Winter Connections

Living in the North Eastern state of NH we enjoy some hardy winters. We're graced with a snowy landscape and crisp cold winter breezes for several months out of the year. Winter is a classic time for children to pull out their snowsuits, hats and mittens and get together to enjoy fun activities like sledding, snowball fights and building snowmen and forts. How does this effect the autistic child that has so much difficulty communicating and playing with other kids? For my son being able to enjoy seasonal activities started by making connections with his world to the outside world.

When my son was 2 and recently diagnosed I had no idea how to break into his world and bring him out into ours. I sat beside him and imitated his repetitive motions with his cars. I quickly found out that he would squeal when I was doing it wrong. He was allowing me to participate in his activity according to his rules but I wanted him to expand and open up his world. I got an Idea.

I found toy cars that were copies of popular cars on the road back then. After Zach accepted them into his inventory I took him for walks in the carriage along busy streets and through parking lots. His cars were in a box on his lap. When we came across cars he carried I pointed them out and made the usual repetitive car noises he made. His eyes opened up in surprise and fascination and he pointed to them and held out the matching toy car.

Next, at home I introduced a set of small plastic realistic looking farm animals to him. I interwove them in his line of cars. At first he objected as I expected. I moved them along making the same car motions and noises that he made. After a while he accepted them.

When he was very familiar with them as 'his' toys I gathered a collection of pictures and picture books with animals that looked like them. At night before bed and at other times I showed him the pictures and matched them with the toys. He became very good at matching them and picking the right ones out. I started making the animals sound in the repetitive way he liked to make sounds as he handled each animal.

When I picked up the newspaper one day and read an announcement of the start of the local fair I saw a great opportunity. I bundled up my son and took him and his toy animals to the fair.

When we walked into the cow barn one of the cows let out a great mooooo. My son was so surprised he climbed out the carriage and held out the toy cow toward the real cow and made mumbled noises that I understood as his way of telling me to look. I talked to him and we made the cow noises that he was familiar with. I did try to get him to touch the cow but that was a little too much for him at the moment.

We walked slowly through the barns and I let my son match his toys with the real animals. On that day his world had really opened up for him.

We returned to the fair several times taking his sisters along with us. He seemed to think of the real animals as 'his' animals and when he saw his sisters petting them he objected. Of course I wouldn't tell them to stop petting the animals and I encouraged him to. He finally reached out his hand to one cow and ran his finger along the hair ends so lightly you would think he wasn't even touching them, but you could tell by the look on his face that he was.

With time, lots of visits to barns and modeling from his sisters he started to pet them and enjoy our trips away from home. In the petting zoos he would mix in with the other kids, pet the animals and watched what they did and how they moved. I also gave him simple books and movies about animals which he finally took an interest in.

What does all this have to do with winter and connections?

Everything.

When the yard became buried in snow we went outside and found a spot to play, bringing his treasured toys along. We made bridges and little snow forts for the cars and animals to go through. I got one of his sisters to cooperate and had her play along side him with his toys in his way. Then I gave his sisters similar toys and let them play nearby (but not too close) in their own way. It caught his attention. Later I found him modeling some of the things he saw his sisters do with the toys.

After a while they started to play together with out him objecting that his sisters weren't following his rules.

One of the things the girls like to do, and later Zach, was to slide the animals down little snow hills. The girls would squeal like it was them sliding down the hills. What do you think happened when I brought some sleds home? He would slide the animals down the big hills with the sled.

When he saw his sisters sliding down the hills on the sleds. He hopped on one, as if he had done it a million times, and slid down the hill. Sledding became one of his favorite activities.

All of this started with a line of cars that he moved along with repetitive motions and noises. Simple connections and some help with modeling from other children brought my son into the outside world and had him playing alongside and at times with other children.

Getting autistic children to enjoy winter may be as simple as making connections with their world and bringing it outside.






How do you handle the winter with your autistic child? Leave your comments and your suggestions.