The Bottom Line
By Lynn E. McClannahan, Ph.D., and Patricia J. Krantz, Ph.D.; 147 pages. Subtitle: Teaching Independent Behavior.
The kind of independent behavior parents hope for -- doing chores, playing productively, making social contact -- doesn't just happen for kids with autism, it needs to be carefully orchestrated. If that sort of organization is something you have trouble carrying out independently, this small book will show you just how to make a picture schedule or word schedule to guide kids and adults through increasingly complex tasks.
Pros
- Short and quick to read
- Includes forms to help you assess your child's progress
- Includes schedules for young children through to adults
- Intended for use by parents as well as therapists
- Shows how schedules can be used to foster independence
Cons
- Technique requires a lot of initial prompting and supervision by parents
- Putting together the books and schedules takes time and effort, too
Description
- Chapter One: Independence, Choice, and Social Interaction
- Chapter Two: Prerequisite Skills: Is My Child Ready for an Activity Schedule?
- Chapter Three: Preparing a First Activity Schedule
- Chapter Four: A Different Way to Teach
- Chapter Five: Measuring Schedule Following
- Chapter Six: The First Schedule Is Mastered!
Chapter Seven: When Do Activities End? - Chapter Eight: Increasing Choice
Chapter Nine: From Pictures to Words - Chapter Ten: Expanding Social Interaction Skills
Chapter Eleven: Activity Schedules for Adults - Chapter Twelve: Activity Schedules: A Platform for Progress
Chapter Thirteen: Problem Solving
Guide Review - Book Review: Activity Schedules for Children With Autism
Most parents probably take for granted their child's ability to string a number of different interesting activities together into twenty or thirty minutes of playtime. For parents of kids with autism, though, that might seem like an impossible dream. The book Activity Schedules for Children With Autism seeks to make that sort of independent play a reality for youngsters on the spectrum by placing a photo of each activity in a notebook and prompting kids to go from one to the next until they're able (some might say programmed) to do it themselves.
This is the sort of thing that, when described with enthusiasm by experts like these, both former executive directors of the Princeton Child Development Institute, sounds perfectly do-able, but may wind up being more complex when your own and your children's weaknesses are factored in. There's certainly plenty of detail about what to include, how to prompt your child to comply, and how to fade your involvement or step it up depending on your offspring's compliance. The authors are confident that this can be done by any child and family, with enough patience and perseverance and fine-tuning. I think that might be wishful thinking, but chances are, if your child isn't behaving well independently, you're probably managing behavior constantly anyway. Managing it in a productive direction seems worth a try.
The book starts with simple picture schedules for very young children and then working up to word-based schedules for older kids. There are also examples of schedules that adults can use at work and home to handle decision-making or multi-step tasks. It seems like a great idea, and one that parents can execute if their children cooperate. The payoff is great, though it will likely take a lot of work to get there.
