Transitioning, lets move on.
Some children have transition difficulties, meaning they have trouble being okay with ending one activity to begin another. Your child may throw a fit when it is time to clean up his toys and get ready to leave the house. (See Transitioning during a routine below) Or your child may have a hard time going to a new place; visiting a house he's never been to, going to a new store, starting a new school or even going on a family trip. (See Transitioning to an unfamiliar setting below)For most people it seems like fun to go somewhere new but for some people it may cause extreme anxiety. This doesn't mean that they cannot go to new places and have fun it just means that it is going to take some work.
If your child's behavior has been found to be due to transition difficulties, a schedule may need to be set and flexibility will need to be learned and practiced. People with Autism tend to have different visual needs so a visual schedule could be useful. It is best to give warning ahead of time about what is going to happen.
Transitioning during a routine
Johnny is playing with his toys but you will be going to the supermarket shortly. Usually he screams and throws his toys when he is told that it is time to clean up. To avoid this set a timer for two minutes and tell him that in two minutes it will be time to clean up and go to the supermarket. Put the timer in his view, when it beeps or rings, ask him to turn it off and instruct him to clean up.
If you have a schedule in place, your child can look to the schedule and know what is coming next, this will make him feel more in control and less anxious about what is going to happen next.
Transitioning to an unfamiliar setting
You are planning a family trip to the zoo, knowing that Johnny loves all the big cats especially the lions, but when you tell him that you are going, he starts to cry and says he doesn't want to go. You might just want to give up and say okay we won't go. Or you could prepare him, to ease his anxiety and help him have a great time.
To prepare a child for an unfamiliar setting such as the zoo
- Give plenty of advance notice, at least a week
- Get visuals, go to the zoo's website and look at the pictures together
- Print out the pictures and talk about the different things you will see there
- Get a map of the zoo and plan out your route with your child, if he has some control he will feel less anxious
- Write a social story about the trip. Click here for a zoo social story
- Talk about all of the details of the trip, including minor things that may seem unimportant to you such as: Who is going, what car you will take, when you will leave, how long it should take to get there, what you will eat, how long you will stay and how much fun you will have. It's okay if you don't know all of the exact details but you can give him a rough idea.
- If you are going to someone's house to stay, have them send you photos of their house and a letter describing what things are like there
Once you have a plan set up at home on how to handle transitions, both parents need to follow it and you should let your child's teacher know how you handle different situations so when they occur at school they can be handled in the same manner. The consistency will help your child learn how to make the right choices faster. Some of these behavior suggestions might sound cold or uncaring, but it does your child more harm to not discipline them and not teach them how to make good choices. They already have a disadvantage socially, you need to help them understand how to behave so other children will be able to play with them and enjoy their company.
Links to how to manage specific behaviors
anger frustration attention seeking poor impulse control task avoidance
self stimulation access to tangibles perseveration transition difficulties
Need more information?
Working With Autism Behavior Management Reward Systems