I thought that today’s discussion could be about what your experiences have been while taking your child with #Autism, outside your home and into the public arena.
How does your child handle the stress involved in leaving the safety, security and predictability of your home?
Sensory sensitivity is a big challenge for many kids on the #Autism spectrum. Do you have any tips or tricks that have helped your child to make it though the trip?
This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsungs Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct hate me.
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My son has Aspergers, and he has definitley gottten a lot better leaving the security of our house. This has taken years of therapy, and trying different meds. Still though if he has to go to something new, like a new season of a sport or a new school year. He still has a meltdown and has a very hard time leaving the house. Please follow my blog @ theclemensblog.blogspot.com
@Shana Clemens thank you for sharing. 🙂
I'll be sure to check out your blog as well. 🙂
My oldest does not handle crowded and noisy places well. It overstimulates him and then he gets sensory overload. This actually rules out most commercial daycare settings. headphones help, but they are not a cure. If we go out, he prefers a place with video games or electronics, as those are his favorite things. We also have food battles, because he is on the GFCF diet but doesn't want to be anymore. His behavior is totally whacky without the diet, and then there are some food allergies. If he can avoid all those things his autism stays more on the mild side. I try to compensate by always having food choices around that he loves, and trying to accomodate so he can eat as close to what all the other kids have as possible, but still healthy. This also makes going out a challenge.
@rmagliozzi that has to be so challenging
My son LOVES to go out. He constantly hands me my purse which is a sign of "let's get out of here!" I at least tell him to go get his iPad and tell me where he wants to go, and sometimes he persevorates on the supermarket, because they have a cafe there with pizza. So sometimes I head him off at the pass and take him out, just to get him out of the house but NOT eating. The risperadone keeps him hungry. Even before diagnosis, he was very into novelty, not routine for many things. I would have to take him on what we call "epic walks", and just walk around the neighborhood, sometimes for HOURS. The thing is the routine begins when we get to the destination. Always have to eat pizza at the supermarket, get Lindt truffles at Walgreens, sit at a certain place in a certain place, go on a certain swing, and so on. It changes but HE changes it. Even when we go on vacation, we get a similar condo every time and this time he had to sleep in a different room (condo sounds fancy but its just because we share with my brother) and he was a bit rattled. Noise bothers him and we can't control that and that is usually the only time we have to leave, if there are noises like brass instruments, or other live music. Bass doesn't bother him as much. The Farmer's Market is an ordeal, but we keep trying. We're also trying a music festival today a bit, and a birthday party. Wish us luck. 😉 We are REALLY luck that for the most part Ted is an easy going child, the biggest problem with his PDDNOS is his inability to communicate effectively.
@AnnMarieHakeHughes I totally get that. Gavin persevorates on food all the time. Emmett on the other hand has big communication issues and that makes things more difficult for him. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
@lostandtired The food one is SUCH a hard one to deal with. You can cause bad issues by making food a battle, but I did honestly try once to see what would happen if he just had access to any food he wanted, and he puked. Luckily, leaving the house helps. I shop every single day so I don't have food for him to eat constantly. (I don't mind, the store is close.) But yeah, if it was up to him he'd eat until he puked. 🙁