Teaching an Autistic child how to write in the beginning is not an easy thing to do.
To be honest, once they get the hang of it, it becomes easier. And it is not a skill you can forget.
Because we use it everyday and all day in school.
Disclaimer
I am not a professional nor am I a specialist.
I am an Autistic mother trying to do right by my Autistic child.
It is very important to note that you should have a lot of patience.
Do not get angry at your Autistic child for not getting it the first few times or however many times.
And keep your tone light. DO NOT be harsh when teaching your Autistic child anything.
An amazing book to read on gentle parenting that I use on both my Autistic and Non-Autistic child is called, “Between Parent and Child” by Dr. Haim Ginott.
Autistic children more than others have a tendency to want to do things perfectly.
They have an inherent built in radar that wants to get everything exactly right.
Do not let them feed into this.
If you become harsh with their mistakes or if they take a while, they will take this as confirmation that they must be perfect everytime.
And let me tell you from experience. Perfectionism sucks. AND is a leading factor to causing OCD! Another common trait in people who are Autistic.
Now back onto the post
So really the process is just the teaching your Autistic child how to write and thats it.
But. Thats’ not to say that it is an easy process.
It really is not.
The thing is to get the process going and to begin it.
My child was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2 and ever since then, we have been attending therapy sessions with them at least 3 times a week. AND having professional visitations at home.
We were told, at the time of my child’s diagnosis that they would never be able to attend an average school.
They also told us, that our child would never be able to make friends or thrive in a social environment, such as a classroom.
We were told to place our child in a special needs school because my child would simply be unable to comprehend or understand any of the school work that would be given to them.
Some may argue that I was in denial but I do not believe I was. Just because I refused to believe or accept what they were telling me.
I saw my child and the potential that they could reach. And I was absolutely willing to put in all the work and effort needed to help make my child reach their potential.
First of all, I would like to say that they can go screw themselves.
Autism is such a broad spectrum and the learning and development of an Autistic child can go really fast at some points. And really slow at other points.
So to make such a prediction for a child when they are a mere 2 years old is extremely unprofessional and very entitled in my opinion.
After we began early intervention programs and therapy sessions with professionals and specialists, my child began to make some improvements.
Of course, I also began to privately teach my Autistic child at home.
AND because of all of this, years later, my Autistic child is now thriving in an average state school. That they are excited and happy to attend. And look forward to attending each day.
That being said I am not a fool and not everything is flowers and roses.
There will always be things that my Autistic child will struggle with more than their peers.
Any fine motor skills as well as social skills, have Autistic children at a disadvantage.
So,
Because of all of this, I am also doing part time home schooling with my own Autistic child. and this level 1 method of teaching my Autistic child how to write worked the best for us.
I also do things with my Autistic child before they do it in school.
Such as basic maths and building exercises.
The reason why I do this is because I do not want my Autistic child to fall behind their classmates. Or feel as though they are not as good as everyone else. Or possibly feel less than!
So I make activities for them at home to do. Activities which will make their schoolwork and classwork easier on them.
The reason why I do this is because my Autistic child needs a little more time to learn certain things. And can struggle with activities that include fine motor skills. Such as holding a pen.
That is why Level 1 of teaching your Autistic child how to write must be all about pen control and pen placement.
If your child is already good with the pen grip and with balancing the pen on the paper. And as well as being able to stay within lines, then it might be better for you to check out my other post which is, “Teach Autistic child to write (level 2)‘
That brings slightly more complicated work.
Bear in mind
It is good to start this early.
If you plan on sending your Autistic child to kindergarten or preschool or school, this is a skill they should know.
Do not wait for the teachers to teach your child.
Teachers are not always able to give their full attention to one student because they are in a filled classroom with other students.
There is only so much that they can do.
A very famous Arabic saying is “A mother is a teacher”. And you do not need a certificate to confirm this.
Equip your children with certain skills so that they do not struggle around their peers.
And NO! I am not saying wrap your children in cotton. But it should be our job as their parents or caretakers, especially for our Autistic children, to help them.
We should be teaching them the things that they need to know to give them confidence in their social environements.
Now, lets get into this!
First things first – Pen placement.
Teach your Autistic child how to grip the pencil or pen first.
Before you start any activities of getting your Autistic child to draw or write, you must make sure that their grip is good first.
Holding a pen or pencil in a fist cannot be acceptable because their control over the pencil is incomplete. It is very difficult to write anything with a pencil while holding it in your fist. Also it leads to you pushing down on the paper too harshly, causing rips on the paper.
Definitely not the way to go!
You want your child to hold the pen or pencil between their thumb and index finger (also known as pointing finger in some places) while it rests on the inside/side of the middle finger.
And you want the pen to rest against the part of your hand where your thumb and your index finger meet.
I caught my Autistic child many a times turning back to holding the pencil in a fist grip because they find it much simpler.
Don’t make a big deal out of this, just correct the pen in their hand and tell them this is how to hold a pencil without cramping your hand.
My child particularly struggled with this. And sometimes still forgets to hold the pencil correctly.
The next step is really practising how to use the pencil.
As this is Level 1, we will not be following dots or drawing on lines.
That is for Level 2.
For now, we will focus as much as we can, on trying to draw/colour within the lines.
Get your child to have the pen or pencil pointing downwards comfortably.
Final Step – Filling in, inside the lines
You can easily draw these yourself, or find print outs.
Possibly in the future I might be selling PDF versions of these.
However, the concept is nice and simple.
We start with shapes on a piece of paper that have very large, very wide outlines.
And eventually, once your child progresses, the outline becomes thinner.
Once your child has fine control of it, the line becomes just that.
A Line!
For example:
And then eventually, to introducing this,
You can introduce all kinds of shapes like this.
And if your Autistic child has a favourite shape, definitely use that!
I have to mention that he star shape might be the most difficult of all the shapes.
Personally I started with the circle shape and I believe this is the best option to choose.
Then I recommend you go into the heart shape because that is the next easiest thing.
It is the most similar shape to the circle (excluding the Oval of course)
However it gives nice practise of being able to get the pencil into a point and drawing a corner.
The next best thing that I recommend, when it comes to shapes is the square.
The spacing between each point is still adequate enough to allow for mistakes and although you need to concentrate, it is much more forgiving than the star.
Only after your child is comfortable with these shapes do I feel like the star shape should be introduced.
Disclaimer
Do this as part of a play exercise.
Arts and crafts activities are very fun for children to do.
If your child is anything like my Autistic child, then they might request that you do and sit with them to do it with them.
So print out a few copies, some for your child and some for you.
And just sit down and do them together.
Actually Autistic children tend to lean more towards being visual and so having a live example sitting right infront of them (you) can be very helpful in them learning how to hold the pencil and to do this much faster.
It honestly always makes my Autistic child feel much more comfortable and confident doing something like this, especially for the first time. If there is someone else sitting by them doing the same thing.
It reassures them that they are doing it the right way.
Or that they notice they are doing it the wrong way and can correct themselves because they have a live example right infront of them.
Here is an example of the steps which I introduced to my Autistic child.
I made it a process of 7 steps!
