scared to leave his house | Autism PDD
Hello I have a 8 year old son too and the first time i took him to the circus he flipped out and started kicking punching screaming out loud and he ran out the circus when he got into the tent o lord it was it he flipped even till this day he will not go to the circus at all... MY sons will follow me outside when i put there favorite toy outside the door, They will go out for it then go right back inside so i move it further away from the door .They are liking the outdoors now cause we take that favorite toy and play with it in the yard now.
"MY sons will follow me outside when i put there favorite toy outside the door, They will go out for it then go right back inside so i move it further away from the door .They are liking the outdoors now cause we take that favorite toy and play with it in the yard now."
That was my thought, pair something he really loves with being outside, even if it means bringing a TV and video outside.
Yeah, well, I've got some choice words for his school....but at least you're out there trying to do something!!!
Hi. I'm new and I'm not a parent. I'm a teacher and an In Home
Trainer. I have taught children with Autism for 8 years and love
them dearly. I have a new six year cutie who is absolutely petrified of
the outside. He will go from his house to the school bus and then to
the school. If you try and take him anywhere else he screams and
becomes very aggressive. Any suggestions?
I'm sorry, I have no "pearls of wisdom" to give you, I wish I did....I really just wanted to welcome you to the board.
I'm sure SOMEONE will have "pearls of wisdom" for you as this board is full of caring, informative people.
Good Luck!!
God Bless you & keep you safe!
Linda...aka Tony'sMom...aka MWN64
I don't know that I have a whole lot to offer either...but I'll try!
My son is 8 1/2, and also has a fear of the outside...here are a couple things I've done to improve it....
1. He's afraid of the sun, so we never leave the house without a baseball cap (that he picks out) and sometimes sun glasses. That took a while, cuz he didn't like anything on his head, but when he saw it kept the sun out...good news! Started with wearing them in the house, and showing with lamps how he's still in the "shade".
2. He's been terrified of grass for quite a while...I took a cue from Tammy on the board here, and started to take him on "nature walks" (thanks Tammy, if you weren't so outgoing, I never would have tried this without seeing the bravery first!).....today my dear son, who HATES the grass, actually walked through an entire field today....it started slow, I never pushed, brought along his brother to see that it's OK...and after about 7-8 outings, he's not afraid anymore. (I thank this board for that! From the bottom of my heart!)
3. In the beginning, he didn't want to go out at all...so we TALKED constantly about going to such-and-such. Talked about the plan, what time, how long, the reason, etc. etc. etc. I used pictures, books, magazines. I had his brothers talk about this and that that would be there and on and on. It basically took a lot of prep. It was like this for everything....so every new place I wanted to take him, it took prep before-hand till I was blue in the face. Now it's much easier, especially to places he's been before, but I still have to talk to him before going anywhere, explain where we're going and why. Again, it's easier now, one because he talks now, but mostly because of advanced preparation. It REALLY helps if I can identify something that will be at point B that interests him. I.e., parks were rough in the beginning, but he loves to swing....so there we go!
I don't know if this helps at all...my son doesn't have tantrums, doesn't act out at all, he does the opposite...he freezes. And he'll cry. So I don't know if there is a difference with the behavior part of it...but in any case, this is what worked for us.
Good luck! And good for you for helping these kids! We need more people like you. Thanks!
~Lesley
Hi, and welcome! I just returned from vacation today so I'm doing a little catching up.
My 9 yo son went through a long "season" of being terrified of leaving the house, especially of going to school. You couldn't get near the building w/out him freaking out, thus he did his entire 2nd grade year at home, but that's a story for another day...
We started w/ small outings, the yard, the neighborhood, etc. It was a very slow process. We prepped him for all outings using our household calendar which absolutely MUST contain every activity on it if you don't want to totally throw him off. He could see in advance where we were going, what he would be expected to do, etc. We also gave him a special word to use when he felt he couldn't take it anymore. He chose marshmallow, which did earn us a few interesting looks while out and about and suddenly he'd start muttering with increasing intensity, marshmallow, marshmallow, marshmallow... but it got us through it.
That's part of what we did. I think for every child it's different. Nate has an extreme amount of anxiety, (he ranks in the 97th percentile for anxiety, right up there w/ paranoid schizophrenics), so we deal w/ fear on a very regular basis. Patience is important, letting the child feel as if they have some control over the situation is important too. That may mean picking out a baseball cap or giving them a code word or any number of things that will work for that child. Start small, go slow. Progress can be made.
For his parents I think what helped me most was trying to see the world as Nate did/does. He doesn't see it the same as I do and it can be hard to imagine, but it gave me a lot more patience and tolerance. BTW, we just got back from Disney and Universal and while Nate was very afraid to go, he went willingly and, (almost), without incident. He's very proud of himself and so are we.
Sorry to bust in on this conversation but Tia......How did your vacation go???
Karrie
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