Christmas with Special Needs by Dr. Sharon A. Mitchell
Christmas. This supposedly joyous time can be trying when your child has special needs. Autism, for example, affects one in every 59 kids. Difficulties arise before Christmas Day is actually here. Whether or not your child actually enjoys school, the structure and routines are often a welcoming atmosphere for many kids. This lovely predictability in the classroom often disappears during the month of December. Whether or not your child is enamored with school, he is used to it. But in December, holidays roll around and that child might have a week or even two weeks off of school, breaking his routine. These things are enough to throw a guy off his stride. You might keep a neat and orderly home. But, suddenly there is this Christmas tree stuck in the house, in a spot where it just should not be. As pretty as it might be, again it’s another disruption in the routine and change can be difficult for autistic and other special needs kids to handle. 30
