Halloween: Spooky and wild. Scary and different. Kind of like the comments I used to hear from people about my children, particularly the autistic ones.
When I was raising my brood all those years ago, diagnosis of autism were rare and the condition was fairly unknown. But in my opinion, that is no excuse to be cruel about children.
Halloween, though, offers a particularly unique opportunity for meeting this mess head on. Not only community outreach, but also for teaching social skills and connection to our children.
Halloween can be an excellent opportunity for playful fun learning.
Too often I hear caregivers lament the challenges of Halloween (of holidays in general) for their autistic children.
Instead, I'd like to remind everyone to get the most out of this boo-tiful celebration.
For example:
⇨ Imagination Appreciation: It's often said that autistic kids have no imagination. Yet one won't sleep without her clock pillow and another wants only to line up his trains and dinosaurs. What do we 'imagine' they are thinking? Halloween is the night for exploring and discovering who they want to be and what that looks like to them. With make-up and masks comes a chance to shape imagination. Teaching appropriate imaginative play is lurking...
⇨ Awareness in your Neighborhood: One of the 'scary' truths about autism is that often families avoid outings and teaching opportunities due to a lack of awareness and understanding in the world outside autism spectrum disorder. Or simply, in the world. Halloween is an excellent time to introduce your quirky selves to the curious (and possibly uncomfortable) neighbors. Autism awareness in your neighborhood can offer safety and friendship. The neighbors probably aren't as scary as you think... and neither are you! ⇨ Social Skills: Whether your child is verbal, non-verbal, echolaliac or only interested in calendar dates, door to door small talk (or if your child is more comfortable, handing out candy to visiting ghouls) is a once in a year opportunity to teach spooky social skills without too much pressure, involved in parallel play there is no need for sophisticated interaction. And, there is the immediate reward of candy!
⇨ RE: Candy and its negative effect on our kids, esp. those on a special diet. Feel free to reach out for tips on how to deal with this very real issue, but the bottom line is that experience and teaching opportunities most often outweigh the negative side effects of an evening with gluten and sugar.
You know your child's challenges and strengths, so tailor the festivities to best teach them the skills they are ready to reach for. But whatever you do, take advantage of this spooky night (and the days leading up to it) with intention and the important skill of fun learning. Don't manage and mitigate; step up together and practice new things.
Together you can take the 'scary' out of autism.
And if you have any questions along the way, don't be shy about contacting me. I won't bite. (Particularly not if you've eaten garlic .... That's a vampire joke, not a bad breath one. Lol.)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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