Many children struggle with extended periods of unstructured time, but for children on the autism spectrum, the lack of routine during holiday times can be even harder. The absence of the familiar rhythm of the school day and week can be confusing and trigger a great deal of anxiety. Eating habits, sleep and behaviours can quickly become dysregulated.
Here are our top tips to keep stress levels down over the long summer break, keep things a bit more predictable for sensitive children, and help you get more enjoyment from time spent together as a family.
Establish a daily routine
Even without the predictability of the school day, with a little discipline, you can establish a holiday-time routine that will help children feel more settled and confident. Getting your child up and putting them to bed at a similar time each day through the holidays is a good place to start. This will help regulate their circadian rhythm, which in turn supports a healthy cortisol response and reduces stress levels. Maintaining familiar ‘landmarks’ in the day, such as a walk or outside play after breakfast, rest time after lunch, and bedtime baths, will also help to establish a sense of rhythm and predictability, even when you are away from home.
Maintain good eating habits
When we meet with parents after holidays, they often report that their child’s diet has gone completely off the rails! Of course, this is understandable, and it can be tricky to stick to a perfect diet when you are away from home. Keeping some basic dietary rules in place, however, will pay dividends in keeping any digestive symptoms at bay and regulating behaviour.
- Steer clear of known dietary triggers for your child, such as gluten and dairy. It is increasingly easy to find dairy and gluten-free options when eating out or buying food on the go.
- Keep to regular meal times as far as possible. This will help to maintain that predictable rhythm to your days, keep blood sugar levels in check and balance cortisol levels, helping to reduce behavioural dysregulation.
- Keep 'treat' foods as treats. It can be tempting to indulge in ice cream and fast food on holidays and days out. Now and then, this is OK (as long as you avoid known trigger foods, of course), but allowing highly processed, high-sugar foods into the diet on a regular basis will cause a cascade of inflammatory symptoms and can trigger an increase in aggression and hyperactivity.
Plan ahead and manage transitions
It takes a bit more effort from parents, but making a daily or weekly plan of activities, outings and visitors during the summer holiday can really help children cope better with the more varied days and transitions between activities. Younger children or those with developmental delays may only be able to cope with daily planning; older children may like to have a weekly plan and perhaps be involved in the planning process as well. There are lots of good visual planners available to buy or download online that you can use to help communicate your timetable to children. Giving your child plenty of notice of when you would like them to stop one activity to prepare for the next can ease transitions. Setting alarms on your phone can help with this.
Prepare your child for outings
Some parents report that preparing their child for days out can be of great benefit in reducing anticipation anxiety and increasing enjoyment of the experience. Exploring websites of places you will visit together and watching videos, if possible, allows your child to visualise ahead of time what to expect, and you can deal with any concerns they might have in advance of the visit.
Be flexible and schedule downtime
Be responsive to your child’s needs and how their energy levels, resilience and ability to cope with new routines and situations might change day by day. Be prepared to reschedule days out, and factor in time each day and each week for quiet time at home with your basic routines in place.
Involve your child and recognize their interests
Ask your child what they would like to do during the holidays and try to fit in some of the activities that they particularly enjoy. If they have a special interest, it can be really lovely for them to spend time with a parent or carer, engaged in activities that relate to that interest. For example, if they enjoy gardening, you could help them to plant and tend their own vegetable patch or window box herb garden and take them to visit ornamental or sensory gardens in parks or visitor attractions close to where you live.
Schedule screen time
For many children and teens, whether autistic or not, screen time can be calming and help alleviate anxiety, as well as give parents a much-needed break. However, too much unchecked screen time can have negative consequences on development, social skills and behaviours. During the holidays, it can be helpful to have some allocated time during the day when your child is allowed to watch TV and use devices. While they might push back against this initially, and it can be harder to enforce with teenagers who have their own devices, ultimately, the predictability of the routine and knowing that there will definitely be time each day when they can use screens will reduce conflict.
Manage sensory needs
For children with sensory needs, the hotter weather, different clothes and the need to apply sun creams and possibly insect repellents can be challenging. Avoiding extremes of temperature can help - for example, organise outdoor activities earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon. Loose, light cotton clothing that covers arms and legs may feel cooler and less restrictive for some children. You may need to experiment with a few different sunscreens to find one that your child will tolerate, and they may prefer to apply it themselves if they are able to. In a previous newsletter, we compiled some advice on sun safety and the sunscreens that we recommend.
Please note that we do not diagnose or treat illnesses at Brainstorm Health, but we can help you advocate for the right medical diagnosis from qualified doctors if necessary.
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