What To do During a Pandemic with your Autistic Child

Cook
I am sure that most of you out here are out of their mind right now, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and don't know what to do, especially when it comes to your kids. If you are a parent that has a special needs child, the anxiety is through the roof. But there is hope at the end of the tunnel and things to do. My son has an interest in cooking and I am starting to take baby steps to show him the ropes. So if you haven't done so already, there is a visual recipe book that we have that is fantastic for people on the spectrum and/or anyone that needs more visual directions to know how and what to do in the kitchen. You should check it out and see if this would be a good fit or not for you and your family. 

So for today we will do a recipe that I found here. I chose lunch because this is the easiest to navigate and doesn't take a lot of directions. So the amount of steps have to be easy to follow and able to access with the least amount of help. 

Quesadillas 4 Ways

READ

Read a book! I love to read to just get away from it all and to "take me away". My son also loves to read a lot and chooses his own adventures, but have your son or daughter choose whatever they want(within reason). It is better than choosing a book for them because we have definitely gone down that road before and it was not pretty. In our experience, when we chose the book for our autistic son to read he took it as more of an 'assignment' than something to do during summer for fun. So let it be a book of their own choosing. 

GAMES

Play a game! Games are so much fun to do by yourself, with a friend, with your family and anytime really. This a huge win for my autistic kiddo because he is occupied for hours(sometimes), but the games he usually plays are Mario Games, Game Cube, Nintendo Switch, Wii Sports,  and more. For my son, he likes movement and adventure games that tell a story or things like MineCraft. As long as the games are not dangerous and or violent, my hubby and I allow him to play them. In fact the more creative and intuitive the game is then the more power to him because he is using his creative juices to plan and organize his next moves and strategies. 

I hope these activities help you navigate this most strange time in our world and keep you sane as well. 

Stay Safe. 

~HomeSchool Special Needs TidBits Owner:-)