How to Deal With Autism

Autism, also known as an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), affects social skills, language, behavior and sometimes cognitive ability. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1 in 110 children in the United States have an ASD. Due to the lack of social skills and the inability to read nonverbal cues, people diagnosed with an ASD have difficulty making friends, engaging in community activities and having romantic relationships. When paired with language and cognitive delays, this means many people diagnosed with an ASD are unable to live independently as adults.

Instructions

• 1

  Educate yourself about autism. Familiarize yourself with the many combinations of symptoms associated with autism, which range from very mild to severe. Even if you've met or worked with an individual with autism before, don't expect all people with autism to behave the same. Become familiar with communication techniques for nonverbal individuals. Learn how to redirect self-injurious behaviors. Know what an individual likes and dislikes, so that you can reward good behavior and avoid triggering bad behavior. Individuals with autism generally respond very well to positive reinforcement, so try to encourage a desired behavior, rather than punish an undesired behavior. Sometimes an individual may enjoy the attention he receives for bad behaviors, which can increase the bad behavior.

• 2

  Get support. Autism presents many stressful and challenging situations, so having support and help from family, friends and other caregivers is crucial. Trying to deal with these challenges alone may lead to depression, isolation and resentment. Take time for yourself, so you are able to appreciate and enjoy the time you spend with the person with autism.

• 3

  Plan ahead. Be cognizant of things that may cause a meltdown--a temper tantrum or seemingly illogical emotional outburst. Avoid situations that trigger these outbursts if possible. If it isn't possible to avoid a meltdown, plan for positive distractions and ways to redirect the individual to more constructive behavior.

• 4

  Read social stories. Social stories are basically scripts of how the person should respond to situations in real life. For instance, if the person gets upset and doesn't cooperate during doctor appointments, write a social story about going to the doctor. Good social stories consist of illustrations to help the person visualize the situation, minimal words and first person narratives. The story should reassure the person by presenting detailed steps of what will happen and how they should react in those situations. A doctor appointment social story could contain passages like these: "I will sit quietly in the waiting room until the nurse calls my name." "When the doctor checks my ears, I will hold still and let her use her tool to look in my ears. It will not hurt me. "

• 5

  Be patient and understanding. People with autism often don't interpret the environment the way most people do. Put yourself in their position. Imagine living in a place and where you couldn't understand or speak the language. How would you let others know what you want or need? Imagine if you couldn't ask for what you wanted, then when you tried to take what you wanted you were yelled at or restrained. When you don't know the social customs or rules how can you possibly obey them?
  Life may seem this way for an individual with autism. They don't understand many of our social rules, so they can't follow them. Being compassionate and open-minded may alleviate some of the stress involved in caring for an individual with autism.
  Knowing that an individual isn't ignoring your rules or blatantly disobeying you may help dissipate the anger and frustration that sometimes accompany caring for a strong-willed, seemingly-mischievous person with autism. Look at behaviors and try to find the logic behind them. Sometimes you can identify what causes undesired behaviors and eliminate them.