Mindfulness

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I think we have things, basically on track this year, and that I am ready to return to trying to tackle ASD issues, again, now that my 8 yr pld son is back to his generally happy self.

My son is not at all mindful of where he is going, and usually not what he is stepping on, that kind of thing. For example when we go tot he supermarket and he goes to pick out his juice, he just heads for the juice without paying attention if a cart is coming his way and might slam into him. So, naturally, I am the one watching out for the carts. It is not that I mind, but you know, eventually he is going to have to be able to that do kind of thing, cross the street by himself, walk in parking lots by himself, etc. I obviously can't just let him deal with natural consequences b/c he really would end up getting hurt.

Anyone have these issues, and maybe have some tips to share? I prompt him ahead of time, but that does not seem to work, as he goes forth as though with blinders headed for his eventual destination, every time.

No helpful tips here. Mine is 13 1/2 and I still have to pull him out of the way when we are meeting people in aisles at the grocery store and he is blocking the path. I have to keep a constant eye on him if we walk beside the road outside of our extremely quiet neighborhood. He watches out just fine in the neighborhood--keeps an eye out for cars, gets himself off the road and makes sure the other children are off the road. But it's like if there is going to be a constant stream of cars like on the highway that he completely zones them out, and I have to keep pulling him away from the edge of the road, because he drifts toward walking on the curb.

i can come up with ideas, but it's hard to tell what would work on a specific kid without knowing the kid and what you've tried that did not work or sort of worked but not completely. activities or phrasing that works well for one kid could make a different kid upset, withdraw, or react against it and make the situation worse. my experience has mostly been with young kids. one of the first things i might try is telling him directly look out for people.

if the lowest level, least intrusive/most general prompt does not work, watch people in the grocery store move around and ask him to guess what they are doing, why are they here, what are they trying to get? if they are going to stop moving, if they are going to try to move past another person. ask, what will happen if a person stood at X? do you think they would hit you if they didn't notice and stop moving? is it safe to run past them? do you think there is enough space to get by there or would you have to enter their personal space? watch other people in the store getting stuff and ask him, was that a safe way to do things? did you see them do x, y, z? are people walking faster or slower than you would walk outside? is it easier to notice other people and not run into them if they are moving fast like that or slow?

you could try teaching him navigation in a different context, for example biking with cones and avoiding pedestrians and walking and avoiding people on bikes (you and helpful family/friends). could try using a comparison to a videogame that he plays or a safe car driving game (maybe the ones where you run over pedestrians as a negative example). if your kid likes physical activities, a hyperlink-style game with retrieving objects and avoiding rolling therapy balls and then rules of grocery shopping. this might be fun just as a physical game.

you could try playing grocery shopping secret agent/dinosaur/whatever cartoon/tv character they like game and tally up points to a reward or a sticker chart, ex. you try to obtain all the items on the shopping list in the minimum time without being injured or injuring anyone else, with minimum disturbance of grocery store objects, while attracting minimum negative attention from shoppers and people working in the grocery store.

what prompts have you tried using and what was his reaction?

So far all I have tried is telling him to look out for carts at the store, and honest explanations of why he has to be caredul where he is going.

He does not ride a bike, at all. His motor skills are another issue. I would be afraid to place a time component in, or he will rush us out of the store. It has been hard enough to get him to tolerate our weekly shopping trip.

Having him observe the other shoppers is a really good idea. I will have to see if he will do it as he is not really interested in other people, whoch is part of the issue. The therapy ball idea is a good one, too. I think he might be willing to do something like that.

I was trying to reply to this yesterday but got totally side-tracked.

What helps a bit for us is that I make looking out for other people the first part of the statement, so instead of saying "OK you can go get your juice now" I would be very explicit and say, "Look out for other people and stay out of the way of carts and you can go get your juice now." For us it is that both boys want to zip over to the magazine rack - on the opposite side of the store - as soon as we get to the end of the first aisle. I also try to remember to coach the desired behavior on the way to the store and before we get out of the car. I find the more I reiterate the expected behavior before we get there, the better the result. Problem is I usually have a million things on my mind so I don't always remember to do the preparatory coaching.

Karate worked for me. I used to run into things all the time. After a couple years of karate, this dropped to only when I'm very tired or overloaded. And the effect stuck after about a year and a half of no karate.

In my case, I think the issue was poor proprioception (sense of your body in space). Focusing on assuming certain poses and performing certain precise movements helped to train my brain to become more aware of where my body is.