This Week…
I’ve been trying to teach my son to plan. He may be eighteen now, but due to his Aspergers he is unable to plan things for himself. Just doing daily things like washing, dressing, brushing his teeth, eating and drinking can leave him flummoxed and it’s worse now he’s left school and hasn’t settled into a new routine.
Over the years we have tried different ways of teaching him to plan his days, but nothing has helped, so now we have gone back to baby steps.
If We Leave Him To Plan His Day…
He honestly doesn’t know where to start, gets into a right pickle and ends up doing nothing.
So we’ve started to write down everything he and I have to do in a day (I have my list and he has his). Firstly we break the day down into sections. Morning, afternoon and evening and in each section we write what each of us has to do in that time.
He includes the basics like washing, brushing teeth, making bed and eating and I give him chores to add to his list like sweeping or taking the rubbish.
At The End Of Every Day…
We sit down together and go through our lists checking that we’ve done everything and if there is something we didn’t have time for or life got in the way, it’s no biggy (as he has to learn that these things can and do happen) and we just reschedule for tomorrow.
In The Past…
We have tried setting times for jobs/chores, but that causes problems as he then sticks rigidly to the time schedule and won’t budge. We are also trying to teach him flexibility.
The Purpose Of Making A Plan…
Is to help him to be able to plan his day for himself. In time we hope that he won’t have to write things down to know when they have to be done, but if that works for him then so be it.
I do look forward to the day he’ll be able to plan for himself, as without that he has no chance of ever being able to lead an independent life.
Learning To Plan…
Won’t be easy for him and we have to except the fact that he may never be able to plan things for himself enough to be able to fly the nest, but for now we live in hope.
What are your planning skills like? I can plan in my head, but as soon as I have to put it on paper, it seems so complicated. So I am probably not the best person to be teaching Gregs!
© 2015 – 2016, Debbie. All rights reserved.
Tagged In...
Aspergers Syndrome • autistic spectrum disorder • Greg's and Us • wellbeing
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