Today I am absolutely elated and just Had to share what finally made a BIG difference in my sweet autistic son and our battle with compliance!
Lately upon taking him to various therapies I started to really pay attention to all the techniques used to teach him, but also now teach myself on how I need to enforce the lacking discipline since I get so overwhelmed at times…
Cooperation and transitions are probably one of the toughest things about raising a child on the autism spectrum because the simplest of tasks like eating for example can become World War III, and normally I cave in and am a big pushover since I hate seeing him scream and hyperventilate to the point of nearly vomiting.
Instead of merely taking him to his therapies and enjoying the break of not having to be the “bad guy” for a lovely hour each appointment I started taking tangible and mental notes. At his last IEP meeting (which stands for Individualized Educational Plan for those of you who are not familiar) I took advantage of having the extra One on One time with his teachers and therapists getting to have in depth talks plus finally had my mom come with me (since I have gone alone to every single one since he started school @3 years old). These meeting can be very daunting and overwhelming as you are bombarded by information that sometimes can be hard to swallow about your child’s progress or lack thereof.
A particular method for ASD kids is using the Picture Exchange system, and I kept meaning to give it a real shot by taking pictures of his preferred toys and un-preferred toys (as in ones he “stims” with and also ones that he refuses to play with functionally), laminating them, and velcro-ing them to the front of a sealed container so that in order to get their needs satisfied the photo must be brought as a way of asking (especially if they are non verbal as my sweet Lincoln was, But he Is learning now!). With the items tucked safely away acknowledgement must be made to express their wants instead of merely taking it without any communication.
Further using this method you make a “First, Then” board to adhere velcro laminated requests such as “Sit on the potty” “Eat at table” “Brush teeth” and other things that for every day life can be an insanely difficult battle for the slightest bit of compliance.
Well today I finished the task of having everything good to go so once he got home from school and asked for his balls (his preferred stim to bounce repetitively) I used the “First, Then” board to say “First eat at table- Then balls”…. Clearly this was met with a huge tantrum; however I refused to cave. He asked for a food I have had to take out of his paltry diet as after comprehensive allergy and GI testing found out he is allergic to, so I had him pick a healthy snack then enforced visually with the board what was GOING to happen. Tears, tears, tears, and more tears- But guess what…? He eventually complied!! VICTORY!!
That is the Goal- communication of any sorts whether verbal or non verbal.
It may seem silly, simple, or meaningless -But to me this was a gigantic step forward for him, and also for me since I refuse to not be taken seriously anymore. Not by anyone and especially not with my own son (since having him 6 and a half days a week virtually makes me a single parent).
Hope– real Hope happened today and after his tears of upset dried then the tears of happiness rolled down my smiling cheeks beamingly proud!