Sunday 13 April 2014

Making a routine for my Autistic foster child

One of the strategies St Christopher’s foster carer Cynthia used to help her foster child improve his behaviour was having a routine where he knew what was coming.

When I came up with a routine for my foster child, I thought about what worked for him and the household. It is a good routine. One where he knows what he is supposed to be doing every second on the day. I talk him through everything that is going to happen at the start of the day.

He wasn’t able to understand long sentences, and everything had to be said in just a few short words, without giving too much information. For example: “You’re having a bath and dinner.”

I pinned pictures up on the walls of things I would want him to do. I then pointed to these pictures. It included things like a child having his hair washed or putting on PJs.

His now very good at working through his routines without visual support, and over the years has become a lot more flexible in his thinking. His no longer fazed if I change the order of something that is done routinely. Suddenly he is more able to cope with change.


The biggest change is as long as there’s not too much disruption he’s quite happy to go with the flow.  

No comments:

Post a Comment