This is part of a month-long look at the Autism Spectrum in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

My son was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of 2 1/2 years. We identified early on that transitions were major breakdown points for him. Any kind of transition: going from playing blocks to looking at books, coming in from playing outside, leaving the house to go to the grocery store.

The speech therapist began trying to use animated picture cards to both help him communicate his wants and needs to us as well as for us to help him understand what was going to happen next. He did not respond well to this. It took a few weeks, but I finally realized that he was not at all identifying with the pictures. I believe he just thought they were simply something to look at, not understanding the action that went along with each one.

I needed to find a way to make it work for him. So I took digital photos of as many activities that he was involved in as I could along with places that we would possibly visit. We had photos of blocks, books, the bathtub, his bed, the yard, the van, his therapists, etc.; along with those were photos of Walmart, our church, the post office, the park, Nana and Papa’s house, etc.

I had each picture printed, laminated and cut them out. Velcro was put on the back of each photo, and I made a hanging chart for the back of our front door with velcro tabs. This was our own picture schedule.

Every night I would put in order the activities that we would be engaging in the next day, from the time he woke up until the time he went to bed. Each morning the first thing we did was look at the schedule and begin the first activity (a picture of him eating breakfast at the island in our kitchen). All throughout the day, we would return to the schedule so he could see what was coming up next. This greatly reduced his anxiety about transitions and he began moving between activities much more easily.

After about nine months, we no longer needed the picture schedule at all.

With kids on the Spectrum, things are almost always a mystery and we have to adapt our thinking in order to help them feel comfortable and operate in our world. Sometimes it’s just all in the approach.

photo by Betsssssy