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[P61]Parents With Autistic Children

by Rachel Evans, Rac

Parents of autistic children often struggle to get them to sleep, and therefore struggle with their own sleep as well. However, we all know the importance of ensuring children get the sleep that they need in order to get the most out of the various therapies and efforts being made to improve their symptoms. However, it can be easier said than done!

Over-sensitivity to stimuli can be a frustrating challenge for both autistic children and their parents. Over-reaction to various sounds in the child's environment, as well as smells, lights, or any other sensations may make it difficult for a child to fall asleep or stay asleep. Many autistic children have sensory issues within their sleep environment. This can make it difficult for them to relax enough to fall asleep or to find a comfortable position in which to sleep.

In Siegal's book The World of the Autistic Child, it was suggested that the sleep problems faced by autistic children may also be a result of the way autistic neurotransmitters in the brain function. It stated that about 56 percent of autistic children struggle with sleep-related issues that they will rarely "grow out of".

So one of the first steps for remedying the lack of sleep is to try to identify what is causing your child to struggle to sleep. Is it anxiety, sensory issues, medical issues, attention seeking, or something in the bedroom itself?

The following tips are for parents to help their autistic children get to sleep and stay that way until morning:

- Set a bedtime and stick to it, including the routines that occur before bedtime. This allows the child to experience a degree of consistency and predictability, which is often vital to an autistic child's proper functioning.

- Provide your autistic child with visual rules that indicate the rule for staying in one's room or bed at night. These visual rules should be posted in various visible areas of the bedroom.

- Pair the bedtime rules and routines that you create with social stories that can help to speak to your autistic child's sleep-related anxieties.

- Change the bedroom environment to make it more appealing to your autistic child. While some autistic children respond well to having a nightlight, others require total darkness with a black out blind over the window for blocking the exterior light as well. Many autistic children sleep better when their bed is pushed up against the wall, as they feel more secure; a corner is even better. To block out any sounds that may be distressing your child, use a white noise machine or run a fan in your child's bedroom.

- If you usually sleep in the same bed as your autistic child and he or she is struggling to sleep alone, "replace" yourself with a sleeping bag or body pillow to mimic the pressure that would usually exist if you were lying in the bed.

- Use layers for your child's pajamas and tuck him or her in well so that any tactile sensitivity will be minimized.

By rooting out any disturbances causing your child not to sleep and by introducing routines and an effective sleeping environment, your autistic child should be able to enjoy a great deal more sleep - as will you.

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I wanted to take the time to talk to you about teaching autistic children and the challenges presented in doing this. Autism is a disorder that really takes away from a person's ability to communicate, socialize, empathize and do a lot of other things that require interaction with the world. The problem isn't a lack of understanding of the problem. The problem comes down to the fact that the professionals that teach children don't have access to the proper techniques and methods to have an impact on these children. As you can tell, it's tough trying to communicate an education to the very people that have trouble with communication. I'm going to discuss teaching autistic children and the challenges faced by both professionals and parents in this journey.

The key to successful teaching is by breaking down the rigid and conventional methods of doing it. The way most children learn today is just like most other children in the past. The teacher gets up in front of the class, writes on the chalkboard, talks and tells you to open up your textbook. The problem with an autistic child is that this is too much input coming in on two many senses. You have the verbal coming in from the teacher and there is also the visual. Autistic children have a hard time focusing on different senses at the same time. The key to doing it properly is by limiting the education to one single sense. This makes it much easier for them to understand.

The best thing that can be done for teaching autistic children is the need for a partnership between parents and the professionals that are teaching. When it comes to the autistic, you can't just have a time for teaching and than later they go into an environment that erases that teaching. This is something that requires the child to learn with the professionals and these lessons being enforced when they get home. It's important for parents and professionals to be one the same page, so they know exactly what needs to be emphasized while at home. If the child is being taught a specific socializing aspect, it is important to continue on with that while they're at home.

Another aspect of the education process that is often neglected is the long-term progressive growth. Regular children get this at school. They learn to add and subtract before they multiply and divide. What is often missed with teaching autistic children is that progressive growth in learning. As an autistic child learns to properly interpret and communicate better, you obviously can teach them more. It's like a muscle; if you keep progressing at it, they'll get smarter and smarter. What happens is the lesson plan becomes very one-dimensional and doesn't end up growing. The problem isn't necessarily the professionals teaching them, it is the lack of information available to them. Autistic teaching is extremely new for a lot of professionals and there just isn't much out there to help them.

Article Source : book on autism

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Both Rachel Evans & Scott Boyd are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Rachel Evans has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dental Practice, Autism and Education. Grab your free copy of Rachel Evans' brand new Autism Newsletter - Overflowing with easy to implement methods to help you and your family overcome. Rachel Evans's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.

Scott Boyd has sinced written about articles on various topics from Disease & illness, Family Concerns and Disease & illness. To read the original version of this article see . Confused Over The Conflicting Information About Autism. Scott Boyd's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.