One of the toughest aspects to get a handle on
behavior management when
working with children with autism is understanding just
how connected they really are with the world around
them.
With every autistic child the lack of connectivity
can vary by many degrees.
Early childhood development
and environmental learning come in the form of
imitation. Before children begin any type of learning
through communicating they learn via watching and
imitating. Because autistic children have a certain
degree of lack of connectivity with the world around
them, they miss out on this vital early childhood
learning stage and unable to benefit from the average
childhood experiences that provide the basis for
continuing the learning curve.
The severity of the lack of their environmental
awareness is what will determine the amount of adult
intervention necessary to provide a more consistent
interaction with the world around them.
One of the characteristics of an autistic child is their
inability to accept and deal with changes in their
environments or routines. As such, there is no benefit
for an autistic child to only engage in constant
repetitive non-dynamic activities for long periods of
time.
The reason is simply because that repetition will
eventually become habit, and habits by nature are
difficult to change, and changes in routines and
environments are difficult for autistic children, so the
endless loop will continue.
This is why it is very
important to be mindful of repetitive activities, and
for parental intervention to occur as often as needed.
The frequency and level of parental steering will vary
from child to child, as will how the child will react to
the directed change depend upon many factors.
However,
the point is that consistent behavior management
techniques will give way
to the child eventually be less resistant to the changes
and need less directive to change.
