Is your child with autism or sensory integration disorder having problems with spring? Our kids have a really tough time with the changing seasons. You may be thinking wow we have made a lot of progress and then blah! The progress seems gone. Take heart my friend once the seasons have settled your child will gain his/her footing again.
Here are a few tender points about season change. Help where you can and keep the hard hat on for the rest.
1. Changing clothing. My autistic daughter hates to have her last season’s clothing taken away. In this case I begin putting away the heavy sweaters. She will fight me. When I finally get them out of the room and into a box. Sometime in the next day she will sneak them back out of the box and wear them.
How to help…One change the clothing slowly. I have found that if I shift the heavy sweaters to the back of the drawer. Then when I am cleaning them one doesn’t come back there is little fuss.
2. Allergies! Yikes need I say more. The minute the trees start throwing off pollen everyone’s temper changes to a frustrated, highly irritated grump.
If the allergies are bad enough seek help from your pediatrician. If you chose supplements my husband (who has bad allergies) has gotten relief from Stinging Nettle, talk to your dr before trying any supplement. You could also consider chainsawing ever blooming tree in the neighborhood!? No I guess the neighbors might get upset.
3. Sensory problems With the change in clothes comes new sensations. Where the pants would shield the legs, now you have shorts which allow everything to touch their legs. The materials in the clothing are also different, lighter thinner material.
Consider the alternatives such as pants with zip bottoms to them. Stride Rite has a pair of sneaker/sandals that was the perfect in-between for my son. If your child likes maybe a sweater over a short sleeved shirt will help get them used to wearing the short sleeved shirt.
4. Schedule disruption. Like ground hogs coming out of our den we become more active as the weather warms. The sunlight lasts longer. The internal clock of autistic children runs loud and does not reset at daylight saving time.
Have a schedule that shows the clock time. A little picture will do. Reinforce that it is the TIME not the sun that tells bedtime or wake up. Try not to have multiple days in a row with a strange schedule. I find that one day out is tolerable, two days out is grumpy with spots of crying. Three days out is all out rebellion, raging, crying, and withdrawn. Not pretty so I try to keep solid schedule days as often as possible.
Spring is a wonder time of the year. We can all enjoy it. Just a reminder April is Autism Awareness month. Visit World Autism Awareness Day to see more on events. Talk to someone. Have friends and family that are curious watch some of the programs and news interviews coming up. Get out and go to a fundraiser or event! Have a wonderful spring and April!