Happy New Year, everyone! Before diving into this month's topic, I want to thank everyone who's supported me this far, whether that includes reading each blog, sharing my posts, or giving me suggestions for future topics. It means so much to me and I truly hope that you find solace and community through my blogs as well. This year feels like the start of a new season and I wanted to discuss the importance of self-care and its relevance in regards to developing independence in children with Autism.
We should start with what self-care really means. If you asked me what self-care meant to me five years ago, I would probably say it consists of a face mask, a green tea, and my favorite show. Now that I’m older (and also no longer a teenager), I can recognize that self-care is how one treats themself every day and finds ways to make their experience easier and more enjoyable. The main aspects of self-care I wanted to discuss with respect to your kiddos are physical, mental, and emotional self-care.
One highly recommended way to introduce self-care with your kiddo is by helping them with hygienic practices. Encouraging children with Autism to prioritize personal hygiene allows them to become self-reliant and confident, while establishing their own preferences within their practices, which aids in decision-making as well. We all have our preferences within hygiene, whether it’s liking the electrical toothbrush over the manual one, or brushing our teeth before or after eating breakfast. These are all preferences we were free to explore and decide as children, and we most likely stuck with those same routines because they made sense for both our liking and our lifestyles. Letting your child choose something like if they preferred to be a morning or night-time showerer and then encouraging and incentivizing them to stick to their own schedule promotes predictability and celebrates their growing independence.
Music may aid younger children with Autism through multi-step processes. According to a case study looking at the impact of song interventions in performance (Kern et al.), there is greater independence with implementing these multi-step processes when music is used across multiple occasions. Through my work as a Registered Behavior Technician, I have found that during potty-training, the Cocomelon Potty Training song has been helpful when used consistently. This song helps the child physically by singing out the steps of using the restroom, but also crosses over into emotional self-care because it gets this usually complex process done in a fun and manageable manner.
Another way to encourage self-care is by allowing your child to have their own area and helping them create what I like to call a 'safe space' or sensory comfort room. A safe space is where your child can retreat to if they are feeling overwhelmed and need time to regulate their emotions. In a study exploring the impact of visual comfort on maladaptive behaviors (Marwati et al.), there are real tangible impacts associated with having a ‘safe space’ with visual comforts. Marwati mentions that the majority of the information is taken in via. eye-sensory visual input. Providing your kiddo with an environment that is visually comforting and caters to their personal style and needs can help with regulating emotions, lessening anxiety, and reducing maladaptive behaviors. One of the kiddos I used to work with had a closet in her room with sensory items and books. When she became overwhelmed, she would retreat to this book closet and read in silence. She would typically ask me to choose my own book and read silently next to her. There was a strict silent rule in the closet, and I was proud of her for being comfortable enough to establish boundaries with me. She knew when she needed her book closet to regulate her emotions before we went back to playing games. Her mother let me know that this improved her self-regulation and helped with controlling strong emotions. Her ability to set these boundaries with me also empowers her to make decisions within her best interest.
The final way to promote self-care with you kiddo is through creating social habits that they are comfortable with. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder thrive on predictability, so one thing you can do is help them learn to establish boundaries and how to lean on their "safety net" which includes parents, teachers, therapists, etc. This helps them maintain their physical well-being while also helping them establish a sense of this "social self-care" which helps them feel protected in social situations. Finding a social group of other children with Autism or with other children sharing a similar interest with them (like cars or art) will help with their self-care greatly. This peer support and safe environment will likely lessen their desire to mask and also ties into self-care because leaning into personal interests and limiting masking decreases the chance of Autism burnout as well (Life On the Spectrum).
Lastly, knowing when and how they can ask for help is a huge tool for them, especially as they are navigating their newfound independence! They aren't experts just yet and they need their parents' love and guidance while helping them develop their own routines and find their own preferences within self-care.
Sources:
Kern P, Wakeford L, Aldridge D. Improving the Performance of a Young Child with Autism during Self-Care Tasks Using Embedded Song Interventions: A Case Study. Music Therapy Perspectives. 2007;25(1):43-51. doi:10.1093/mtp/25.1.43
Life On the Spectrum, Koumenis A BS, CAPS, Schmus R LCSW. Autism, Mental Health, & Self-Care. https://www.phillyautismproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Life-on-the-Spectrum_-Autism-Mental-Health-Self-Care_PDF_2021.pdf.
Marwati, Annisa & Dewi, Ova & Wiguna, Tjhin & Aisyah, Aisyah. (2023). VISUAL-SENSORY-BASED QUIET ROOM: A STUDY OF VISUAL COMFORT, LIGHTING, AND SAFE SPACE IN REDUCING MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOUR AND EMOTION FOR AUTISTIC USERS. Journal of Accessibility and Design for All. 13. 63-93. 10.17411/jacces.v13i1.318.
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