If you’re a parent of a child with autism, it’s important to create a daily routine so your child can have the sense of being in a safe environment. A daily routine doesn’t mean that you have to have a set schedule but instead should be designed to make life easier for your child by helping them learn about the world around them.
Here are some examples of daily routines that parents of children with autism can use to help their children learn to be more independent. These are not in any way exhaustive of all possible routines and techniques, but rather only those that I’ve personally found helpful for my own child. It may be that other parents are finding different things that work for them.
Bedtime is the first task on a daily routine. This could be during the day or at night, and it doesn’t have to be as formal as you would imagine. All that matters is that your child goes to bed when they’re supposed to. That doesn’t mean that they stay in bed for an hour or even a full night. It just means that they go to bed when they’re supposed to, and they turn off the lights.
Having them wake up in the morning is another good habit. Try doing this by yourself, or if your child can’t, ask him or her to do it. The same idea should apply to night time as well, although with less formal methods.
I like to set a regular meeting place for my child to eat meals. Usually, I go straight to the kitchen and there’s always something to eat sitting there. If the child can’t get to the kitchen, he or she can try to use the refrigerator or the dining room table for an eating place.
Another useful routine is to have your child brush his or her teeth. I don’t know you’re familiar with the popular technique of having your child ‘breathe’ through his or her mouth, but this method does help with oral hygiene. I remember when I was a child going to the bathroom during the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and then dragging myself back to bed. It didn’t work out very well for me because I’m not a morning person.
So, you can see that many things can work with a similar problem. You need to find a rhythm and schedule. Try to set up the schedule early enough so that your child can start to use it well. Try not to add anything else that you believe will be harder for them to use.
There are many special television shows that are aimed at helping children with autism, and these can be helpful in teaching your child to communicate with others. Again, there is no rule that says that you have to watch these shows with your child, but it can be a nice addition to your daily routine. They may even learn new things while they’re watching them.
Do some research on the products that have been used by autistic people to help children to teach themselves how to use a new toy. They can be quite effective. Most toys are best used in small doses, however, so your child shouldn’t be using more than one or two of them each day.
Your child can also be encouraged to practice techniques such as learning to share with others or to play with things in a certain way, or even to even just learn to use simple things that have always been around since the beginning of time such as a spoon or a stick of chalk. These can all be easily practiced.
When creating a daily routine, you want to allow your child to enjoy the process of learning and trying new things. By making your routine fun and exciting, your child will be more inclined to use the daily routines regularly and effectively.
