It's a challenge just to get any kid to wash hands, cough into a kleenex instead of the air, but for autistic kids it can be especially difficult to communicate the whys and wherefores of flu-season hygiene. Here's some tips and tricks for getting ASD kids into the groove of healthy habits for flu-season and beyond.
- Make a picture chart that shows the top 5 or top 10 Healthy Flu Fighting tactics to help get your child engaged.
- Turn it into a fun game and your child into a Super Hero Flu Fighter - provide small rewards every time you see your child engaging in a healthy behavior. These can be stickers, a Super Flu Fighter badge etc. For especially noteworthy behavior, one idea could be to make a super hero's cape for your child to wear and show off their Super Flu Fighter behavior.
- Turn kleenex into super cough-blocking shields and make sure there's a box in every room within easy reach so your kids don't have to go looking for them.
- Make hand washing into part of the daily routine: when you get up, when you come in from outside, before and after every meal and if possible after sneezing, coughing or blowing nose. If your child has a daily routine chart, add a picture icon of hand washing after each routine step you'd like to add it to and provide extra rewards for doing that step.
The PA Department of Health is recommending that children get the seasonal flu shot and while this is a personal decision for each family, if you elect to get the shot, it might be a very difficult and traumatic experience for kids on the spectrum.
- Try to make getting the shot into part of the Flu Fighter fun. Prepare your child ahead of time and frame the shot as part of his/herspecial shield or armor against the Flu Germs.
- If you think it will be helpful, help your child understand how much/how little the shot will hurt and for how long by demonstrating as long as he/she agrees. This can be done with a brief, light pinch to the arm in the area where the shot will likely be. This can go a long way toward reassuring some ASD kids about how bad the pain will be and allows them to prepare. For others however, this may just feed into the overall panic, so this is a technique to use with your best judgment and knowledge of your child.
- Another way to prepare your child for the sensations that come with getting a shot could be to swab the arm area with an alcohol swab, and if your child or children have a doctor's play kit, mimic giving the shot and roleplaying through the whole experience so that there's as few surprises as possible on shot day.
- If your child panics during the shot, be prepared to use safety hold techniques, to hold your child still to avoid injury during the shot. If you don't think you'll be able to hold onto your child, be sure to bring along a parent, family-member or friend who is knowledgeable with safety hold techniques and can hold your child safely, but firmly. Your child's school program may be able to help with teaching safety hold techniques.
- If your child has a meltdown during the shot, it may be best to retreat for the day, let him/her calm down and talk through the experience then try again another day. Some children may simply be too agitated for another attempt in the same day.
For more information from the PA Department of Health, download the Top Ten Tips Against H1N1 as provided by the Child and Career Development Center in Coatesville. Please note that this file requires Microsoft Word.
Also check out the City of Philadelphia's Department of Public Health H1N1 Information Page
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