Unit 40: How to Support Self-Regulation in Children with Autism

• Difficulty understanding emotions
• Difficulty expressing emotions
• Struggle to name or recognize feelings
• Lack of awareness of feelings like frustration, anxiety, or tiredness
• Potential for meltdowns
• Potential for Withdrawal

Equip children with calming tools for overstimulation, such as weighted blankets, fidget toys, or noise-canceling headphones. For instance, you can have a “sensory kit” with these items in the classroom or at home, and the child can break when overwhelmed by them in a quiet area.

Physical activity can help children release pent-up energy and reduce their stress levels. Take time out for a “sensory break” with the following activities: jumping on a mini-trampoline, yoga stretches, or running in place. For example, before a transition, children might enjoy 5 minutes of guided movement to adjust their energy.

Pictures of the child’s feelings can be quite useful. A sample “emotion thermometer” with a color range from “calm” (green) to “frustrated” (red) may assist the child in knowing the feelings. The caregiver may use a daily chart, especially during challenging situations, and help the child to tell what is happening.

This is a short narrative that explains specific situations. In such an example, there will be clear directions for one’s response to the specific scenario. For instance, a social story under the topic “Feeling frustrated”, may explain and describe the feeling of frustration but then provide steps like asking for help and taking deep breaths to regulate the mind.

Deep breathing can help prepare the child with the coping mechanism to self-regulate during stressful situations. Teach them to “inhale, smell the flower, and exhale blowing the candle.” The children may easily remember this exercise given a flower for inspiration to inhale and a candle for inspiration to exhale.

Simple visualization can be used to great benefit to soothe a child. Ask them to close their eyes and see, hear, and feel a safe happy place—the beach, their cozy room, etc.—and then describe all of it, what they’re seeing, hearing, feeling, and so on. That might redirect their thinking in a tense or frustrating time.

Visual Schedules help children with predictability. So, their anxiety reduces if an outline of the whole activities to be performed each day is given in graphic representations. For example, a chart “Morning Routine”, includes images of getting up and brushing your teeth, and dressed, and having breakfast with your mother.

Simple checklists can promote self-management. For instance, a checklist for “Getting Ready for School” which has items such as “pack lunch” and “zip up backpack” makes the child responsible for getting ready for school independently.

Rewarding Positive Behaviors, such as remaining calm or using coping skills, will encourage repetition of the behaviors. For example, after a child uses the sensory break to calm down, you can give praise or some small token to collect for earning a bigger reward later, such as extra playtime or their favorite activity.

In this system, the child earns tokens for the demonstration of self-regulation, which can be used to purchase rewards. For example, earning 5 tokens may allow them to have more time with a favorite toy, thereby strengthening the value of controlling their emotions and behaviors.

One of the effects of the pretend setting is that the child learns what to do in real situations. For instance, when role-playing “waiting in line,” they learn to wait patiently, while “feeling upset,” they find ways to calm themselves at such times.

Adults ought to model those strategies themselves by being calm through all the interactions in their own lives. Children also model adults as they use their self-soothing techniques, where, for instance, it may be said, “I am going to take a deep breath because I am angry.” Children tend to follow these behaviors over their lifespan.

Since children with autism tend to do better when they are given more warning about changes, use cues like: “In five minutes, clean up.” This can help them prepare for that change. Using visual timers along with these cues supports smooth transitions because the children know how much time remains.

Sometimes transitions can be eased through calming activities, such as Reading a Favorite Book in quiet tones or listening to soothing music. A child who must move from playtime into quiet time might find that a short, guided relaxation activity can ease the shift.

If child stays calm in a frustrating situation, a caregiver might praise them or provide a small reward, such as a sticker. Over time, the child learns that managing their emotions is a behavior that leads to positive outcomes.

They can model self-regulation skills through the use of calming techniques such as deep breathing and cueing the child to do this but in a fading manner.

If loud noises seem to be a problem, then a softer sound can be utilized for practice, which progressively increases to be even louder while performing their self-regulation exercises; this way, they may build tolerance without getting drowned.