With thoughtful planning, attending community events and family gatherings can be more manageable for families with a child with autism.
Navigating Events and Family Gatherings With Your Child With Autism
Community events and family gatherings can bring joy, connection—and a lot of stress, especially when you’re parenting a child with autism. The noise, unfamiliar faces, the break in routine and the sensory overload can feel like too much for the child. With some thoughtful planning and realistic expectations, these moments can become more manageable, and you and your child can feel successful. Small strategies can make a big difference.
- Kids on the autism spectrum often thrive when they know what to expect. Predictability and structure are very important when getting ready for community or family activities and events.
- Showing your child pictures of who will be there and what the space looks like can help make unfamiliar situations feel more predictable. Photos combined with a short description of what will happen from start to finish can be extremely helpful.
For example, when preparing to attend a baseball game, a parent may show pictures of the ball field, concession stand and seating, and also say to the child, “We’re going to a baseball game. We will sit in a red chair. You can choose a snack—popcorn or a hot dog. We will watch each team use their bats three times. Then we will drive home.”
Setting realistic expectations that you will stay for three innings instead of all nine can help everyone have an idea of success.
- Getting bodies and minds ready for the activity or event is also important. Practicing skills ahead of time, such as breathing or calming strategies or short interactions or greetings, can help build confidence. Start by practicing in safe places with safe people before expecting your child to interact with unfamiliar folks.
Every community activity or event is a chance to learn, grow and honor your child’s needs. Make sure to celebrate victories, big or small. Maybe your child stayed five minutes longer than last time or used a coping strategy in the moment. These are successes to be celebrated!
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