Organizing the autistic child's family room and lighting
Carol and the teacher had been planning to get together one morning to reorganize the family room.
They had been arranging the home in such a way that would help Michaela communicate better her wants and needs. The teacher was used to some of the autistic children having lots of energy both at home and at school. Michaela was one of those children.
Organizing the home, especially before the Christmas holidays, was a challenge as the child was always getting into things. One Christmas she even tried to eat one of the Christmas bulbs. It looked just like a piece of candy. Except it was glass.
That morning, to the teacher’s surprise, Michaela came running to the door without a stitch of clothing on. The child looked up with a grin and ran off down the hallway. Her older sister cornered the child and brought her back into the girl’s room. Michaela hated clothing and it was a challenge to get her to put things on. The teacher had been working with the mother to help the child become desensitized with clothes, especially shoes. Michaela’s daily clothing ritual included removing all clothing tags, using loosely fitted cotton tops, choosing pull up pants and wearing Velcro shoes. The ultimate goal was for Michaela to dress herself.
When the teacher walked into the home, she noticed that the child had taken over the entire family room. Her toys were scattered everywhere. She had small couch, a miniature table with chairs, and an oversized pillow to lie on along with a huge pink bean bag chair. The rest of the home was already done. Picture icons could be found throughout most of the house, even on the door of the bathroom. Now they began the same effort with the family room.
As they moved through the family room, Carol began to put all of Michaela’s DVD’s into one area. She then took a picture of Michaela holding a DVD and placed it next to the child’s shelf area. The two women then created a specific section in the room for Michaela to sit in. The section included a bean bag chair and pillow to help the child with her deep pressure needs. The toys went back to the child’s bedroom, in the defined toy shelf. The mother did dedicate a space for one or two toys. A toy icon of the actual items was placed in a small space under the TV console. Everything else was labeled in the room with icons including the TV, the remote, the pillow and the bean bag. This way, the child could let her mother know if she wanted to watch the TV and that she preferred her sitting area to the rest of the living room.
The teacher also focused on the lighting in the living room. She noticed that the fluorescent bulbs were flickering. Many children with autism have high sensitivities to smells, hearing, and especially lighting. The teacher knew that children with autism are at a greater risk for developing seizures. In fact, approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of children within the Autism Spectrum Disorder develop epilepsy by the time they reach adulthood, according to www.ninds.nih.gov. Flickering lights can be an irritant to these children. Natural and or low lighting are much preferred.
Organize the home with icons.
A child with autism will do better in a home that has things organized and where items are returned to their original spaces. This kind of environment provides the young child with security and will foster good communication. The entire home will ideally be organized in a similar manner to help foster a child’s communication.
Picture icons should be placed throughout the home in a way that the child can easily access them. For example, a bath tub and a toilet picture may be placed on the bathroom door, DVD and TV icons by the family room entrance and an outdoor swing icon could be placed at the door to the backyard.
Pamela G. Downing, a special education teacher, can be contacted at downpamg@aol.com
