Six Tips for Traveling with Your Child with ASD

by Dr. Diane Adreon | Nov 10, 2020 | Blog

It’s been quite the year, to say the least. Now, the weather is cooling down, and our kids are getting a much needed break from virtual or in-person learning for the holidays. More and more families are getting comfortable with traveling and gathering in small groups or with loved ones. That means, you may be headed on a family getaway with your child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Planning a trip when your loved one has ASD can be stressful for both you and your child, especially now that masks and social distancing protocols are in place, but there are ways to minimize that stress with a few simple tips that make it a more comfortable experience for the entire family.

Create a Visual Narrative about the Trip.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do best when they know what is going to happen. Consider creating a visual narrative about where you will be going, what you will be doing, and whom you will be seeing. Narratives can be written at any level. You just want it to convey meaningful information for your child.

Share the Agenda.

Provide your child with a daily agenda of what you will be doing and include the order of events. Be sure to also include pictures in the written agenda if it will help your child understand the sequence of events. You may find it best not include times. If you do include times, consider writing in approximate times.

Share your Back-up Plan for Change of Plans.

Plans change. It may rain or the attraction you planned to see may have an unexpected closure. Create a backup plan and share that with your child, so they are prepared. It is always appropriate to provide positive reinforcement (specific praise, a small privilege) when the child adjusts to the change of plans.

Plan for Meals. 

If you are staying with relatives, explain the importance of offering food that your child will eat. This includes buying specific brand names that the child prefers and preparing meals that the child is used to eating (or having familiar foods available). Try to have this conversation take place before the trip. If you are going to be dining out, you might want to stick to restaurant chains where you child has eaten before. You can also consider bringing preferred food with you, especially if you are going to a local restaurant where it is uncertain as to whether your child will eat the food. Older children may benefit from viewing the menu ahead of time.

Plan for Waiting and Down Time.

Bring activities, sensory toys, preferred books or electronics to keep your child entertained during long car rides, down time, and lengthy meal times.  For long car rides, consider games like Green Auto Backseat Bingo.

If you are traveling by air, check out The MIAair Program (Airport Instruction and Readiness).

This program provides helpful information to help prepare individuals with ASD for travel. Social Narratives (in English and Spanish) explain the sequence of events that take place when you travel by air. The Caregiver Information Packet and Airline Travel Checklist (in English and Spanish) also provides useful information for travelers. Find it here: www.Miami-airport.com/miaair.asp

Bonus Tip!  

If you have the patience and the time, you can help your child work on his/her planning skills by participating in packing. Mark the days you will be gone on a calendar and have your child count out and pack underwear & socks for the trip. You can look up the weather and have them identify the types of clothing you will need to pack. Perhaps they can pack up their own games and activities for entertainment. Some children will respond well to a packing checklist. This is a natural opportunity to learn “planning skills.”

The above strategies are about making sufficient accommodations so that you and your child can enjoy your vacation.

To learn more about Dr. Diane Adreon, internationally recognized autism expert, award-winning author, and public speaker, visit spectrumlifestrategies.com.

When Your Child is Diagnosed with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

by Dr. Diane Adreon | Oct 20, 2020 | Blog

Understanding the “Autism Spectrum”

Autism is a scary word. When most people think of autism, they think of “classic autism” as often portrayed in old movies and descriptions of children who often developed little language and had tremendous difficulty interacting with others and learning a wide range of skills. 

The definition of autism has changed considerably and includes a much broader group of individuals, including individuals with language, and average to above-average intelligence. In the diagnostic manual used by doctors and psychologists in the United States, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–5(DSM-5); previous autism subtypes (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Asperger’s Disorder, and Autistic Disorder, are all called Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

Why Do Different Professionals Give My Child Different Labels?

It is common for parents to take their child to different professionals and get different diagnoses. One doctor may say, “He doesn’t have autism. He has PDD-NOS”. Another professional may say it’s not autism or PDD-NOS, but rather – Asperger’s Disorder. Currently, diagnosticians will diagnose these individuals as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Then, they will use other descriptors such as with or without language impairment, or with or without cognitive impairment. 

I Don’t Want Him to be Labeled! 

Undoubtedly, receiving a diagnosis is very upsetting. However, learning that your child has ASD can be very helpful to you, your family, and your child. Many parents who have been searching for a long time to understand their child’s struggles, are relieved to finally have a diagnosis that makes sense. Learning about ASD is the first step in helping you learn about your child in a more holistic fashion and give you the necessary tools to serve as “conductor of his orchestra”. 

After all, it is parents who will work together with professionals to determine:

1. What skills are most important for my child to work on? 
2. What is the best use of our family’s financial resources to help our child?

It is a good idea for parents to keep all diagnostic records and then decide what records would be useful in securing services for their child. 

Areas of Impairment in ASDs

In the United States, medical doctors and psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to classify developmental and psychiatric disorders. In DSM-5, individuals with ASD are described as having impairments in two primary areas: 

1. Social communication
2. Restricted range of interests, patterns, and behavior.

Most children with ASD have difficulty in the areas of attention: 

1. Executive functioning
2. Adaptive skills
3. Emotional regulation
4. Motivation 

Many children with ASD have intact or enhanced skills in certain areas, such as long-term rote memory and attention to details. Many also have specific weaknesses in areas of learning. This might be in specific academic areas or other areas of brain functioning, such as how quickly (or slowly) they process information. Learning how your child functions across all of these areas can be very helpful in prioritizing goals and helping your child improve his skills. 

