Autism Magazine SA Issue 5

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

Holidays are just around the corner and schools will be closed for a month. It’s a joy to have your little ones running around at home but it can be stressful when you constantly need to run after them just to keep an eye on them. A month can be a really long time to just rely on gadgets and television to keep your children entertained. Here are eight activities that will not only keep your child entertained but also prevent regression from all the things they learned at school.

Read stories

Get a short story of things they like and make sure the story has a lot of pictures. Ask questions while reading the story and if they are nonverbal ask them to point at certain objects of pictures.

Practice handwriting

Practicing hand writing is very important to help improve your children’s fine motor and writing skills. You can prac tice handwriting by drawing patterns, drawing vertical and horizontal lines, tracing numbers and letters.

Paint

choose painting that they will enjoy. Have fun and don’t forget to keep it educational

Build puzzles

Puzzles are a good way to keep the mind active. Buy at least three new puzzles and build them with your little one

Baking

You can make easy mix muffins or pancakes with your little one, they would love it. They can help with starring or adding meas ured ingredients. Have a bigger bowl to avoid the mess when they are staring.

Sensory activities

Children love sensory activi ties; you can have them play with water and pour in different cups. You can have play dough, slime or have small objects in a container full of sand and have them look for those item. Keep it fun and safe!

Art and Craft

Start saving on toilet paper rolls, egg cartoons, boxes etc. instead of throwing them away. Use anything recyclable, you can make animals, decorations and many more. Check pinterest for more art and craft ideas and remember to keep to your child’s development level.

Treasure hunt

Treasure hunt is for older chil dren that understand game rules, hide some objects in the house or in the backyard and make them look for those objects. It would be nice if they playing with siblings or other cousins, remember the more the merrier!

Positive tips for parents

You can’t pour from an empty cup is my old-time favorite quote for self- care, an empty cup means that your ability to take care of others will be non-existent. If you constantly juggling finance, family and children etc. you are most likely to get burned out and that will result in exhaustion, negativity and lack of enthusiasm. How to take care of yourself

Don’t isolate yourself

You need to connect and communicate with other people. Raising a child with special needs might feel like people are judgmental or not understanding of your situation but staying isolated will not help you either, surrounding yourself with people might educate them about your child’s needs.

Do not compare your child with other children

Comparison puts a lot of pressure on children and it makes the whole parenting experience negative. Every child is unique and we need to let them be!

Don’t change

Being a parent changes a lot of things let alone parenting a special needs child but that doesn’t mean you should completely forget about yourself. If you enjoyed reading books don’t feel bad for going to a coffee shop just to read a chapter or two. Try to continue doing things that makes you a happy person.

Try to connect with other parents with special needs children

Sometimes knowing that you are not the only one struggling to parent a special needs child motivates you to get more advise and information. Connecting with other parents also helps with a lot of things like hav ing meaningful conversations, sharing information and experiences.

Don’t forget to celebrate the progress

Every milestone is worth celebrating (big or small). take pride in your children’s accomplishment, being happy for your child, motivates them to do better Don’t forget to celebrate the progress

Every milestone is worth celebrating (big or small). take pride in your children’s accomplishment, being happy for your child, motivates them to do better

Importance of preparing your child for school

For most parents looking for school can be both an exciting and a stressful experience. There are many things to consider when you are looking for school: if the child is ready for school or whether they will adapt easily in the school environment.

An important factor that determines whether the child is ready for school goes beyond cognitive and academic development, it also includes social, emo tional and physical development. Children would commonly struggle the first few days and sometimes even longer because they have difficulties adapt ing to change,sharing,socialising and sometimes being made to comply or follow instructions. As a result of the above mentioned struggles children would then struggle to have a positive experience at school and teachers would also struggle to assist the child. determines whether the child is ready for school goes beyond cognitive and academic development, it also includes social, emotional and physical development. Children would com monly struggle the first few days and sometimes even longer because they have difficulties adapting to change,sharing,socialising and sometimes being made to comply or follow instructions. As a result of the above mentioned struggles children would then struggle to have a positive experience at school and teachers would also struggle to assist the child.

Teaching children self-help skills (putting pants,shoes and T-shirts on, brushing teeth and feeding themselves) is a good skill that is often taken for granted. Independence boosts children’s self-esteem and confidence. Having a child that is independent means that they will require less assis tant from teachers.

Teaching a child that is developmentally delayed might take time, but it can be achieved with consistency.

ASD VS ADHD

Most individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have similar symptoms as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is one of the coexisting disorders in children with ASD.

ADHD is mostly charac terized by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactiv ity. Children with ADHD are easily distracted, and they are most likely to jump from one task to another.

ASD is a neurological dis order that affect how people interact, commu nicate and learn. Children with ASD get too focused on one item, they are inflexible with routines, many are sen sitive to noise, light and certain smells and touch.

Why are there similarities between ASD and ADHD?

These disorders are both Gentetic and neurodevelopmental (meaning that the brain is affected) that affects memory,language,focus and social skills.

Differences between ADHD and ASD.

For some children ASD might be noticeable by 18 months. Children with ASD have difficulties playing with other children, they might struggle with eye contact and their speech might be a bit delayed and they are mostly engaged with repet itive behavior

WHAT IS ECHOLALIA IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT?

ARTICLE BY ASHNEE DURGAPERSAD

Echolalia is the repetition or echoing words or sounds that you hear someone else say. It is an important step for language development in children. Echolalia is a sign of autism, developmental disability, or communication disability in children over the age of 3.

It is important to focus shaping communication intent as per the child’s echolalia. This can be done by:

Avoid responding with sentences that will result in echolalia. Instead of asking a child “Do you want juice?” choose a sentence that produces a correct echolalia response as “I’m thirsty” (while pouring juice) or “I’m hungry” while eating a biscuit.

Respond to Communicative Intent – example: Adult: “Do you want some water?” Child: “Do you want some water?” (reaching for water) Adult: “Want water. “(Child’s name) want water.”– increasing demands should be made for a child’s repetition of reduced model utterances.

Visual supports are a vital piece of the strategy. How to model is also very important.

Have your child look directly at what is happening (joint attention). Then use simple language that tells about what is being done.

If your child doesn’t have joint attention skills, be sure to talk about what they are attending to. Also, work on increasing joint attention

Make sure that the language you use literally and directly relate to the ongoing activity.

Model the language many times. Point at the visual picture or sentence script and say it out loud more than once before expecting a correct response. Make sure that your child can initiate using the language before introduc ing questions.

Repeat the action, providing a model yet again. Then ask a question. Immediately give the answer verbally and visually by pointing at the words or picture. Then ask the question again and pause.

If your child still echoes the question, say the language with a little more emphasis and stop doing the action. Pause and ask the question again. Wait to see if your child echoes the question or gives the answer.

Help your child point at the pictured words or pictures, if they are still echoing the question, then you start doing the action again.