Amanda Haydock, founder of The Rainbow Project, a specialist, supportive environment for pre-school autistic children, gives her top tips on helping pre-school autistic children to develop communication, social and play skills.
Top 5 Tips
- Trust and support the parents. They know their child best, and from a place of mutual trust, growth is much more likely for their child.
- Slow down. If we are always trying to get the next thing ticked off, we won’t take the time to notice the small windows of opportunity for connection.
- Think about sensory needs and regulation as paramount, above all else. An unregulated child doesn’t have any spare energy left for interaction! If it takes 5 minutes in a swing or on a trampoline, or a weighted vest, or a tight squeeze to get that child regulated, do that before you even attempt to get two-way communication going.
- Prize communication over independence, at least at first. Put their favourite toys in clear boxes so they have to communicate to get them; give them one small incentive at a time; put the bubbles out of reach but in sight.
- Follow their interests, however obscure they might be. One of the children in my care likes to scratch their finger along the trampoline surface, so I started doing the same. The child looked at me, smiled, then held my finger and used it to scratch the trampoline. A connection was made!