Top 5 Helpful Tips
Hi Dedicated Parents/Caregivers!
Parenting is tough, even in the best of circumstances! There are good days and bad to be sure.
I’ve been there! I have had days where I seriously questioned my life choices, and there have been days that have created strong core memories of love. I believe the lessons I have learned over the years and information I have gathered are worth sharing, as I hope that any of my difficult times while parenting might be able to help other parents who are struggling. Or at the very least, give parents some good entertainment.
In this blog post, I will be sharing the Top 5 Helpful Tips for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD. I will be covering:
Learning routines of your child
Observe and record triggers and subsequent behaviors
Starting a Food and Behavior Journal
Finding your child’s interests
Creating a travel kit for your child
So if you want to learn more about your child and find ways to possibly make parenting a little more relaxed, then you’re in the right place!
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Learning Routines
Learning the routines of your child is super important in order to schedule things in your life! Let me explain.
When my son was first diagnosed with ASD (age 8), I tried to make his needs fit around my life. But in reality, that was only making him and me more stressed and incredibly anxious. In order to help both of our mental health states, I had to learn to make my life fit around my son’s needs.
For example, my son doesn’t like to be in crowded areas (neither do I). So to help us both, I plan to go to the store or other shopping trip either early in the morning, or later in the day to avoid the crowds.
Also, my son does not like to be rushed out the door when we have to go places. So I would start warning him the night before about our schedule, then I would remind him about 30 minutes prior to leaving the house. This helped him get mentally and physically prepared to leave his comfort zone.
The evenings were also a time of stress for my son. After he spent all day trying to “fit in” at school he was exhausted. He didn’t like going places in the evenings, he just wanted to be in his safe space and relax.
Knowing these key things about my son’s needs helped me look at life with a more relaxed lens and focus on his needs and emotional development.
Observing and Recording Triggers & Behaviors
Now the fun part, just kidding. Observing AND recording triggers and behaviors is absolutely key to discovering what your child needs (and totally doesn’t need or want)! I can’t stress this enough!
The key here is to record what happens BEFORE the behaviors occur (AKA Triggers), and then what behavior actually happened AFTER they were triggered.
For example, when my son was younger he HATED farmer’s markets and/or street fairs with a passion. He said there are too many weird people that stare at him. He can’t stand them! We joke about it now that he is a little older and has more coping strategies. Even now that he is a teenager, he doesn’t care to go anywhere near one unless there is some sort of reward or treat involved.
I noticed that there were certain places or experiences that would really make my son explode! Farmer’s markets were just one of those places. He also struggled with waiting in lines at stores. He would always get into some sort of argument with me or his brother while waiting in line that would sometimes end up with screaming or crying.
Knowing this allowed me to change my tactic about bringing my kids to the store together. If at all possible, I did not bring them to the store together as they would always fight in the checkout line. If I absolutely had to bring them both, I would give my oldest son a job and tell him he was in charge of helping me remember a certain item. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. But you use what tools you have when you’re by yourself with kids in public.
Zones of Regulation Magnet for Fridge
Feelings Chart Zones of Regulation Poster Feelings Autism Sensory Products Set of 6
Food Journal
Another type of journal to have or include with the behavior journal is noting if certain foods increase negative behaviors.
When I started a food journal for my son, I noticed that any time he would eat ice cream he would have an insane amount of energy and start to get really cranky. I also noticed that if he had gone too long in between meals he would get VERY “hangry” and would need a snack. The difference in behavior pre and post snack is incredible, even to this day! Again, use your knowledge of your child to help them.
Finding your Child’s Interests
This might sound completely obvious, but it is definitely essential. Finding what your child is interested in can be tricky. There are times when my son is super interested in a particular show, or character, or game and then without warning he is absolutely not interested in it anymore. His interests are constantly changing. Let me say, he is really hard to buy birthday gifts for!
Creating a Travel Kit for you AND your Child
Once I finally figured this one out, it was a game changer! While working in Special Education, I was able to work with some amazing teachers who showed me some emotion cards that might help my son express himself when he was frustrated. It seems really simple, but once I started using the cards it was fantastic to see how it worked! I already carried a medium sized purse, so adding these few items wasn’t a big deal.
My travel kit included:
Snacks
Fidget toys
Headphones for him to listen to music on my phone
My son’s kit included:
Backpack that fit him
Coloring book with crayons or markers
Sticker by number (challenging version) or other sticker placement book
Snacks
Water bottle
These are the exact steps I took to help make our lives a little less stressful and you can use these steps too! My life became much more manageable and more relaxed as I stopped trying to fit into “normalcy” and started living my life and parenting in a style that my children needed. Because at the end of the day, who cares what anyone else thinks! What matters is that my children know I am their biggest champion and want to have a safe and accepting home.
I know this can be an overwhelming and challenging time! Even if you are not ready to dig in completely, I have something that might help you start down this journey quickly. Get my FREE get started checklist printable and Behavior/Food Tracker.
Use the form below to get INSTANT access to this organizing checklist and give yourself some tips to get your journey started!
