Having a routine in our daily life can prove to be highly beneficial. This is because it allows you to better manage and divide your time between work and your social life and develop healthy and lasting habits. However, for children (and adults) with autism and related disorders, a routine can be invaluable due to the fact that it allows them to better manage their symptoms by providing them with a clear structure and a sense of familiarity.
Therefore, while life can sometimes be unpredictable, you must make an effort to put together a daily routine that works for your child. Here are some top tips to get you started!
- Put together a weekly schedule, and display it clearly within your home. This way, your child can view their schedule at any time – and will know exactly what is expected of them each day.
- Encourage your child to participate when putting together their routine – as this gives them a much greater sense of freedom and control. For example, you should expect them to spend a certain amount of time on their school or homework each week – but could allow them to decide when they would like to work on it.
- Work their hobbies into their schedule, ensuring that they spend just as much time having fun as they do developing their special interests or studying. You should also try to ensure that their hobbies are as varied as possible so that they can develop useful skills.
- Often, children with autism or related disorders enjoy spending time alone – but this does not mean that they do not enjoy socializing or that they are unable to make meaningful and impactful friendships. Therefore, you can help them make new friends by setting aside some time in your schedule for socializing with their peers – whether this means they invite a friend over once a week or participate in team sports.
- Where applicable, you may also want to make weekly or bi-weekly therapy part of your family’s routine. For example, at Alee Behavioral, we have a wide range of carefully curated therapy programs in place designed to help children with autism and related disorders thrive. This includes speech therapy and applied behavior analysis.
- Help your child adapt to their routine by writing down a list of tasks that they need to complete. For example, their morning routine could look a little like this:
- Wake up and make their bed.
- Brush their teeth.
- Wash their face.
- Get dressed.
- Have breakfast.
- While routine is important, you should also ensure that your child can deal with the unexpected or the days where things don’t quite go to plan. One way in which you can achieve this goal is by ‘scheduling’ in a surprise – where you simply write a question mark on their calendar or tell them you are going to be trying something new at a certain time. This way, they are not taken aback when something new happens.
In short, there are various steps you can take to put together a routine that works for your child – though perhaps the most important step is ensuring that they feel relaxed and comfortable.
