■ Before going out, consider the location and the amount of stimuli that your child could
encounter.Highlystimulatingenvironments(thosethathavemusicplaying,lotsof
people, lots of things to look at) such as malls, fast-food restaurants, video arcades,
and grocery stores may be too much for your child to take in and process.
■ If you have to go to a highly stimulating place, try to go during times that are less
busy, and each time you go, try to have a set route in the store, or go and play the
same arcade game, or order the same food. This will help the child make sense of a
potentially scary experience.
■ Control the number of people that your child will have to deal with on an immediate,
one-time as well as ongoing basis. Limit the number of people or visitors to your
home and wherever possible, try to have people over when your child is elsewhere or
sleeping. If you take your child to a party, some parents suggest taking a snuggle
time in a quiet place or room.
■ One way to understand how your child understands her environment is to take a piece
of paper and have her describe everything she smells right now. With another piece
of paper, do the same thing with what she sees, then with what she hears, and then
with what she can taste. This will give you a better idea of how your child
experiencesallthatisaroundher,andisafungameaswell!
■ When considering how to decorate your home, think “less is more”. This means less
noise, people, stuff, activity, etc.. It also means absolute order and always keeping
things in the same place.
■ Reduce the number of items mounted on the wall and hanging from the ceiling,
especially in areas where your child is expected to focus and attend. If required, hang
items behind your child’s line of sight or parallel to them. Store everything that you
don’t use regularly out of sight such as in cupboards or behind sheets or curtains.
■ Choose neutral colours for paint and furnishings rather than bright colours. Or get
the child’s input, especially with her room, so that she can feel that she is able to make
choices. This will also help your child enjoy and feel calm in her room.
■ If furnishings in your home must be moved, consider how your child will best tolerate
the change.
■ Have only one item out at a time(forexample,toys,games,etc.)andinsistthatanitem
must be put away before another comes out.
■ Store all things together by type only, not by size or space. For example, put all dolls
together; all trucks together; all reading books together; all colouring books together; all
socks together; all shirts together.
■ Try to make space visually concrete. You can do this by using masking tape, hula-
hoops and floor mats to map out your child’s space. It also helps if rooms have
definitedivisionsratherthananopen-conceptdesign.Maskingtapecanbeusedto
map out your child’s areas. For example, masking tape can be used to map out areas
such as where the child sits at her desk or her locker space.
■ To indicate where each item goes, tape, in that spot, a symbol or word that your
child will understand as saying “This is where it goes.” Also place visual labels on the
outsideofdrawersandcupboards.Usesinglewordsandapictureline-drawing(do
not use a cutout from a magazine) to indicate contents. Often such labels are more
successful when they are the child’s own drawings.
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Structure Supervision Support