. Please support your child and let them know that they are loved
MY FINAL THOUGHT
I know it’s not easy being a parent of an autistic child, that’s why we need to accept them as they are and learn more on how to help and support their needs. Praise them, encourage them and use lots of positive words with them.
Autistic children understand more about their environment more than you think even though they may not be able to express themselves, they are communicating with you in other ways.
Please SEEK HELP if you’re struggling, because you’re not alone. Join groups and also make friends with parents who have autistic children.
For parents and carers of children with autism, knowledge is power.
Positive Parenting With Olu 