Helpdesk: Visual Dinner Guides for the Holiday Season

Ask the Expert – Practical Strategies to Maintain Your Child’s Physical and Mental Health During the Holidays

The holiday season is just around the corner, and you can feel the excitement in the air!  For most of us, the lights, glitter, family gatherings, shopping, and travel are all thrilling this time of year. When you are a parent of a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, all of these thrilling experiences can also be a major cause of stress. All of the extra sensory stimulation, as well as the changes in schedule and routine, might become a significant source of anxiety for your child, causing him or her to become overwhelmed. So, in an effort to lower the stress level for you, your child, and the rest of your family, we decided to put together some proactive suggestions that will hopefully help all of you to enjoy this magical time of year.

Keep a routine. Since change is difficult for many children with ASD, try to maintain routines and stick to schedules (as much as possible).  Use a visual timer (we are fans of the Time-Timer, as children can actually “see” the time passing without any anxiety-causing sound) and give a “First…Then” chart a try!

Prepare, prepare, prepare! Help your child understand what will occur BEFORE it happens with a social story (write your own or choose from those readily available online). Construct a calendar that visually represents when events will occur and refer to it often. If you are hosting (or planning on attending) a large family gathering to celebrate the holiday season, prepare a mini photo album that includes pictures of all those who will be in attendance and their names (review it with your child prior to the event). If you are celebrating locally, it might be helpful to plan a brief visit ahead of time, or plan to arrive before the other guests, to allow your child to become familiar with and comfortable in the environment.

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My Milestones – Nurturing Our Sons’ Sibling Relationship Through ASD, the Holidays and the Future

When my older son Aaron with Asperger’s was young, I immersed myself in ever-evolving goals for him, including school, social skills, comprehension, extracurricular activities and his emotional development. The holiday season always presented such fun and excitement while planning for how to make our Hanukkah celebration meaningful. Our joy expanded when we had our second son Josh, who presented new complexities and made us think through how to make the holiday special for each of them. We wanted to enrich their relationship as brothers and our family traditions, while honoring Aaron’s needs balanced with Josh’s.

As a neurotypical, very energetic child, Josh loved noisy activities and events that could push Aaron’s sensitivities to sound or light into overdrive. Whether he was playing with noisy toys he received as gifts, enjoying loud exhibits at our local museum or mall often accompanied by live music, or begging to go to an IMAX movie, Josh plunged into experiences that could set Aaron’s sensory issues on edge (Aaron still remembers a very loud duckling game that fascinated Josh while haunting him). Aaron’s special interests such as exploring an art museum’s holiday exhibit or the Natural History Museum science hall for hours on end bored Josh endlessly. I found compromises like a foray to the knights in shining armor displays for Josh in between Aaron’s beloved tours of every painting in a gallery, while trying to ignore Josh plopping down on the seat by Aaron’s favorite painting and dramatically sighing for all to hear, “I’m soooo bored!”
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