Getting my autistic kids to be comfortable with face masks

A few months ago I wrote a post about how I talk to my young children about the coronavirus COVID-19 and how do I keep them safe?  It has sparked a few responses particularly as, like myself, many of our readers have children with autism, comorbid conditions or other disabilities and might not be able to wear one. 

Anthony overcomes his fear of fireworks at Disney

Like many people with autism, Anthony has long been scared of fireworks. It's common for many kids including our neuro-typical daughter to be scared of the loud blasts and bangs that accompany the beautiful lights on the night sky. Some children with autism are sensitive to sounds, you may see them covering their ears when you vacuum or near busy roads.

But our house is loud all the time and both our boys are very visually stimulated so we thought fireworks might be something they could enjoy.  But this was not the case for Anthony, until we went to Disney in Florida.

Beautiful Belle has a point about books for autistic kids

It's not uncommon for Disney characters to appear to have the odd autistic trait. The little mermaid was obsessed with the human world and Rex from Toy Story doesn't like change for example. But maybe the most common similarity is characters who aren't understood by others, like Belle.

Without an ASD diagnosis, we would not

It appears we are some of the lucky ones. Our boys were both diagnosed with ASD by the time they were four years old and they both received appropriate support from services, organisations and in their different school settings.

Bauble babbles:Reading our conversation social story

Our Baubley babbles are my notes on helping my family communicate over Christmas.

Today is about using a social story to help with communication. Social stories work really well for some autistic children, and I think could help a neuro-typical child with a particular behaviour. Anthony has a social story that's about have conversations and in particular speaking in full sentences. 

Social stories are short stories model appropriate social interaction. They are describing a situation with its social cues, other's perspectives, and what an appropriate response would be. It can be used to help correct an inappropriate behaviour but is often used to praise appropriate behaviours too. Reading through the story again at times when you think you might need to reminding about the is an easy trick.  With so much going on at Christmas, a quick read of Anthony's social story at the beginning or end of the day gives him a better chance of achieving it's goal over the festive holidays.

Tomorrow - more tips to help my kids talk at Christmas
Yesterday - Introduce and use appropriate (festive) vocabulary

Links
National Autistic Society - How to write social stories

Notes: Thanks for reading Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.