Autonomy at All Costs
It is fundamental to teach autonomy to autistic children, because they will need to know, during all of their lives, simple things such as putting their shoes on, taking their clothes on and off, washing themselves…
Matthieu is trying to put my shoes on
Obviously, it is much easier and faster to do it all by yourself! I admit I often give my son a hand to get it done faster, and more particularly when we don’t have much time. But for that, as for the rest, I will need to bite the bullet, for his good, for him to be more confident and to master the most basic movements for his later life.
For some time, I have noticed that Matthieu can put his velcro shoes on correctly by himself (and on the good foot 99% of the time). He can also take his clothes off (taking them on is more difficult, and less interesting, because he usually takes his clothes off to take a bath or go to the pool!). I now need to let him work on things such as toothbrushing for instance.
He can eat by himself since he is 2. That was one of the first things that came to my mind when we discovered he was autistic: he had to learn to eat by himself – and neatly! That was a long-drawn-out job; for a long time, I taught him how to put his hand, told him he should not wait too long between his plate and his mouth because his food would fall down, helped him hold his spoon the good way so that nothing would fall down, helped him with his fork to take his food correctly…
I will keep on trying to get Matthieu the more autonomous possible. With time, it is getting easier, thanks particularly to his psychomotor therapist, who is doing an incredible job teaching him how to hold things and to use them correctly.
Translation: Raphael Dupuy
