Tis the season to have meltdowns....
The season of hustle and bustle, work parties, school parties, church parties, irregular bed times, broken routines, and extreme chaos is upon us. Wow, sounds fun, huh? It can give even the most calm and rational of us a moment of panic, but what does it do to our kids on the spectrum?
Before you over schedule your family for the holidays, consider the stress that this "fun party" may have on your child or friend with Autism.
Where we see festive lights.... He may see flashing, unpredictability that bothers his vision
Where we see many friends and familiar voices... He may hear loud chaos and see too many faces that cause sensory overload
Where we smell holiday food....He may smell unfamiliar food that he doesn't enjoy
Where we hear our favorite carols....He may hear songs that are annoying and irritating
Where we are excited to stay up a bit later.....He may feel tired, sleepy, and ready to be home.
Where we are happy for the break in routine.....He may feel confused and helpless
Tips to Make the Holidays Happier for Everyone
- Pick only one or two parties to attend
-Always make it home for bed time
- Use Social Stories to prepare your child for the situation
- Avoid excessive sugar and other foods that impact your child negatively
- Have a fun bag of things for your child to do while at the party
Can someone posts about the same ideas, And activities for those who like my son who's severely autistic (non-verbal) who's also visually impaired that as of his age being 13yrs and 2015 almost over does not get any type of services thru government, or local state,city, or any of the hundreds of sign up sheets with Waiting lists which is literally over a 2-3y wait, Or like few is another 39-64 month waiting period left for services that aren't income based, Also he's in the Jenks School District who's not did anything but bad for him, In 2004 we bought home in district quote it was the best school in Oklahoma that had best resources available for our son, but after Pre-K and the School For Blind coming up to evaluate him called by Jenks Schools to see what there program could offer him sense he didn't do well in Pre-K, So anyhow from 2006 fall to May 2010 he was driven from Jenks to school for blind a 102 mile one way trip done 4xs daily which after just year and by two years they had our son using over 11 different vocabulary words, Using knife & fork, Undressing and partial dressing his selve, Potty Trained about 95.9% of the time, The blindisms,Also Austisic movements he and the normal ticks they'd do he had been able to control it enough to allow us to go places like fancy, known resturants where he'd get looks but from1-100 he was like 25-30% tops on acting out or doing his soothing motions, Anyhow after my spouses last parent died her mom, And months later losing my secure, livelyhood career, That year of 2009 was nasty but for Jenks to come 2010 late March indicating everything the blind school doing they could do plus even advanced things that he wouldn't get there, So since we lived in Jenks district and they somehow broke the bank paying mileage of one round trip daily not the four total trips my spouse and sometimes I put on our vehicles leading us to be hurting since we paid for it and Jenks only pulled our son back cause they wanted the funds to stop which they got over 3xs funds from state for our son and had give it to school for blind, plus giving another few hundred monthly for mileage regardless of just one trip down, one trip back reimbursed, It was about the thousands and thousands extra they get for our sons attendance alone which made them snatch him to throw him into there school, To after all these years mainly being after the first 4-7 months being @ Jenks Schools he stopped talking/aka using his few words he'd use when it was warranted, Stopped using, or going to potty, stopped liking and doing certain projects, activities at school, Started biting his right wrist which after years & years biting it's callused, ruff, bad looking to where I have multiple documents just case someone's called and it's thought someone's done something although it's not true but as looking from another persons eyes it may look like the absolute worse, Anyhow they caused our son to retract into toddler/infant like stage and it never returning, And yet it's like nothing ever happened nor he ever was the different/ extremely improved student which school for blind created and did the work for over 3+yrs, Which took less than few months for Jenks to destroy, So that's part of my story that's outta content and place but if anyone can read among all the mess and help me with actual resources and ect please email me.
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