Spring break with Brad 2022

Spring break mean sun, warmth, and freedom, but for families of children with autism spectrum Disorder, it could mean unstructured time, regression of skills, and increase in undesirable behaviors.

If you're the parent of a child with autism, you know that the "break" in Spring break can be misleading; it's more like overtime for you.

Children with autism often thrive in structured environments and do best when engaged in their typical routines. Eliminating a highly structured and physically and mentally engaging school day could cause inappropriate behaviors to creep up. Leaving the comfort of home for

a vacation can also bring more stress to your child and to your family.

So for Us our  Spring break this year was not to bad. Brad was so excited to go to the water park resort. He was looking forward to go down the slides so I have him try it so he can tell us what his experience was like 👍 So I ask Brad after his first slide would you like to go down the water 💦 slide again well I guess it👎 will not be a second time  ☝️ because the water was hitting his face going in his nose 👃 we all know kids on the spectrum has sensory issues. So for brad he didn’t like 👍 that but he love the pool 🏊‍♀️ where he can control of what 😮 going in his nose and his face so hear are some of our fun 🤩 spring break 

Advocate for autism family

You can take your case to Disability Rights Florida. This is a statewide organization that is tasked with protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities; their services are free:https://disabilityrightsflorida.org/our_work/services

 

-You can connect with FDLRS in your area. FDLRS has a parent services program, with the goal of supporting communication between parents and schools:https://www.fdlrssuncoast.org/parent-services

 

-The IEP Advocate is a private advocacy group. They provide advocates (for a fee) to review IEPs and attend meetings with you: https://theiepadvocate.com/

 

-Special Education Law and Advocacy is another fee-based advocacy firm, with attorneys and educational advocates on staff: https://flspedlaw.com/

 

This is some great new that I have learn this weeks and I will be using some of this service. Please feel free to share livebeyondautism 

The stress of school

 

The stress of school closures also led to an increase in certain behaviors among children with autism, including:

• Stimming (66%)
• “Meltdowns” (62%)
• Aggression (46%)
• Toileting issues (26%)

In fact, more than three-quarters of parents of autistic children (79%) said that their child’s therapies had been disrupted during the pandemic, and more than half (63%) said their child was regressing behaviorally. Parents were also concerned that their child was less prepared to return to school, falling behind in school and being left out of virtual social situations.

However, while there were negative changes in behavior, parents of children with autism reported that their children have been happier during the pandemic than parents of non-autistic children. The decrease in social demands and opportunity to stay home with loved ones could be contributing to this difference.

In total, these findings suggest that virtual school and therapy services may not be appropriate for children with autism. While researchers still don’t understand the long-term impact of school closures on autistic children, the current study shows the changes in routine and lack of socialization may lead to learning loss that could create negative outcomes later in life. Educators will need to address these challenges by offering children with autism opportunities to “make up” what they lost during virtual learning once they return to school in-person. 

Please share your school information. How you are dealing with kids on the spectrum going to are staying home Www.Livebeyondautism.com

My Journey Through Autism

 

As the mother of a young boy  with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), other parents often ask me about my experience.  They want to know how I got through it and more importantly, how my son is doing now. We’ve been at it for  9 years and I’m glad to say he’s doing ok not the best as I expected. We’re proud of him, and ourselves, for the progress we’ve made in this journey together.

Our son is a elementary student a brother, uncle , cousin, and grandson. I’m happy to say he has our support. He’s a busy boy, everyone is his friend, sometimes sports fan. Love 💕 to dance 🕺 

Toward the end of Pre K elementary school, we got his diagnosis of ASD. Throughout, there were therapies and programs, and curricula, and evaluations and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) galore. We knew all the special educators back in Ohio, many of the doctors, and even some of the nurses, and we have a box  full of records documenting all of it.

