Lets get into it.
Getting your child into after school activities once or twice a week can be seriously beneficial for them.
Whether they are on the spectrum or not.
I am an Autistic mother, to an Autistic child. And also to a non Autistic child.
My kids are definitely different and it is definitely a challenge trying to navigate through what they need individually and trying to figure out how to cater to their different needs in the different ways that their needs must be met.
Me being Autistic, as well as being a mother comes with its own challenges of course. But I try my best.
I have my Atypical child doing after school activities. I find these are very beneficial for them and it is a good break away from the learning environment of school.
Kind of like a balance between work and play.
As soon as my younger Typical child turns 3, we will get them also involved in the same extra curricular activities.
Studies have shown that children who do extra curricular activities tend to do better in school, socially and also mentally.
It is great for their personal growth as well as helping them controlling their own time management.
If you wish to learn and read more about it, I recommend that you read this book, “Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology, Volume 1” – Page 388.
How we decided which activity to involve our child in
We made sure to get the OK from our Autistic child before we placed them into any activity.
The way we did this was by showing our child videos, and explaining the activities as well as taking into account their abilities and what their preferences would be.
However, at the same time we needed something that would be a little challenging.
Get them out of their comfort zone as well as help further self development within our child.
Understand and know that the personality of your child and finding extra curricular activities for them that suits and fits them is the challenge.
For example, my child enjoys some form of social play and does not mind being touched for short periods of time.
As well as this, they need their alone time and their independence. Where they are not involved with anyone else and is just doing the activity on their own.
So, by trying different things with out child and watching their reaction and how they respond to it, we made our choice.
Due to all of the above, we decided to start them on 2 after school activities. One being Karate and the other being Swimming.
Swimming is both an individual and a team sport. As well as having adequate sensory play.
Karate is an individual sport but also you have opponets.
So it is the perfect balance of being left alone and being touched. This makes sure that our child continues to understand that it is okay to have physical contact with others but it is not so constant as to make them uncomfortable.
Disclaimer,
Having said all of the above,
Do not over exert your child.
Having your Autistic child in school is already one thing.
Every day is a new day and something new is happening. That is a lot of information to take in as a person on the Spectrum.
If you see and find that your child is still struggling to handle this and it makes them have plenty of tantrums as well as sensory overloads. Then it might be a good idea to wait with adding anything extra to your childs routine and activities.
However, on the flip side of this, if you know that your child needs something extra. Like a complete break. Something that they love. To give them a break from school or from their daily routine, adding something special to their routine can really be amazing for them.
You know your child best, and so work with them.
But do not over exert them.
Also another little disclaimer is that if your child truly decides that they do not like the activity they are in, you can always switch it or put a pin in it.
Make sure it is not a confidence issue
What I mean by this is that if your child lacks confidence in their own ability in being able to partake in an activity.
Do not let them quit.
This will reaffirm their belief that they cannot do it.
AND it will make them think that you also agree that they cannot do it.
The best thing you can do for them in this case is keep trying to give them confidence. And let them know that they can do it.
You shouldn’t allow your child to quit just because they have a fear they will not perform well.
Because this will translate to other parts of their life when they get older.
These are the activities that I have found best suited for a child on the spectrum
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Football/Soccer
The good thing about football is that it is a team sport.
And Autistic children don’t usually have great foundation skills when it comes to teamwork.
Because it involves socialising and being good at reading cues from other team members without them actually speaking to you.
It also involves ‘reading the room’. To know when and where to kick the ball and to whom.
Having football training can significantly help Autistic children learn how to play with other people. And how to be a part of a team.
It does not allow touching using the hands, so you cannot touch any other member of the teams that you are playing against.
So no strangers would be touching your Autistic child or be invading their personal space because your child can pass the ball to another team member.
Football means having a team of several members and can be a good ground for your Autistic child to make and keep good friends.
The social skills that can be learnt from playing football as a sport in a team is so much.
The negatives however,
- Are that it can get crowded and loud.
- And hectic.
- Also, it can get very busy and chaotic.
It is definitely not for every Autistic child to be playing football as a sport.
But for those that can handle it.
It truly is an excellent social skills and confidence builder if your child can handle it.
-
Self defence
Similar to football this is a team sport.
However it is also an individual sport.
This is what we have chosen for our child to do.
Our child does enjoy some social interaction but not prolonged social interaction.
So after my kid has had their daily dose of socialising they like to be on their own.
