Helping autistic child during this pandemic

THE EDITOR: In this time of covid19, many people are struggling with the anxiety of the uncertainty that comes with the unknown, the disruption of our daily routines and the sudden new reality of living in a world where our health is put at risk by leaving our homes. For those on the autism spectrum, this struggle is greatly increased.

People on the spectrum typically thrive on routines and predictability. It keeps order to their day, and they can make sense of a world that does not always make sense to them. The closure of schools and drastically changed daily routines can be a difficult challenge for them and for their caregivers.

As a therapist and the mother of a child on the autism spectrum, I know that parents need to employ various strategies to accommodate their children and loved ones at this time.

Firstly, you must have lots of patience. This might be a challenge for parents as we are all trying to cope with the new reality of being confined to home. As difficult as this may be for us, we can imagine the struggle our diverse children are having.

Patience can be simply understanding that your autistic child may not immediately accept new routines and you may have to make changes as appealing as possible. Some measures of covid19, like wearing a mask, may not be feasible as sensory issues make this impossible to tolerate for some children.

Also, if you are transitioning from one activity to the next, you will have to use a communication style that your child is familiar with or finds preferable.

Don’t give up! During this time, it helps to keep providing structure. Structure is crucial to all children, but even more so to those with autism. It allows for some degree of reliability and predictability. The world may be uncertain right now but at least home is not.

Staying calm and reassuring allows your child to take his or her cues from you. Often, children on the spectrum feed off the emotions from people around them and imitate these emotions. This has the added benefit of helping you the parent to remember this and to remain calm as well.

Stimming is a self-regulatory behaviour. Children may flap their hands or rock back and forth in an attempt to self-soothe when they are anxious. Allow them this opportunity. There is a lot of information they may hear or see on the television, radio or internet and this can create their anxiety. Just as neurotypical people engage in behaviours that help them stay calm, so too do our diverse individuals.

Engage your child in physical activities that are inviting and suitable. Staying at home may increase their energies so that daily exercise allows them to shed anxious feelings and helps to distract them from the worries they may have about what is happening around them.

Spend additional time with your children. This will allow you to gain a more complete understanding of who they are and gives you more insight into the challenges they face and what strategies can be used to help them in difficult times.

The world is struggling to cope with this pandemic. However, we can still do our best to ensure that our children on the autism spectrum cope well and foster closer relationships with us, their parents.

LAURA LALLA

psychologist

member of TTAP