autism support

25/05/2025

18/04/2025

Autism is slow learning process

07/06/2023

Brain Drain: How to Help #5

Reduce Confusion: Add structure and predictability to the daily routine

Since the world can be chaotic and confusing for children on the spectrum, they are often anxious and insecure. “Uncertainty” scares them because they cannot adequately appraise it and feel incapable of dealing with it. They like predictable routines, laid out plans, concrete beginnings and endings, and knowing what to expect and when to expect it. When there is not predictable structure, they feel anxious and seek to control everything happening to them to feel safe.

Reduce confusion and uncertainty in Daily Routine

• Provide structure and predictability to the daily routine.
• Take away as much confusion as possible.
• Use predictable rituals for daily activities.
• Preview events ahead of time.
• Provide clear, consistent rules and expectations.
• Provide strong, clear boundaries and consequences.

Structured Daily Schedules

Knowing what is coming in the immediate future significantly reduces anxiety. Structured daily schedules (this event follows this event, follows this event) make the world understandable and predictable. These schedules can be picture schedules, written lists, appointment schedulers, or smartphone apps. They lessen anxiety and strengthen security. They allow the person to relax and be prepared. Such schedules provide the “mental map” needed to organize their time and make life predictable. It makes the “time” and “future” concrete and visual. I can see it; I can process it! Make the invisible, uncertain future, visual, and predictable. Use visual schedules both at home and at school. As the child gets older, empower him to use appointment schedulers or smartphone apps to provide him a visual “map.” You will reduce anxiety and increase certainty!

Build set routines into daily schedules

As we saw earlier, processing through their daily routine can be very taxing for people on the spectrum. The normal daily tasks that we often take for granted can be very draining for them. It is important that we provide as much structure and predictability to their day to minimize processing and conserve mental energy. Uncertainty requires increased processing, so providing structure and predictability reduces mental fatigue. So build in structured routines during the day and use visual schedules to make the day predictable. This helps lower processing needs, as well as lowers anxiety.

The more you can make simple daily routines (getting in the morning, getting home from school, mealtime routine, before bed, bathing routines) structured, consistent and predictable, the more automatic they become and the less “processing” required. We all rely on set routines to do activities automatically without thinking. We dress, bathe ourselves, and brush our teeth the same way each day without even thinking of it. We do them automatically out of “habit.” They take minimal mental energy, allowing us to think of other, more important things, as we are doing them. The more routines become automatic habits, the less mental energy used to move smoothly through the day. Predictable routines help keep the child from getting overloaded.

Whereas these rituals and routines are important for us, they are vital for those on the spectrum. Routines are the foundation for safety and security for them. They guide them through the confusion and make life predictable. Disrupt these routines, and security comes crumbling down.

Provide consistent rules, regulations, and expectations

Whereas structured schedules and routines give the child a clear understanding of what and when to do things, providing clear and consistent rules and expectations clarifies “how to do” things. They provide the boundaries needed to know what is acceptable and not acceptable. Most rules and expectations are invisible and “assumed.” For people on the spectrum, these expectations are either not noticed, or are vague, inconsistent, and confusing. Without being able to read these invisible rules and expectations accurately, people on the spectrum are left guessing what is needed.
Consequently, what they do and how they act does not match what we expect. We need to be literal, black and white, and consistent with all rules and expectations. Write them down to make them concrete. Go over them frequently, demonstrate, and role-play them. Consistently hold to them, so they are predictable for the child. Probably one of the greatest sources of anxiety for people on the spectrum is the vague and inconsistent rules and expectations inherent in our society.

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All of these suggestions significantly reduce the processing needs, requiring less mental energy, and minimizing the chance of overload. Simply make the child’s world more understandable.


This series on “cognitive issues in autism” can be found in the blue book, “Autism Discussion Page on the Core Challenges in Autism.”

Amazon.com: Bill Nason

04/06/2023

Brain Drain: How to help! #2

Reducing Confusion: Break it down, slow it down, and make it clear!

We have discussed how the brains of people on the spectrum are wired differently than ours. Because they have weak neurological connections (pathways) between the different brain centers, they have difficulty “rapidly processing multiple information simultaneously.” The neurotypical brain can integrate multiple information simultaneously and integrate this information smoothly. The person on the spectrum needs to process this information “sequentially,” piecing it together, bit by bit, at a conscious level. They have to “think through” what we intuitively understand. This slows down and taxes the processing, resulting in “delayed informational processing.”

How can we help? What can we do to support the person when communicating and teaching? How can we bridge to two worlds of processing so we can communicate and relate more smoothly?

“Break it down, slow it down, and make it clear!”

1. “Break it down!” The first thing we can do is avoid providing multiple information simultaneously, and do not expect the person to multi-task several steps or jobs at one time. Break it down into sequential parts. Provide information sequentially, one step at a time, so they can process it and integrate it together. Break tasks down into simple steps, and layout the sequence of actions. Lay the information out for them to “think it through.”

2. “Slow it down!” Because they cannot process multiple information simultaneously and must process it sequentially, slow it down and give them time to process (think it through). You’re your verbal statement short. Slow it down and give extra time for them to process. You may need to give the child 10-30 seconds to process and give you a response. Let them pace the learning as not to overwhelm them. When communicating and teaching, break it down and slow it down, giving the child plenty of time to process and respond.

3. “Make it clear!” Get to the point, and make it clear. People on the spectrum think in concrete, detailed facts. They need very concrete, literal information that is factual, not filled with assumptions and inferences. Get to the point, stay to the point, and make it literal and factual. When possible present information visually so they can see it. Written words, pictures, diagrams, visual flow charts, and visual models provide a constant resource to reference. Our spoken words are fleeting and easily lost in translation.

4. “Say what you mean, and mean what you say!” Do not beat around the bush, sugar coat things, or assume anything. Be factual and be consistent — nothing more and nothing less. People on the spectrum need to know that the information is consistent and predictable. Inconsistencies and unpredictability can lead them into fright and panic. If they cannot understand and predict, they cannot trust.


Our thinking styles and communication styles are radically different. Therefore we have to provide information in a fashion that they can process and communicate in a manner they can understand it. Simply speaking, to relate effectively, we need to slow “our” world down. “Break it down, slow it down, and make it clear!”

This series on “cognitive issues in autism” can be found in the blue book, “Autism Discussion Page on the Core Challenges in Autism.”

Amazon.com: Bill Nason