Welcome back to our “Preparing for a Successful Thanksgiving” series. In this second segment we will be sharing information on how to manage changes to schedules and routines.
The day of Thanksgiving is not only hectic and busy, it may also be on a completely different schedule than normal. Maybe you’ll be eating earlier or later than normal. Maybe you’ll be at an unfamiliar house. Maybe you’ll be travelling farther than normal. Navigating these changes can be a struggle to someone with autism, but we’re here to share a couple strategies that may help ease the challenges that may come.
The first tool at your disposal is prediction. We covered this in Part 1, when we talked about using Social Stories, but we can also use a schedule to help. Some schedules use pictures to show the different parts of the day and some schedules are just written. Some schedules give a short description of the event and some even show specific times of the event. The type of schedule you use is going to be based on your child’s understanding and needs, but simply, it should be a list of the main parts of the day. Most schedules allow for some way to show the event is over, possibly by removing the visual or crossing off the event. Schedules help reduce anxiety by letting your child know two things: that the event has an end and what is going to happen next. Take a look at this written example schedule.
Thanksgiving at Grandma’s
Drive to Grandma’s
Use the Bathroom
Play in the Basement
Use the Bathroom
Dinner at the Table
Play in the Basement
Dessert in the Kitchen
Play in the Basement
Use the Bathroom
Drive Home
Nothing too fancy but enough to predict the day for your child. Again, you will want to tailor this to your child’s understanding and needs but try to keep things on the vague side. If anything unexpected were to happen, vagueness gives you some wiggle room!
Another strategy to help with the change in routine is to allow for your child to take breaks throughout the day. If possible, setting up a small, quiet area where your child can have a few minutes to themselves will pay huge dividends in how they handle the day. Talk to the host and see what can be done. Most people will be happy to help! You can go about using breaks in a few ways.
- First, you can include breaks in the schedule we talked about earlier. This is a great way to show your child that they will get some “alone time” in all the madness.
- Another way you can tackle this is to take breaks as needed. This also allows you to work on some communication. You know your child best and have the best handle on what they do when they are starting to get anxious or upset. They need something and sometimes nothing will stand in their way of getting it! When you see this, try stepping in as early as possible. What you want to do is replace the undesirable behavior with something more desirable. Have them calmly ask for a break however your child can (vocal, sign, visual) and after they request the break, let them have a few minutes in their “quiet space”. As your child begins to learn the power of his requests, you may see him requesting more and more!
References
Carr, E. G., & Durand, V. M. (1985). Reducing behavior problems through functional communication training. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 18(2), 111-126.
Lalli, J. S., Casey, S., & Kates, K. (1995). Reducing escape behavior and increasing task completion with functional communication training, extinction and response chaining. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28(3), 261-268.
Meadan, H., Ostrosky, M. M., Triplett, B., Michna, A., & Fettig, A. (2011). Using visual supports with young children with autism spectrum disorder. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43(6), 28-35.