Facilitate successful transitions and changes (334.8 kB)

By Noreen Laberinto Lovaas Institute - San Diego

Many children with autism have difficulty with transitions and changes. Unfamiliar events or abrupt changes can be particularly difficult. Even a minor deviation from the daily routine might be a challenge. While some people truly rejoice in the unexpected change of events, a behavioral intervention goal is to help children learn to anticipate and accept transitions and changes more readily.

As a general rule, it is customary to better prepare the child for any change to happen in the future and whatever it might deviate from its typical routine. The following strategies have been used with several children and are designed to help you make transitions and changes as positively as possible.

Strategies for successful transitions through activities.

Use pictures or cards written:

Give the child a visual sequence of activities. This may include representations of the total amount of time to pass until the final event favorite. The list of images or written to be presented in order. The corresponding images are written or removed, or we are done on an X when completed. It may also be useful to use a monthly calendar in addition to the daily schedule to indicate events that will occur in later weeks.

Warnings:

Provide verbal warnings to indicate the time remaining before next activity (eg, "Just a minute before the tasks"). And 'advisable that changed the dates when the alerts and the remaining time before moving on to the next activity (eg, "between a couple of minutes is the time to go to dinner!"). These verbal warnings can be associated with a timer or a clock to increase understanding and independence.

Use a timer:

Use a timer can help in making the transitions easier. You can use a kitchen timer, a stopwatch, an electronic timer, an alarm clock. In some cases, your son or daughter can help you set the timer and turn off the power to create greater awareness of the time limit. Initially, you should stay close to give verbal warnings for the time being and follow him through the transition when the timer rings. Your level of support can be faded by the time the child demonstrates understanding.

Delivery of reinforcement:

Deliver reinforcement when the transition of your son or your daughter through the activities does not have destructive behaviors (eg, "Thanks for listening to me now!"). The reinforcements may allow more time for favorite activities, play a fun activity before starting the follow-up activities, or deliver desired and tangible reinforcement (eg food, yellow stars, or favorite toy) immediately after the demonstration of appropriate transition.

Use a transition object:

This may help some children to complete the current task and prepare for the next activity. For example, give your child a book in preparation for the changes in the reading program, given your daughter a ball in preparation for the change program to play football in the yard. These contextual clues may help the child in anticipation of which event will be then.

Choices:

Increase the involvement of children in decision making by providing opportunities to choose the order of the activities and / or tasks to complete after the transition. This allows the child to be an active participant in the process and provide a sense of self-control. Be careful to offer only as an initial strategy choices, be careful not to offer choices that transform challenging behavior.

Prepare for events and unfamiliar destinations.

Revise, revise, revise!:
Before the transition, shown pictures of the place and people that the child might encounter. Discuss the events that will, if appropriate. A social history could be created to assist in this process. For example, in preparation for a trip out of town to grandma's house, a parent shows the child in a photo with her ​​grandmother and other relatives, Grandma's house, planned activities, and finally talk about the pictures with the child. Another family has used this technique to help your child prepare for school. They made ​​photo class teacher, class, school, peers and the more they went over the program of school and class rules.

Plan short visits:

• If possible, plan a short visit to the site to increase the familiarity of the child with the new environment.
• In preparation for a birthday party at McDonald's, the family brings their child for a brief tour that includes entrance to the McDonald's fast. The show is the environment and are made ​​of pictures. These photos were regarded with the child to incorporate them into a social history.
• If you prepare a transition to school, students are often the open-days at the beginning of the year to see the new classes, meet teachers, find out about friends and routines. Parents may schedule a meeting, one by one with the teacher to present the child and allow him / her to explore the class. This could also be a great opportunity to discuss the child's strengths, goals, and other important information (eg objects / motivating activities, food allergies, tips to help in the tasks).

Gently get into a routine:
A few weeks prior to major transitions, adjust the programs to synchronize with the new routine. This may involve adjusting the program to use a sleep and wake, provide more structured activities, and offer food or snacks that may be present in the new places.

For example, in preparation for school, you start to get up and go to bed at the same time as during the school year, and begin to prepare food similar to what the child might find in school.

Familiarize yourself with what you do not know:
You might want to buy or borrow clothes and items related to new events.

• For example, in preparation for traveling on snow, let your child / I try to ski and the jacket at home.
• In preparation for school, practice in leading the pack, opening, closing it in when you go around.

Notes and special considerations:
For some children with autism, using a program could ensure that children demonstrate less rather than more flexibility with the changes. It 'important that once your child has learned how to follow a program of photos or written, start teaching him to accept the changes to the program. Try to change the order of two equally interesting activities in the program or change a component of the scheduled activity.

Original document from the site: www.lovaas.com Translation by: www.emergenzautismo.org