How Can You Accommodate An Autistic Child?

In the modern day and age, a lot is understood about autism. It’s not something that is vague and bizarre. In fact it’s something that is studied intensely as there are many people who are autistic. Many autistic people have great skills on one hand, but on the other they lack some basic cognitive and social skills. In fact, it is often a case that autistic people can do things that other people can’t. The rain man is one of the best known cases as he had an amazing memory. Yet, he lacked social skills and would often find it difficult to make friends. It’s not too hard to make your autistic child’s life much more enjoyable if you make a few adjustments. It’s important to not be too protective as not living a free and open life can actually add to their symptoms. Families that do have autistic children find it hard to cope in many areas of everyday life, but here’s how you can accommodate them to make it easier on everyone.

Give them a private place

When an anxiety episode is suffered by an autistic child they can become frightened more so than the average person. They may not be able to comprehend what it is they are feeling or why and for how long this will be. Instead of trying to ask them questions and trying to verbally communicate with them, you need to give them a place to go where they can calm down. Taking the person out of the situation often is the best solution. A coping or private place can be somewhere in the home where they have a soft environment. A room that is full of pillows, beanbags, games, a soft carpet or calming music etc, is a good idea. It takes them out of the event, and into a place they are familiar with and is a sensory comfort.

Not just average education

Education is one of the biggest areas you can help an autistic child. Sometimes their mind just doesn’t absorb information like the average person. Therefore they may need a special autism school where there are teachers that are certified to work with autistic children. The teachers will know the signs of stress, indifference, confusion and joy in such children more so than the average teacher at school. They will also be able to learn in an environment where perhaps there isn’t as much noise and not as many other children that take up teacher’s time in class. It’s quite common for autistic kids to get along better with each other as well. Your child’s needs are different to almost every other child out there so you can also ask for a teacher to have one on one classes or time with them, to work through any problems that do persist. By accommodating for their lack of certain skills, you’ll be better placed to help your child in such a specialist school.

*Collaborative post