“The Doctor Said My Child is High-Functioning”

There is not a universally agreed-upon definition of HF-ASD. In all likelihood, what the diagnostician is saying is that your child has a significant amount of language and your child does not also have mental retardation, along with the ASD. An IQ of 70 or above is considered to be above the cut-off for mental retardation.  

Having a higher IQ probably means that your child has the potential to learn more skills than a child with ASD who has a lower IQ, so it is a good prognostic indicator. A child who has developed considerable language skills, is able to communicate his wants and needs more effectively than a child with less language. In all likelihood, the child with more language is also better able to understand what others are trying to communicate. This is also very important.

If My Child is High-Functioning, Does This Mean that His Problem is Mild?

Unfortunately, having ASD is not a mild problem. By definition, to be diagnosed with ASD the child has to have significant impairment in functioning. 

What are some of the First Steps I can take to Help My Child? 

1. Take care of yourself & your relationships. By addressing your own emotional well-being and nurturing the important relationships in your life, you will assist your family in becoming more resilient.
2. Seek professional help, whether it is through face-to-face support groups, on-line support groups, or seeing a counselor or therapist. 
3. Learn about ASD. There’s a tremendous amount of information available. It is difficult to determine what information is most reputable. Seek out professionals you can trust to provide you with information as objectively as possible.

Dr. Diane Adreon is an internationally recognized autism expert, award-winning author, and public speaker. For more information on her consulting services, contact her at 929.249.1960.

Cooking During COVID: Skills To Implement For Your Loved One with HF-ASD

by Dr. Diane Adreon | Aug 27, 2020 | Blog

We’re all spending lots of time at home during COVID. Most of us are cooking more than ever and eating most of our meals at home. This is a great opportunity to teach your loved one with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) a few kitchen skills.

Most individuals with HF-ASD are on a regular diploma track in school. However, just because they graduate from high school with a regular diploma or attend college or graduate school, does NOT mean that he/she will have learned sufficient independent living skills.

Independent living skills, typically, are not taught to individuals with ‘normal’ IQs. For example, these skills may include making phone calls; carrying your ID, a debit card, or cash when leaving the house; knowing when physical symptoms are significant enough to see a doctor or call 911.  Neurotypicals, individuals NOT on the autism spectrum, do not necessarily need explicit instruction and practice to develop these skills because they tend to learn by observing others and asking questions. However, individuals with ASD often need explicit instruction to learn these skills. 

The home environment is the natural environment for teaching these skills. This list includes 12 household chores to work on with your loved one in the kitchen:

1. Set the table
2. Empty the trash
3. Insert a new trash bag
4. Clear the table
5. Put food items away and identify the amount of food worth saving
6. Pick a container and transfer food to that container
7. Determine whether items go in the refrigerator or pantry
8. Do the dishes, which also includes the below tasks:

• Handle dishes with care
• Handle knives carefully
• Rinse items sufficiently
• Identify what goes in the dishwasher and where to place them

1. Wipe off counters
2. Place sponges, wet dish rags, and towels in the correct place
3. Sanitize a sponge
4. Unload the dishwasher

Individuals with ASD tend to have problems with over-generalizing or under-generalizing skills or concepts. For example, one woman with ASD got in trouble for graffiti; however, she thought that they meant that she should not put graffiti on that ONE wall. Many years ago, I was teaching my young son with HF-ASD to empty trash. I usually bought the trash bags that have a drawstring; however, this time I bought the cheaper ones where the ends needed to be tied together. He had no idea what to do. A similar problem occurred when I asked him to clean our glass table with Windex. Apparently, I bought a generic glass cleaner, so he didn’t didn’t put it together that Windex is also a glass cleaner, so he could use it to clean the table. Individuals with ASD can find it challenging to learn these skills when there is a slight change in the materials or instructions. However, we often overlook how these challenges affect learning all types of tasks. .

I was recently at a party with several children with ASD. Nine-year-old Mark, was asked to help return items to the refrigerator. He walked into the kitchen, looked at the refrigerator and asked, “Is this the refrigerator?” His mother immediately understood that he was confused because their refrigerator at home has the freezer compartment on top, and this was a side-by-side refrigerator.

One of the families I work with was recently relaying a story to me about their daughter, Lisette. Lisette was helping clear the table and put the food away. They had spaghetti for dinner and Lisette had four strands of spaghetti on her plate. She asked her mother whether she was supposed to (a) find a container and save it, or (b) throw it away. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself of how hard our loved ones on the spectrum work on understanding what we want them to do. Remembering this, helps me plan teachable moments; however  ONLY when I am in a “patient” state of mind. That would be my advice to you, as well.

Here are 7 teaching tips to remember:

1. Always evaluate whether this is a good time for an instructional moment.
2. Make NUMEROUS positive statements for every ONE correctional statement.
3. Use very few correctional statements.
4. Look and listen carefully! People on the spectrum get stuck in all kinds of ways.
5. The whole lesson may take less than one minute.
6. Be realistic! You can only work on a limited number of skills at a time.
7. Try to end on a positive note!

We know this time is unsettling, and downright scary. Let’s be honest, it’s even harder for families who have a loved one with ASD. Please know that we are here to support you and help you through this challenging time, and give you the tools you need to keep moving forward. We offer free 30-minute consultations and virtual consulting.

Dr. Diane Adreon is an internationally recognized autism expert, award-winning author, and public speaker. For more information on her consulting services, contact her at 929.249.1960.

Helping Your Child with HF-ASD Learn Effective Homework Routines

by Dr. Diane Adreon | Feb 14, 2020 | Blog