Supporting Autistic Children: Socializing Starts At Home
By now, you will be fully aware that autism is a complex disorder covering a wide spectrum of symptoms. However, the impact on social skills is one of the most common issues for autistic children. As a supportive parent, you’d do anything to support your little angel. With regard to social development, the home setting is the perfect starting point.
After all, the familiar surroundings remove some of the stressors. You can start small with the parent-child bond before introducing others and/or taking activities from the home to new settings. Here are some of the best activities to consider.
Gaming
Video games may often be painted in a bad light. However, they have a lot of positive outcomes to offer, not least for children on the autism spectrum. Games can be a fantastic way for them to develop cognitive skills and improve their concentration levels. It’s also an environment where they can enjoy a level playing field to everyone else – and often outperform neurotypicals.
Gaming can also teach kids that they can’t always get their way and to be resilient. This can help them in various scenarios. If you are worried about your teen getting frustrated with early losses in an FPS game, why not look at Call of Duty accounts for sale? This gives them instant access to features that ordinarily have to be unlocked. Yet the low K-D ratio means they’ll still play against beginners and lower-level opponents.
Even younger gamers can benefit from social gaming. Family-friendly games make it easy for them to socialize as they are already focused on the game. Meanwhile, inviting a friend over promotes one-on-one social interactions. This can eventually lead to greater comfort within group settings.
Cooking
Cooking is one of the best activities for parents and children to enjoy at home. Aside from underlining how a little hard work can produce great rewards, it has many social benefits. It’s a chance to spend quality time together while parents can monitor their child’s speech, reading skills, numeracy, and more. It is also great bonding for neurotypical and neurodivergent siblings.
The key to success stems from finding suitable recipes. This gluten and dairy-free chocolate meringue pie is ideal. After all, it avoids many of the ingredients that can trigger symptoms of other conditions linked to autism, like ADHD. Frankly, avoiding (or reducing) ultra-processed foods will be very helpful. From a social perspective, it is an ideal way to introduce parallel play to youngsters living with autism.
Cooking can also be supported by growing fruit and veg in the garden. Even without this step, though, the opportunity to do things both alone and in a group makes it a perfect activity. Besides, it lays the foundation for living independently in later life, which is vital for all children to learn.
Role Playing
Role-playing activities are a great way for children to play and express their creativity. The fact that all children respond well to this makes it a good option for bringing people closer. Again, the barrier between neurodivergent and neurotypical kids is broken. Parents, siblings, and even friends can join in with the activities. So, it can become a regular favorite.
To celebrate role-playing games, you’ll want to buy various dress-up outfits and accessories. When pretending to be someone else, children with autism may find it easier to empathize with others. You can encourage this by asking questions about how the character feels during play. This may subsequently lead to thoughts about how the other people may feel. Developing this skill can transform their future socializing activities with other kids.
Role playing inside the home can be supported by similar activities in the garden. So, if getting your neurodivergent child outside has been an issue, this could be the solution. Of course, this type of play supports other key cognitive skills and creative thinking. Even from a young age, this is a great addition.
Online Socializing
The possibilities of online socializing have already been touched upon in the gaming section. It’s not only teens and pre-teens that benefit from this, though. Even toddlers and pre-schoolers can benefit from online socializing. Most notably, you can set up virtual meetings with other families. It is particularly useful for connecting with other parents who have autistic children.
Once you have the right video chat software and facilities, you can set up virtual play dates with ease. The kids can say hello to each other and interact without the pressure of being in the same room. It is very useful if eye contact tends to be an issue as kids can continue to play with their toys while talking via the tech features. Naturally, it creates an opportunity for parents to talk with each other, as well as the other child.
It is a fantastic choice when you are concerned about overwhelming your child by jumping straight into in-person play. When letting another family into your home, albeit virtually, you need to be careful about safety. As such, it is best to reserve this activity for families that you know in real life.
Sensory Play
When sensory delay is present as a symptom of autism, you must not ignore it. Not least because sensory activities are an ideal choice when hoping to break solo repetitive play. Parents can start with activities like using swings in the garden. Kids are still kind of alone, but also rely on you for their play as you push them.
This can quickly grow to games with bubbles, chasing them, or playing with different textures like sand and water. Mud play, finger painting, and other creative sensory play are ideal too. Crucially, they can be adapted to suit all kids from toddlers to pre-teens. While it starts with supporting the parent-child or sibling bond, the benefits can spread to school. As such, it is an ideal way to prepare your child for group play.
You can take things slowly by letting your child enjoy parallel play while simply talking you through the steps. As you slowly introduce playing together, this can become a familiar setting for them. In turn, your child will be more likely to share and understand what other kids might need during play – sensory or otherwise. Perfect.
Featured Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
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