When our son was diagnosed with Autism, myself and my
husband got the opportunity to attend a training program called “More Than
Words” created by The Hanen Centre. As new parents into the world of Autism, we
were both so anxious, panicked, confused etc. and I am not even able to explain
most of the other emotions. I think this is true for all the parents when they
step into this new world.
Though we started the training with lot of puzzles in our
mind, we finished the training with lot more confidence than we expected.
More than words is a program by Hanen Centre to help parents
work with their child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition to promote
communication and social skills.
The approaches suggested were very easy for us to practice
with our son. We learnt lot of
approaches to improve our son's communication.
Of all the approaches, I enjoyed using is R.O.C.K . And of
course I am using even now also.
What is R.O.C.K?
There are several routines we do in a day unconsciously. It
starts with Saying Good Morning followed by Brushing, Toilet, Bathing,
Dressing, Breakfast, going to School/Office, Lunch, playtime, Watching TV, play
Activities, Outing, Dinner, till saying Good Night before going to sleep.
I used R.O.C.K in most of above day to day routines, which
helped my son move towards independence.
Before I start practicing the routine I break the routine
into smaller tasks. For example if you take a Brushing task,
1.
I will tell that it is Brushing Time.
2.
Take him to Bathroom.
3.
Make him to take the Toothbrush
4.
Make him to take the Toothpaste
5.
Take the Tooth paste in the brush
6.
Brush the teeth
7.
Wash the brush
8.
Keep the brush back in the stand
9.
Rinse the mouth
10. Wipe
Mouth and Dry the hands
11. Come
out of the Bathroom.
If we are able to break the routine into smaller task then
applying the approach will be easy for us, which will help our kids to learn
fast.
Let me explain how I used to apply the approach:
R – Repeat what you say and do:
I will give some examples of how I used Repetition for my son
to teach him the routines like I mentioned above.
In the beginning my son was not toilet trained (till 3 years
old). Then I started taking him to look for wee job every 30 mins of a day.
This meticulous repetition was little difficult for me in the beginning. When I
used to start this routine, I used to say a constant word for him to recognise,
“Wee job” and when he finished, I would say “Wee job over”.
Similarly I used Repetition for teaching my son, Rhymes. He
used to like hearing, “Johnny, Johnny Yes Papa”. I used to say “Johnny Johnny”
as a way of saying I was about to sing the rhymes for him. Then I used to sing
the full rhymes for him.
Playing games was also similar. When we visited park, we
used to make my son sit in the Swing and my husband used to say “Push” and then
push him gently. When the swing slows down after a few seconds, my husband used
to repeat “Push” and then push him.
O- Offer Opportunities for your Child to take a turn
Making your child to take a turn in the activities you do with
him or her will get them involved and start understanding and learning.
I used to break any routines into little tasks (like I have
broken the brushing routine into small tasks mentioned in the introduction).
And then decide which task is something he can repeat it by action or word. For
example during Brushing, I will repeat all the tasks by name and help him to do
it (in the beginning) and pause at times for him to do a task by himself (like
putting the brush to mouth) or put the brush back in the stand.
For Toilet training also, I used to give many opportunities
for my son. After announcing about a visit to toilet, wait for him to go to the
toilet or wait for him to remove his trousers or wait for him to flush after
the job is done. Of course this waiting for a task to be done by him comes
after repeating a routine in similar way many times.
You can visit this blog http://autism-contacts-in-india.blogspot.in/2013/09/how-i-made-my-son-speak-through-nursery.html
to check how I used R.O.C.K principle to make him talk using rhymes.
C – Cue your child to take his turn
When you give opportunity to child to do some tasks in a
routine, the child in the beginning may take some time to understand or
struggle to complete the task.
Cues are little help to remind the child and make the child
get independent on little tasks by himself.
I used to give my son visual cues (pictures). E.g. a picture
of Brush your Teeth when I expect him to do the next step and he is not sure.
Or sometimes gestural prompts (like showing him the action of taking the brush
to mouth) or physical prompt (like taking his hand with brush to his mouth).
Over a period of time, cues can be faded and child become independent on that
task.
You can see my experiences on brushing in more details at http://autism-contacts-in-india.blogspot.in/2014/04/brushing.html
K-Keep it fun! Keep it going!
Any routine we do with a child is a good opportunity for us
to interact with them, understand them and play with them. Basically it could
turn out having fun with them.
Initially for the brushing routine, I also used to do
brushing with my son and talk animatedly with him and basically have good time
doing the routine. Or sing little songs for routines or tasks like, “This is
the way to brush my teeth”.
Sometimes make silly mistakes purposefully putting socks on
the hands instead of feet or putting the wrong end of the brush in my mouth so
that he will correct it. Sometimes while playing ball game with him, I used to
miss the ball and say “Ball Missed”.
I found the more involved he got with us, more learning happened for him and better relationship developed between us.
R.O.C.K has helped myself me to understand my son and get
much closer to him. That has been the foundation for doing many more activities
with him and developing his skills.
You can read more about R.O.C.K in Hanen’s “More than Words”
book. Occasionally training also seems to be happening in India (Five Institute
runs it in Bangalore).
Join my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/winautism for future updates.
Here is the link to the playlist of Activities done with Aakash, in YouTube: Click Here
Please click the following link for a comprehensive documentation of my journey with Aakash: Click Here
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