What do you really need to survive autism? Well, a lot of prayers to start off with. Remember I'm a Jesus freak! And on the serious side, children on the spectrum like to stem. Don't stop them from stemming. it helps them cope. And yes there is a "time and place for stemming".
You know that song, You spin me right round baby right round. Yeah well that pretty much sums up autism for me. Spinning is one of the coping stems that is Doodle's go to stem. So I made her a swing. You know the swing. The ones that you can find all around in your childhood. The rope and board swing. My swings are made out of 550 cord. You can also use the 550 cord to make survival bracelets. Yes that's the cord I use for the swing. And can Doodle get some height on that one. She will sit down and twist, twist, twist and twist until she gets the cord where she wants it and lift her feet off the ground. The excitement as she spins the uncontrollable giggles and squeals. This is something that she could do for hours if I allow her too. And the best part is this type of swing can be set up anywhere at anytime. Love the stemming swings!
Next up is the trampoline. Whether it's a small trampoline or a large trampoline you need to have a trampoline. Jumping is another form of stemming. Remember that stemming means to self sooth when they are in sensory overload. This is another thing that Doodle likes to do when she's not in the mood to spin. Jumping is a repetitive behavior. It means that it can be done over and over and over again. And who am I to stop that one. I used to have a small trampoline in the house and large one on the outside. Now I just have the larger trampoline outside. If you're thinking that this is one of those things that are way out of your budget try checking your local craigslist ads. They almost always have trampolines for sale and in many cases ones that have only been used once or twice by kids and then left to the way side.
And exercise ball. These overly large balls that hold our weight while we do our sit ups on the trying our hardest not to fall off. Yeah those. Rolling back and forth on one of these exercise balls is the best way to stem during a meltdown.
Play sand. Yes you heard me correctly. Play sand is something that I use as a diversion or redirection. If a meltdown is coming one I use sand. But not just any play sand. Yeah outside play sand is great for outside but what about a rainy day when your stuck indoors and your sand is outside. Well you can use a small plastic tub with some sand in it or you can you kinetic sand. Michaels craft store actually sells this stuff and it is heaven! For different types of sand you might want to work with or learn more about for your child on the spectrum I highly suggest this video from Lucky Penny Shop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8UkempW6k You can actually find lots of great things for your child that you might want to try on Lucky Penny Shop. As LPS Dave likes to test out a lot of toys and yes I mean a lot of toys.
The very last thing in your arsenal should be an ipad or tablet. Can't afford one? Try your local pawn shop. And at some pawn shops you can even do layaway. I got Doodle a tablet from a pawn shop for about $150.00. It has the android app. Bet thing for me is there are a lot of autism learning apps on the droid market. Things you won't find on the ios market. Doodle actually learned all the different emotions that we as humans go through. That's a hard concept for some children on the spectrum, understanding facial expressions. Now she knows understands when I'm happy, sad, mad or excited. You can't teach 24/7 or even for a full 8 hours a day and there is so much information that children on the spectrum need to know. Let technology help you with that. If you're saying but I can do it. Be prepared! It takes a child on the spectrum to do something or be told how to do something over a 1000 times before they get it. Are you really that prepared?
These are all the key essentials to helping your child with ASD. Have fun!
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