Autistic Child Care - How To Schedule Your Autistic Child’s Daily Life

By Abhishek Agarwal

Children at all ages whether 3 or 13, often complaint of boredom. Making them do what you want but they don’t is indeed cracking a hard nut. Especially dealing with special needs like that of an Autistic child, making schedule is a great help. There are several agendas in a day that we need to manage as an efficient parent like the child’s school, his therapy, doctor’s appointment, homework & studies, the daily chores, etc., and the driving force behind all the above - your child’s health and growth.
Scheduling creates a pre-defined structure for the child where he knows what to expect next, what would he do tomorrow and where would he be placed at a given point of time. Often the children suffering with Autism have certain anxiety issues. Whenever they are left free to think wide without any guidance, they might shift to such depressing thoughts. A well designed schedule leaves less or no extra time unguided and hence the anxiety level drops to a great extent. This avoids any breakdowns in the necessary daily chores and the medical procedures.
Making them do something essential but undesirable to them like completing the homework becomes easier with a schedule. You make them shift to ‘the task of studies of homework’ after completing the prior ‘task’ and target to accomplish the same in order to move to another welcomed ‘activity’ like ‘drawing’ or ‘outdoor games.’
With numerous check-ups, therapies and medical needs, managing your child’s time table can sometimes be quite cumbersome, for instance overlapping of the therapist’s and the doctor’s appointment. A schedule helps you keep a track of each appointment without fail.
Once you have made a schedule for your child, draft it in the form of an attractive chart in his personal space or room. Let him follow the steps one after another on his own, of course with your able guidance. This would enhance his self confidence and his decision making skills.
At times the Autistic child has problem reading the words. Here comes the system of a ‘Visual Schedule,’ where in every task or activity is allotted a symbol - a garden for outdoor games, a stack of books for studies, a stethoscope for the doctor’s appointment and a handshake for his therapy hours.
In case of any change in the schedule, explain your child in detail in time. As the child would be planning things according to the schedule only, even a slight change could upset him. so involve him in the change & the henceforth decision, as this would allow him to feel more independent and confident.
In our day-to-day lives, there could be many hassles in sticking up to the set time table, but try to do so as much as possible. For instance, if your child is used to wake up at 7 in the morning, continue the same on the weekends as well. Similarly, try not to divert his bed timings too much, as proper sleep would keep your child healthier.
A demo schedule is shown below:
7 AM Wake up, Brush your teeth, Bathe, Wear the uniform, Pack your bag
8 AM Breakfast
8:15 AM Board the School Bus
2 PM Coming home, Wash your hands, Change your dress
2:30 PM Lunch
3 PM Nap Time
4 PM Have milk, Study Time
5:30 PM Leisure
6 PM Outdoor Games
7 PM Watch Cartoons
8 PM Bathing
8:30 PM Dinner
9 PM Bed Time
As a parent, as the experts say, you are sure to find improvement in your child with the defined schedules. While there would always be something planned for him, it would make his and your life far more easy and smoothly managed.