{"id":63,"date":"2010-06-16T17:53:51","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T00:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autism-tips.com\/?p=63"},"modified":"2014-01-11T14:11:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T21:11:13","slug":"the-importance-of-a-daily-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/?p=63","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of a Daily Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all need some organization and planning<\/strong> to be efficient, productive and relaxed throughout the day. Autistic children, in particular, need a daily schedule in order to picture<\/strong> in their mind how the day will go for them. Their notion of time is different<\/strong>, what appears for “normal” people to be slow might appear to be fast for them and vice-versa. Always bear in mind that their brain is wired differently and that their processing (thinking) speed is consequently different. In some cases the processing speed of an autistic child is much faster than a typically developed one. I once worked with a high functioning student with Asperger’s syndrome in a mainstream class who used to raise his board with the correct answer before anybody else did. That also explains why some children are\u00a0disconnected from the rest of the class and feel bored and tired. To the contrary, some of them are slow and they should be allowed enough time to respond. This is called accommodation<\/strong>, and this is one of the requirements in special education that all educators and parents should respect.<\/p>\n

A daily schedule sets up expectations<\/strong> and helps keep track of what needs to be done and what already has been done. By using a visual, physical schedule\u00a0(that the child can manipulate by herself) the child gets a sense of achievement<\/strong> every time she completes a task.<\/p>\n

Preparedness is a key element in autistic children’s success. They don’t like surprises and sudden change of routine.<\/strong> Why? Because they feel pushed out of their comfort zone and have to re<\/strong>assess, re<\/strong>calculate and re<\/strong>adjust to the new situation. Those are two of the most common traits of autism: inflexibility<\/strong> and love for sameness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Since most autistic children think in patterns and pictures<\/strong> rather than verbally, the schedule should be clear and easy to understand and handle.<\/strong> The schedule should incorporate breaks and fun activities<\/strong> to appeal to the child. Depending on the need you may decide for the number (frequency) and duration of breaks. I personally keep extra break tags available in case the student comes in less cooperative in the morning. Then I can squeeze them in the schedule or remove them according to her condition.<\/p>\n

If you notice that the child is irritable and not ready to do work, allow longer and more frequent breaks. This can avoid a big temper\u00a0tantrum <\/strong>which would yield much\u00a0disappointment and frustration. Instead, a break will help the child make a better choice and opt to go back to work.<\/p>\n

Giving a break should be structured and planned for. For example: give the child 3 options<\/strong>. The options should be offered under a visual form on top of the verbal form. “Johnny, would you like to go outside for a walk, or<\/strong> make a puzzle, or<\/strong> read a book?” Then respect her choice and allow her enough time to enjoy the break.<\/p>\n

What I usually do before offering the options is write down on a white board:<\/p>\n

1-First break \u00a0 2-Then work<\/p>\n

By doing this I am setting up the expectations clearly and visually, and the child knows that the break is timed and not open ended. To make it even more precise I use a visual timer that shows how long the break will be.<\/p>\n

A schedule is most effective if used consistently at home and at school. For this to work as best as possible, it is strongly recommended that the parents and educators communicate and stay on the same page. To learn how to make a magnetic schedule, <\/strong>click here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I cannot emphasize enough how important visual representation is for helping autistic children. To learn more about this, I highly recommend the movie Temple <\/strong>Grandin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

More Tips<\/a><\/h2>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all need some organization and planning to be efficient, productive and relaxed throughout the day. Autistic children, in particular, need a daily schedule in order to picture in their mind how the day will go for them. Their notion of time is different, what appears for “normal” people to be slow might appear to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,5],"tags":[381,10,383,13,9],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism","category-general-advice","category-parenting","tag-autism","tag-communication","tag-parenting","tag-schedule","tag-visual-aids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2261,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/2261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autism-tips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}