Transitions

Hey parents!

I'm sure many of you have noticed, transitions are so hard for kiddos. They're especially hard for our autistic kids. Why is that?

"Dr. Rosenthal refers to this as cognitive inflexibility, and says that it also explains why those on the autism spectrum have hyper-focused interests and tend to prefer doing the same things in the same order. “Any unexpected changes or transition for a kid with autism disrupts their equilibrium.”" (https://childmind.org/article/why-do-kids-have-trouble-with-transitions/)

Basically, our autistic kiddos like to know what's going on. A sudden transition is very difficult for them. A tip to help is to give plenty of advanced notice for an upcoming transition.

For example, when at the pool, we always tell David 10 minutes left. And count down every few minutes so he knows a transition is coming. Does it always work? Nope. One thing about him is when he's fixed on something, he is FIXED on it. I'm sure y'all can relate. However, it does help! Even if he gets upset, we can typically avoid a full blown meltdown.

I bring this up because we started a new session at our outdoor aventure group we do with David. He's been so difficult getting back into this routine. He loves it so much, but struggles so hard to have to leave each week. But he's also been tough at home lately since starting. He takes a very long time at new routines. This is basically a long, drawn out reaction to transition.

Hopefully that helps you understand your littles better!

🖤 Erica