How to Toilet Train an Older Child or Tween on the Autism Spectrum

How to Toilet Train an Older Child or Tween on the Autism Spectrum

One of the struggles that many parents of autistic children run into, is that their older child still isn’t fully toilet trained. Most, not all, children are fully toilet trained by the time they’re 4. But, for our autistic children? This just may not be the case. For many of us, we start wondering if we can find a large special needs potty for toilet training.  Even with resources and tools like bathroom charts or visual schedules, sometimes it’s just downright difficult to accomplish this task. Add to that, most of the existing resources and books are geared towards younger children. While we can still adapt some of those resources, like books, we also want to be respectful to our autistic child. Common toilet training…

How to Teach Schedules and Routines to Your Autistic Child
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How to Teach Schedules and Routines to Your Autistic Child

I will likely say this until I’m blue in the face, but having a routine and structure for your autistic child is important. Any child, on the autism spectrum or not, benefits from having routines and schedules in place. This predictability provides security. Even young children can benefit from having a routine in place.  But how do you start with this? Many are not born with time management skills and many adults often struggle with time management as well. And really, it’s one thing to teach time management, but it’s another thing entirely to put that all into practice. Here’s how to teach schedules and routines to your autistic child in ways that make sense. How to get your autistic child on a predictable schedule…

How To Set Realistic Financial Goals for Neurodiverse Families

How To Set Realistic Financial Goals for Neurodiverse Families

I like setting goals. It helps me to visualize things in a clear way and by setting goals, I can work towards something at a reasonable and realistic pace. So it would make perfect sense for me to set financial goals, right? But is it really that easy? Of course it can be! Today, I want to talk about how and why parents of autistic children need to set financial goals. And, if you’re like me, maybe you’re already goal planning with your finances. Even if you aren’t, it’s never too late to get started. By setting financial goals and following other smart money management tips, you may also be avoiding some of the more common financial mistakes that people tend to make. We’ll also…

6 Common Sense Discipline Tips to End Power Struggles

6 Common Sense Discipline Tips to End Power Struggles

As a parent of an autistic individual and as a parent of a highly sensitive and strong willed child, I have my fair share of parenting battles and power struggles. I’ve learned, of course, to pick my battles- especially when it comes to the strong-willed child. As we have gone through an ungrateful phase with her, I often find myself at the end of my patience. Add in her strong-willed personality? I start to question my parenting abilities.  There are certainly days that I’ve wanted to curl up into a ball or just call it quits on this whole parenting gig. I can’t, of course, but sometimes – it’s nice to think about. And there is nothing wrong with that. I refuse to feel ashamed…

5 Main Causes Behind Why People Procrastinate and Solutions for Each

5 Main Causes Behind Why People Procrastinate and Solutions for Each

Why do people procrastinate? Maybe you do it because you don’t enjoy a task. Or you might find that something is to difficult to organize. Maybe you don’t know how to get things done. Whatever the case may be, people procrastinate for many reasons. Many of those reasons, however, boil down to 5 excuses. Let’s take a look at the most common excuses for procrastination and how to overcome them. The truth behind why you are prone to procrastination I’m not sure about you, but for me? I procrastinate because I get overwhelmed.  Yup. It really is that simple.  Here’s how it starts: Break down a project into tasks Break down those tasks into smaller tasks List out all the tasks Get overwhelmed with all…

Back to School Survival Tips for Parents of Autistic Children
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Back to School Survival Tips for Parents of Autistic Children

Just as your child is going to receive a back-to-school supply list? Here are a few things that you should be doing to get ready for back to school. Yes, you- mom or dad of an autistic child. There are some specific things that you’re going to need. I won’t leave you empty-handed though. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a handy checklist with these back to school survival tips for parents of autistic children.  What parents of autistic children need to do before school starts Aside from the back to school shopping for supplies or clothes, there are a few key things that parents need to do before the mad-rush of back to school. And yes, parents of autistic children, that includes…