Dealing with Change
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Autistic people may sometimes find change difficult but there are things we can do to support them. Below are some tips for supporting autistic people with change.
Routines and difficulties with change
Autistic people can sometimes find the world unpredictable. They may prefer to have a daily routine so that they can know what’s going to happen each day. They might take the same route to school or work or might eat the same thing for breakfast each day.
Rules can be important to some autistic people and they may find it difficult to take a different approach to the one they’re used to or to the one they’ve been taught.
Seemingly minor changes such as moving between two activities or big changes such as holidays, changing schools, moving house, or celebrating Christmas can be stressful.
Other ways that autistic people may seek predictability and routine include:
- Finding it difficult to cope with changes to the environment (such as furniture moving) or changes in people (such as new people being introduced or familiar people being absent)
- Strong preferences in areas such as food (only eating certain types of food) or objects (such as only using a certain brand of soap).
- Precisely following daily routines such as meal times or bedtimes.
- Creating verbal rituals such as asking the same questions or needing specific answers
- Compulsive behaviours such as repeatedly washing their hands or checking locks on doors. This may not necessarily mean that they have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but speak to your GP if you have any concerns.
During times of change, stress, or illness, autistic people’s reliance on routines may increase.
Unexpected changes can also be difficult to cope with.
Strategies to deal with changes
Try to find out what is involved in an upcoming change. For example, if you know your child’s class teacher is leaving, try finding out about any new member of staff or changes in timetable and when and how these changes will take place.
Try marking the day that the change is going to happen on a calendar and encourage your child to count down to the day. When explaining the change to them, use clear language and give them time to process what you have said.
Visuals can also help to explain any change that is happening. For example, try showing your child photos of the new place (such as the house they will be moving to), the new person (such as a new class teacher), or a new activity.
Make a book or collection of these photos for them to look at leading up to and during the change.
Visuals can also show the full process of a situation. For example, if you are going on holiday and show your child a photo of a plane, they might not understand the link between the holiday destination and the plane. Try showing them the whole process of going on the plane to the holiday destination. Reverse the sequence of the photos to show them the return journey. On the day of the change, a visual timetable can help to remind them of this process.
If the change is to a new school or care service, try to ensure that staff from the previous setting and from the new setting are involved in preparing your child for the change. Your child should be involved as much as they can in any decision making and new staff will need to be provided with information on areas such as your child’s strengths, their needs, how to support them, and how they communicate.
Sequencing what is going to happen in a day into a logical order can be difficult for some autistic people. Abstract concepts such as time may be difficult to understand and some autistic children may find it hard to wait. This may mean you see changes in your child’s behaviour when they need to change activities. For example, they might become worried or stressed. To support this, you can try:
- Use a visual timetable or a now and next board to show the upcoming activities.
- Use a timer (including a sand timer, electronic timer, or referring to a clock face) to show how long until an activity is finished and when the next activity will begin.
- Encourage your child to put the finished activity into a finished tray or the symbol for the activity into a finished box to reinforce the idea that the activity has ended.
- Make waiting times between activities as short as you can.
- Organising enjoyable activities during transition times- such as putting a range of activities into a ‘transition box’ that your child can use while they wait or when they first arrive in a room to help them re-regulate before starting an activity.
Look out for your child becoming worried and support them in expressing how they are feeling. Try to provide opportunities for your child to ask any questions about the change. You could encourage your child to write down or draw their concerns and then place them into a ‘worry box’. You can then discuss any worries in the worry box with them. Also, explain the good aspects of the change- such as the parts of the holiday that they will enjoy. Create a social story to explain what they can do if they start to feel worried.
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