What to Look for When Helping a Person with Autism

People working with people who have autism need to understand how behaviors are a form of communication. Tantrums and meltdowns are not just willful behaviors. Sometimes they are the only way a person with autism can express themselves. People especially need to understand this within the framework of positive behavior supports. An additional need is to plan for repeat problems. People need to look for usable strategies and techniques to teach social skills to people with Autism.

Specifically people should look at enjoyable socialization methods so people with Autism may experience success and the desire to build skills. Social deficits affect life at home, school, and eventually in the workplace. People need highly beneficial strategies that can be used across a variety of settings and routines. The strategies should be practical and effective solutions to assist ‘typical’ people. The strategies should also assist people to become more understanding, accepting and engaging of those with social difficulties.

Part of behavior management strategies is the process of building a relationship on as many levels as possible. Then within the context of the relationship people with and without Autism can work on collaboratively solving problems with behaviors. It also includes doing whatever possible to avoid power struggles.

Another part of behavior management for people with Autism is to build social skills. This should be done with formal lessons on social skills. A social skills training program should also teach strategies for the person with autism to be able to generalize the skill from one situation to another.

At the same time a person with Autism needs social skills training, a typical person needs sensitivity training to better be able to work with an individual with Autism. People can use a variety of ways to practice both the social skills and the sensitivity, such as lunch buddies, peer buddies, and class buddies. Other techniques to be investigated with a person with Autism are conversation skills, cooperative play skills, emotion management, understanding others’ feelings, and dealing with teasing.

And Again...

Yes, I know it is taking me a while to get this together. I will be more diligent about it...

6. Avoid surfing the Internet too much. There is a lot of misinformation on the web. Nothing you did or didn't do caused your child's autism. You are not to blame.

7. Use your library before deciding which books go into your home. Check with local disability organizations like Families Helping Families to see if they have free lending libraries. Some books are by parents whose children really had much milder autism than they realized and some books are very negative.

8. "1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders" by Veronica Zysk and Ellen Notbohm is great. This book is a surprisingly thin book for all the wealth of information it has. The book has loads of budget sensory therapy ideas and more.

9. If your child can read, you can spend hundreds of dollars on specially made social stories or
www.frsd.k12.nj.us/autistic/Parent%20Training/social_stories%20notes.htm
explains how to make them for free.