Without our little families like ours – because no one talked about autism then – we did everything we could to help our son learn and grow and participate in activities, like other kids. First flag football did not work out. Even In with our high-fictional son the endless measuring of relative progress – his and ours – felt painful as we came up every year after year with autism ADHD anxiety medication struggles. Mostly we felt alone in our struggle, and scared about the future. There is no resources or research to help us know what to anticipate next, or even what to realistically hope for.

Our son’s timeline and milestones have been different from others’, but make no mistake, am going to do what ever it takes to help  moving forward in his life. We’re proud of him – especially proud of who he is.  Like many other. 

5 steps event for Christmas

 

Christmas can be such a wonderful time of the year, but for some of us it can be full of anxiety, stress and uncertainty. The lack of routine and the uncertainty of it can really unsettle a child with ASD.Brad love Christmas. He is so excited for Christmas. Christmas happen  to be one of his favor Holiday. he cannot wait for the morning of Christmas to open his presents. It was all too overwhelming for him. Over the years I have learnt how to reduce this stress for Brad and for our family. Below I have put my  top tips to surviving an Autistic Christmas. 

1. Simplify 
Christmas is a time full of over stimulation. Lights, tinsel, music, more people coming and going and a lack of routine. 
Try to keep the Christmas decoration simple, choose low warm white lights on your tree instead of the colourful ones or ones that flash. 

2 Guests 
Only invite people that you know are going to help around the house and who are not going to get offended easily . You want people who are going to help you get dinner ready and who will help tidy up. Perhaps pre warn your guests that your child might not give the reaction they are hoping for when giving them a gift. Brad like to tell people exactly what he thinks of the present he receives . Sometimes he will just say “yes ok” and other times he will say “I don't like that” and storm off. 
3 Presents
Try and avoid surprises of any kind. Most children with ASD hate surprises and this is no different when it comes to presents. If your child is going to spend the build up to Christmas worrying about what they will get, then you are better off telling them what they are going to be getting. Mummy always has a direct line to Santa.
4 Time Out
Create a safe space where you are spending Christmas. If you are home make sure that your Child’s room is out of bounds for anyone other than them. This is their safe space where they can retreat too. If your going to family or friends make sure you ask ahead if there is a room or a quiet spot where you can set your child up his /her safe space. Keep their ear defenders and some toys or iPads in there so that they can check out for a little bit. Even better If you have a pop up tent take it with you as it will be a space that your child is comfortable with. 
5 Go With The Flow
Don’t make any plans to go out with friends or family. If your child is having a bad day, you don’t need the added pressure of feeling like you are letting anyone down. See how everyone is feeling on the day and if they are feeling good, you can then make some plans to go out. If family want to see you then tell them to come to you, its going to be a lot better if your child is in an environment they feel most comfortable in. Get them to bring food and snacks and help out.

Dancing with brad

 

Dancing with brad

Brad love to dance that how he keep his main active support brad by clicking on the link below 

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having kids with autism

 

Having a child with Autism can impact on various aspects of family lives are affected including housekeeping, finances, emotional and mental health for parents, marital relationships, physical health of family members, limiting the response to the needs for your kids within the family, 

sometime poor sibling relationships, relationships with extended family, friends and neighbors. Children with autism face a variety of challenge that can significantly negatively impact on parent and family functioning Also, it can create significant stress throughout all family members. social and communication deficits effect on total family members. 

Emotionally and financially the families of autistic children become exhausted. ASD can evidently have a potential impact on the child and the functioning of whole family. 

Children with autism are identified as problems on mothers’ anxiety and depression.The relationship between stress and behavior problems of children with Autism are appears to be reciprocally related such that elevated child behavioral problems lead to increases in parental stress. 

Parenting stress is not only an increase in behavior problems it also has an adverse effect on the outcomes of behavioral. There are some important factors which are associated with parental stress in children with autism, including feelings of loss of personal control, absence of spousal support, informal and professional support. Adjustments to the reality of the child’s condition, housing and finance are some of the other factors that influence parental stress.

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