October 2011 - Creativity Helps with Back to School Stress

by Robin V Schwoyer

We have three children, each unique with the back to school ritual. The daughter was ready to purchase back to school supplies in mid-July and had her closets and desk organized in anticipation of the workload and expectations at the new middle school. The youngest was unsure about school, simply because it means having to wear clothing other than his summer uniform - a bathing suit. The oldest boy was anxious about the new school year in April of 2011. Yes, April. Kevin is on the Autism Spectrum. Change of routine, new expectations, new people and many other facets create anxiety for him…and us. We have various techniques we use to address his concerns and ease him through his self regulation process.
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Increased Anxiety with Back to School Transition
If you live with Autism or work with these amazing persons, I’m sure you have seen the spectrum of how the condition affects them. Any child can have anxiety with the new year, yet these kids feel it and deal with it in a multitude of ways. We work with ASD children through HeARTs for Autism® and many parents are reporting even greater anxiety issues this year. In some cases, like my son, they started new schools, in other cases, there is the switch to a new teaching team, and in other cases, we can’t quite explain what is happening. Increased hand flapping and other perseverations, disruptions in sleep, increased aggression, speech changes, bowel and digestive issues are a few of the parental and teacher concerns. What can we do to help with the anxiety and transitions?

Story Strategies
We have a strategy of starting early in conversations about upcoming changes with the children. Depending on the verbal level of your child, you can talk about what to expect with the school routine, and regardless of verbal level, we find using visual supports helps. Pictures of the routine during the day, the new school or classroom, etc can help to create familiarity. You can use these pictures to create “stories” about the day. We have used little action figures or puppets to “play” the parts of the bus driver, the teacher, other children, the lunch aides, or whoever they may encounter. This play acting and role modeling can have a soothing affect over time, as we help the kids to recognize they can anticipate possibilities and self regulate. We have used story cards to create social stories and set up rules and expectations for the children. You can use them like the story sequence card games. It helps to enhance imagination and executive function as well.

Creative Expression Strategies
You can have the children draw their own pictures to communicate their desires as well. We are major proponents of self-advocacy for the kids - as soon as you can get a child to draw a picture, speak some words, dance a dance, build a Lego model or whatever they like to do, we encourage parents and teachers to link this activity to self expression with desired outcomes. We have expectations of the children, and they have expectations of us and of themselves. Creative expression can be a way to support their communication. Think about what your child likes to do. How can this be used to engage them and create opportunities to share what is going on inside of them?

Remember, All Behavior is Communication
If anxiety is in full swing now that school is in session, make note of what the child is doing. All behavior is communication, so what can we do to create channels and open lines? We have used clay as a way to get kids to “show” us what is happening. Sometimes they mold the thing that bothers them. Other times, they just go to their happy place and make what they like. Afterwards, they are calmer and ready to communicate. Other times, the clay takes a beating - squished, torn apart, stomped on - this might not have been the best medium to use if we were looking for a calming effect. However, with facilitation and observation, you can probably get some insight and then decide the next activity, also considering the Sensory Integration needs of the child. We have used finger painting or drawing in similar ways.

Decompression
Many of our kids like to build Legos or create with other similar toys. My son “had” to play with one cabin kit. Took apart, put it back together a few times. He was very focused and not much into talking or dealing with anyone else. So I left him be, occasionally making small talk to just to let him know I was “present’ if he wanted to connect. Then, I heard a huge sigh a couple hours later. He looked calm and content. He spoke a bit and moved on. His friends have done similar things. We suspect, they just needed to have a structured activity, that they can control, at their pace, to reorganize their thoughts, feelings and sensory systems.

Some families use television as a stress breaker. As long as it leads to connectedness and interaction it can be okay, otherwise, it is just a distraction and the underlying stress remains. Music can be a vent. Dance together. Sing together. Play around with drumming. This is great for sensory as well.

Simplest Strategy: Breathe!
With all this said, the simplest creative thing you can do with a child is BREATHE. Breath is readily available, yet when we are stressed, we breathe very shallow. This affects not just oxygen levels, but brain wave patterns, neurotransmitters, hormones, sugar levels and the overall nervous system. Practice deep breaths together. Sit quietly and just Be. Take a walk and stretch the body and lungs. Pause to look at trees. Enjoy the flowers in the gardens. Our greatest sense of well being can come from our genuine connection to Self in the quiet moments, especially in Nature.

Back to School stress moves to holiday stress, and so the pace continues. Using simple creative strategies, see how stress integrates and transforms into imaginative ways to enhance and express our skills while learning the art of life on the Spectrum journey.

Article copied from: www.ourjourneythruautism.com