autismpsych

This is the time of the year when many parents begin looking forward to a more predictable routine and an end to hearing, "I'm bored!"  and "I don't have anything to do!"  However, for many of the parents of children with Autism or Asperger's Disorder, this time of year brings dread in anticipating another change and transition.  Managing change is typically very difficult for children with Autism or Asperger's.  Most of them find comfort in the familiar and routine.  Children with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty generalizing from past experience and therefore have trouble anticipating and predicting outcomes or consequences of events.  Even when circumstances of a situation are similar to previous ones (e.g., going to the same school, some of the same classmates, familiar teachers), they experience a great deal of worry and anxiety because it's not "exactly" like last year. 

One easy way to ease the transition to a new school year is to arrange a visit to the school during the early teacher workdays, allowing the child to see his new classroom, meet the teacher, see his seat, cubby, etc. without the stress of doing it in the noisy chaos of the first day.  Ask the teacher or principal for a class roster so that you can talk to your child about possible familiar faces in his class.  Allow your child to participate in buying school supplies (there are few children who don't enjoy new paper, pencils, markers, binders, lunch boxes, and book bags).  Lastly, keep your worry under wraps and communicate only positive expectations about the new school year to your child.   If these general strategies don't seem to help, please contact me at Child and Family Development in Charlotte, NC (ccapehart@childandfamilydevelopment.com) to arrange a consultation to discuss more specific autism treatment strategies.  Here's hoping the 2009-2010 school year is the best yet!