Knowing that they have a stable, nurturing home helps them face they challenges that come before them. Knowing that they have support by all adults in their lives allows for less problems at school and less likely to have them find their way into the justice system. (angel)
Children with FASD may become easily overwhelmed in everyday situations, which can result in unpredictable behaviors. Here are some ideas to help your child cope in their everyday environments.
At home:
■It is important to look for potential distractions, especially in places such as classrooms or their bedrooms. Things such as an open window, door or scraping chairs can be very distracting to a person with FASD, and those things make it difficult to concentrate on the task.
■ When considering how to decorate your home, think “less is more”. This means less noise, people, stuff, activity, etc.. It also means absolute order and always keeping things in the same place.
■ Reduce the number of items mounted on the wall and hanging from the ceiling, especially in areas where your child is expected to focus and attend. If required, hang items behind your child’s line of sight or parallel to them. Store everything that you don’t use regularly out of sight such as in cupboards or behind sheets or curtains.
■ Choose neutral colours for paint and furnishings rather than bright colours. Or get the child’s input, especially with her room, so that she can feel that she is able to make choices. This will also help your child enjoy and feel calm in her room.
■ If furnishings in your home must be moved, consider how your child will best tolerate the change.
■ Have only one item out at a time (for example, toys, games, etc.)and insist that an item must be put away before another comes out.
■ Store all things together by type only, not by size or space. For example, put all dolls together; all trucks together; all reading books together; all colouring books together; all socks together; all shirts together.
Out in public:■ Before going out, consider the location and the amount of stimuli that your child could encounter. Highly stimulating environments (those that have music playing, lots of people, lots of things to look at) such as malls, fast-food restaurants, video arcades, and grocery stores may be too much for your child to take in and process.
■ If you have to go to a highly stimulating place, try to go during times that are less busy, and each time you go, try to have a set route in the store, or go and play the same arcade game, or order the same food. This will help the child make sense of a potentially scary experience.
■ Control the number of people that your child will have to deal with on an immediate, one-time as well as ongoing basis. Limit the number of people or visitors to your home and wherever possible, try to have people over when your child is elsewhere or sleeping. If you take your child to a party, some parents suggest taking a snuggle time in a quiet place or room.
■ One way to understand how your child understands her environment is to take a piece of paper and have her describe everything she smells right now. With another piece of paper, do the same thing with what she sees, then with what she hears, and then with what she can taste. This will give you a better idea of how your child experiences all that is around her, and is a fun game as well!
(Alberta Learning,2004, Government of Alberta. (2007), Rendall, C.).
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