Tips & Suggestions

You want to start the training early, by having them put the clothes in the clothes’ hamper when they are undressing or changing clothes. It is easier to do all that yourself, but remember, you are trying to instill life-long habits. Make a schedule for using the washer and dryer. When it is time to do laundry do the sorting out loud, “The whites go with the whites, the dark colors go here.” Have the child help with the sorting, even if they are too young to reach the washer and dryer controls. When the child is able to reach the controls, start teaching the sequence of putting the clothes in, putting the soap in, closing the door, and set for the wash. Have them move the clean clothes to the dryer, and set the dryer controls. Then have the child take things out of the dryer, fold them or hang them.

To keep the kids entertained at the store and to teach them how to shop, make written lists or picture lists. Have them participate in making of the list, if they can read and write, have them write the shopping list, otherwise have them look for the pictures of the items to shop for and make a picture shopping list. All this takes much longer, but it gets them into the habit or making their own shopping lists when they get older. As they do get older, teach them to go through the pantry and the refrigerator, to see what needs replacing and what foods they are low on, to put on the shopping list.

Many adults have problems with the kids staying with the cart (shopping basket). Kids on the autism spectrum do not have a developed concept of “with”. By that I mean, that they do not pay attention to what other people are doing and do not adjust themselves to do things with other people. You will see them at the store either way in front of the
cart or way behind, either zoned out, or super-focused on some display. They have to be trained from early age to stay with the cart. This is a long, frustrating process. The earlier you teach it, the sooner the child will learn it. If you leave them at home or stick them in the cart because it’s easier, the child will not magically learn it, and you will end up with a much larger child who is harder to catch and hold on to. You and the parents can decide if
you want the child to hold the cart or hold your hand, and be consistent as you are training them. Later in life, you will want to train them to walk with you without hanging on to you or the basket.

Teach them about where to find the foods and have them take you to the place where the foods are stocked. Teach that the fresh fruit and vegetables are in a special section. Teach where the cold foods are kept etc. Use this as an opportunity to teach new words for foods. Whenever possible, have them select the food, bag it, and put it the basket. As you are shopping, have them cross off the items on their list which they have put in the basket. This will help them to focus on the task of shopping.

When they get older, you can have them push the cart and have them search for the listed items in the store. You can also teach them to identify who works in the store and how to ask them where the items are. Always, have them bring a list and cross items off. When they get better at all this, you can take them shopping, and give them half of the shopping list to shop on their own. Set up a meeting place, (in front of cashier #1, or aisle #2) to make sure that they can navigate by themselves.

It is increasingly common to pay for things electronically. However, you still want the children to know about money, and what it all means. So practice counting money at home. Have the child make a small purchase using their own money.

For the older ones, teach them about budget, and to write down and keep track of all the receipts. It is easy for us to overspend when using credit cards, so a person on the Autism spectrum could go through their money really quickly and then have nothing. All this has to be taught, over and over again until it sticks.