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In “Daily Routines” you will learn how to improve your child’s communication and behavior during his or her daily activities. Since children often learn new skills best in the context where they will be used, this course emphasizes everyday common routines such as play time, bath time, bed time, and snack time as opportunities for new learning. Video examples of families with young children with autism in their homes will show you the techniques actually being used by parents with their child in real life home situations. The course will help you identify specific skills you want your child to learn, and the best strategies for helping your child learn them.
Welcome video. Lisa Wallace, M.A., CCC-SLP, the course instructor, welcomes you to the course and provides an overview to the course goals and content.
Routines: An overview
Routines are activities that usually happen daily that follow a predictable pattern with a consistent start, middle, and end. This section will describe why routines are important and why teaching within daily routines is optimal for young children with autism.
Starting and Ending Routines
In this section you will learn the three steps in setting specific goals for your child within a daily routine. You will also learn how to evaluate your child’s current behavior during a routine, and what behavior or skill you would like him to learn next.
Bath Time: Overview:
Bath time is an essential routine for young children. Some children love the bath and others not so much, but there are strategies you can use to increase your child’s ability to tolerate, participate, and eventually engage with you during this routine. In this module you will learn some common challenges children with ASD may have during bath time and introduce some strategies you can use to address those challenges.
Family Play Time: Overview: Having time to play with others throughout each day is an important component in a child’s development. For many young children with autism, play does not come as easily as it does for their peers. For children with autism, their play is often more repetitive, sensory, or solitary than for other children their age. This module will focus on helping your child play with a wider variety of toys, in more flexible ways, tolerate playing alongside others, and finally, learning how to play interactively with family members.
Family Play Time: Goals and Tips: In this module you will identify a new behavior for your child to learn during his or her family playtime routine and some tips for helping your child achieve this goal.
Snack Time: Overview, Snack time for most families is a time when a child can choose what he or she wants to eat or drink. Snack time provides a good opportunity to help your child learn to learn new behaviors and communication skills and increase his ability to participate and engage with you. In this module you will learn how to help your child participate and engage with you by helping you get ready for snack time, making a snack, communicate his or her choices of snacks, cleaning up after snack, and tolerate sitting at the table.
Snack Time: Goals and Tips: In this module you will identify a new behavior for your child to learn during his or her snack time routine and some tips for helping your child achieve this goal.
Bed Time Overview: Many families of children with autism experience challenges in their bed time routine. This can be stressful for your family and can also impact your child’s ability to learn during his waking hours. In this module you will learn strategies that will help set the stage for a smoother bed time routine
Bed Time: Goals and Tips: In this module you will identify a new behavior for your child to learn during his or her bed time routine and some tips for helping your child achieve this goal
Tool Box:
Choice Boards.
Many children with autism understand visual information better than they understand words alone. In this module you will learn how to use Choice Boards, a visual representation of different options that are available. Choice boards help a child better understand what options are available to him. For children who are not yet using words it can also be used as a way for them to communicate their choice to you. It allows a child to be more successful in his ability to convey what he or she wants. Offering choices within the context of everyday routines provides multiple opportunities for your child to learn new behaviors, such as expressing his preferences, taking turns and learning new vocabulary words.
First – Then Boards . In this module you will learn how to use first then boards during daily routines. A First-Then Board is a visual representation of a sequence of two events. It shows a child what he needs to do “first” and “then” what will happen next. The First-Then Board shows your child what he is expected to do as well as how he will be reinforced. By pairing your verbal speech with a visual cue, it is much more likely that your child will understand your expectations and be able to learn what you are trying to teach him.
Prompting: As a parent of a child with autism you have probably tried many different ways to teach your child. Some of your strategies may have been effective and others less so. In this module you will learn how to use Prompting, one of the most effective ways we know to teach your child new skills. Prompts are cues you use to help your child understand what you want him to do. You will learn about the different types of prompts, and how to use them in daily activities to help your child be successful as he learns new skills.
Reinforcement. The principle of rewarding desired behaviors, or using reinforcement, is one of the most effective ways to motivate children to learn new skills and behaviors. In this module you will learn how to use reinforcement to teach new skills and behaviors within your daily routines, and the types of reinforcement that are most effective with children with Autism.
Teaching Imitation. Imitation is a critical skill that we all use to navigate and understand the world around us. Young children in particular use imitation to learn all kinds of important behaviors, including how to play with toys, how to participate in games, how to say words, and how to interact socially. While most young children imitate others naturally, young children with autism may be less likely to imitate the gestures and actions of other people. In this module, you will learn how to teach this skill to your child with autism. Learning this pivotal skill will allow your child to learn more and more from their environment over time.
Understanding Language. Understanding the ideas of others is an essential piece of the communication process. It is important that your child understand what you say to him in order for there to be a true exchange of ideas. Children with autism often have difficulty understanding the verbal communication of others. In this module you will learn two very effective strategies to improve your child's language understanding. Using these strategies will help your child better understand your language and will lead to improved communication skills within your daily routines and beyond.
Visual Schedules. A visual schedule is a series of pictures that represent a sequence of steps or activities. Pictures work well for children with autism because it is often easier for them to process visual information compared to verbal information. In this module, you will learn how to use a visual schedule to help your child understand the flow of activities throughout the day, or the sequences of steps involved in a routine. A visual schedule can help your child better understand where they are within a routine, what is going to happen next, when the routine will end, and how and when they will be reinforced. As children become more independent in their routines, a visual schedule can help to remind them what all the necessary steps are.
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