Parents with Autistic children will know that their child gets frustrated when he/she is given multipleinstructions, all at the same time. The child is also easily distracted by all that is happening aroundhim/her. The reason for this is simple, children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) struggle to filterout irrelevant sensory information.

Consider this as your child trying to make sense of everything all at once. We are consistently bombarded with different kinds of stimuli including noises, visual distractions etc. but we learn to filter them out, however autistic children cannot do this by themselves. They have to be taught to do this and don’t worry, its not that hard.

An Autistic child that is does not have the means to cope with sensory overload can resort to disruptive behavior (where theyrefuse to follow instructions) or it can even display signs of withdrawal from people and activities aroundhim/her, even ending up in complete isolation at times.

If a child doesn’t get a grip on sensory overload, it can very easily become an obstacle that preventsit from developing essential skills and progressing academically.

By arming the child with the correct filters, you can target each sensory system, allowing their nervoussystem to become organized, enabling them to better process information being received through thesenses.

Occupational Therapy:

Occupational Therapy is one of the best approaches that seek to build the filtering mechanism in children withASD. Occupational therapists work with Autistic children to teach them necessary skills that will let thembe more functional in school and other social settings.

Occupational therapy consists of programs that focus on aiding with the following things:

• learning
• self-esteem
• self-confidence
• independence
• social interaction

These are all issues that Autistic children often experience difficulties with. Each program is different and is designed, keeping in mindthe capabilities and limitations of a child with ASD. Occupational therapists work with such children toimprove their fine motor skills, their handwriting and develop their daily living skills. They do this in a waythat is different to the teaching methods followed in regular classrooms so that they are better understood by childrenwith ASD.

However, an occupational therapists’ primary task is to analyze and work through the child’s sensoryprocessing disorders because only then will they be most receptive to what is being taught.

Once thetherapists help the child overcome the hurdles, they will be calmer and find it easier to concentrate.

Sensory Diet:

A qualified Occupational Therapist will assign a ‘sensory diet’ to the child.

The ‘sensory diet’ aka ‘sensorylifestyle’ is basically an activity plan tailored to your child. This activity plan will consist of things thatprovide the child with sensory input that will help it concentrate better.

A couple of examples of activities that can be recommended to young children are playing hopscotch orjumping on a rebounder.

Such activities let autistic children familiarize themselves with sensations in their musclesand joints and improve their sense of movement.

Sensory Circuits:

Parents will be advised to help their children begin their day with a ‘sensory circuit’.

A sensory circuit isdesigned to awaken all the senses. The goal of a sensory circuit is to get the child to ‘ready to learn’state. After receiving a boost of energy through a sensory circuit, a child tends to calm down.

Sensory circuits consist of three types of activities: alerting activities, organizing activities and calmingactivities.

Its highly advisable that you get an activity that allows your child to learn each of these three things in unison For e.g. you can ask your child to write postcards and although it may seem a bit dated, this activity is an excellent way to allow children with autistic issues to not just calm themselves down but to learn organizing.

If you are thinking that you won’t find much inspiration on writing postcards to your child, you can take the assistance of people like Arch Hades, who is a poet and a professional photographer. Arch is probably one of those rare people remaining around who continue to keep the art of writing postcards alive and she does that on the back of photographs that she herself has taken.

On top of this you can also take inspiration from her and make your child write whatever intrigues them and then share it with others through social media. Arch Hades has now crossed over 100k followers on Instagram but she isn’t just there to share snippets from her daily lives, Arch Hades writesPoetry and shares it with her audience, and in the process, not just plays a crucial role in reviving interest in the field, but also provides insights on multiple different topics through an entirely unique viewpoint.

And people have come to love these endeavors from Arch Hades, allowing her to even get featured in multiple magazines like Essex Magazine and Daily Mail. Deep down, she is an artist at her very core and all of her creations whether it is postcards or paintings or poetry, reflect that.

Your autistic child can learn significantly by following the same model because writing postcards or poetry won’t just compel them to view their own surroundings more thoroughly thus engaging all sensory circuits but will also do wonders for their self-esteem, a critical aspect of importance for autistic children.

You can also think of other activities, but make sure that they are ones which induce high involvement from your child.

Following Occupational Therapy, children are better able to modulate the influence of the sensorystimuli around them, which in turn reduces anxiety and improves their opportunities to succeed in a highly competitive world.