Routine, routine, routine!

 Hi all,

Today I wanted to post a bit about routines.  Autism brings schedules and routines to the mix.  All things every family is probably familiar with.  But those things are very important for someone with Autism.  These routines help with more successful engagement in daily activities and can often prevent behaviors.  I believe, for my child, those routines provide a sense of familiarity and stability....he can't tell me this but in my mind, I would think it helps to provide an environment that is safe and calm, or reassuring.

                                       BUT...what happens when a vacation comes along? 

I honestly forget about this every time....E-V-E-R-Y TIME!!!!  I am not sure why because I know, but the truth is that I always remember after the fact!  Ugh!

The setting: It's Spring Break and family is in town....

The weekend seemed absolutely normal but then came Monday.  People still in the house and no school meant things were different.  Although things seemed okay, you could tell my son didn't quite know what to do with himself.  He seemed to drift from one thing to the next....Then came Tuesday, same scenario only my son was easily agitated.  He seemed to get more and more agitated everyday (one moment he was happy and playing games, the next minute he was throwing the game pieces and cursing)!  I felt like I was putting out little fires until he finally blew up!  The blow up was bad...I felt kind of embarrassed that my visiting family was witnessing this but then, I also kinda believe it was good too!  I think it gives family a chance to see our world, the fun and the hard!  And when we talk to each other and say that our son had a tough day, there might be more of an understanding.

On the Wednesday of spring break, I seemed to finally remember what breaks are really like.  Thanksgiving week, the first week of Christmas break, the week of spring break, the first week of summer break, and even the first week of school....all those weeks are huge weeks of change.  I need to remember to prepare him...but how?  My first thought it to write a social story about breaks to read to him (several hundred times) before the break gets here.  Social stories are great because they are words and pictures designed to help kids understand how to act in certain situations.  Hearing it over and over helps provide a chain of actions that they can respond to a situation with.

In the end, breaks are not easy in our household.  They just aren't but I am going to try to be proactive here, to write a social story that explains what will happen during a break from our regular schedule.  In fact, my goal will be to write one after I publish this blog.  My computer is up and going, might as well!

TTFN

Martha