I am the same.
There is only so many ‘people’ I can handle in a day.
That is why we felt like this sport would be the best for our child.
My child still develops socially and learns how to be and act when they have been allocated partners.
But it is not constant socialising.
There is a lot of individual learning that is also worked on.
The perfect combination for a child who enjoys some socialising but not prolonged socialising.
In addition to this, Autistic children sometimes struggle to understand the differences between play and being mean.
So if another child is being mean to my child while smiling and/or laughing, my child will interpret this as play.
Even if they do not like the ‘type’ of play.
Self defence is an excellent sport to teach you what is acceptable and what to do if someone makes you reach your limit.
It also makes it an instinct to respond in self defence should something happen where you are being attacked.
And it increases your confidence in knowing how to respond to certain social situations where usually an Autistic child would freeze up
Negatives,
It involves touching and being thrown around a little.
So it is definitely not for everyone.
It cannot stop the bullying but at least you can defend yourself confidently.
-
Ice Skating
This is an individual sport.
Very rarely do you have a partner for this.
I myself enjoyed ice skating significantly.
It is a sport where you can really go into your self and enjoy your own space and peace of mind.
Truly an excellent way to wind down and release a bunch of energy.
It is a lot of fun and it is a great way to exercise.
Introverts will absolutely love doing this and even Autistic people who have had their dose of human contact and simply do not want to talk to anyone for the rest of the day should definitely consider doing this.
You truly do feel like you are free in your own little world away from outside contact.
I highly recommend doing this with headphones on and having on your own preferred sound.
It helps shut out everything,
I also find that doing a workout like this, isolated from anyone else and just me being left to my own thoughts, helps me sleep peacefully after a stressful day.
Unfortunately there are no ice rinks near me anymore and so we just practise roller skating with my Autistic child.
Which they absolutely love.
Negatives,
Until you get a handle on things, the falling down part hurts like hell.
And the bruising can become quite severe.
Things can also get dislocated so please be careful and practise with someone you trust first.
Also, sometimes ice rinks can get quite crowded.
-
Chess
My husbands favourite pass time.
Chess is an individual sport as well as a team sport.
You focus so much on playing the game that you do not realise there is another person sitting in front of you.
Unless they make a move on or speak.
It is such a sport where your mind needs to be 100% focussed on the game and nothing and nobody else.
The calculations, possibilities and probabilities take up most of your thoughts.
So if you have had a long and hard day.
And you want a complete break for your brain, chess is an excellent way to do that.
It is such a different world when you play chess.
You must shove everything else out of your mind or you will lose.
Chess exercises the brain to memorise and plan.
The brain is a muscle after all.
It is a very strategic game and you need to have your moves lined up, in order, in your brain.
You understand and learn what moves to make in real life, whether it is with playing or speaking or responding to someone speaking to you.
It truly prepares you to respond appropriately.
And it trains your brain to think of all the possible consequences and how to avoid them or how to achieve them when it comes to life.
Chess is a big thumbs up for Autistic people to play.
There are no hidden meanings, cues or social interactions needed.
Everything you see is infront of you and very clearly set out.
And your response is also clear and precise.
It also teaches your child that losing is a part of life. And that sometimes it is okay to lose.
Do not allow them to give it up because of fear of losing though.
-
Cooking/Baking
This one is similar to Ice Skating.
You can go into your own world without the need to think algorithms.
You follow a recipe.
And you make it.
Thats it.
And the result is absolutely delicious and satisfying.
Teaching children that a little of everything makes a much better product than a whole lot of one or two things.
Also portion size.
As well as measuring ingredients.
The simple things usually turn out ot be the best way to relax.
I get my child to help me in the kitchen when I know that they have reached their maximum talking to people ‘capacity’ for the day, this really does relax my child.
And it is really fun. For both of us.
Negatives,
Boy oh boy can it get messy.
The clean up can take a while !
-
Arts & Crafts
There are creative classes that a person can do on the weekends or after school.
These projects are not just for people who love to do art. However, it is also for people who enjoy using their hands to create stuff.
Experimentalists and practitioners who love working with their hands.
Arts and Crafts is literally liquid gold for people like us.
It can be creative using a lot of different types of materials.
Anything artistic. Such as:
- Pottery,
- Drawing
- Painting,
- Building,
etc.
When I was younger I build a bird cage, made bowls, drew a ton of stuff, painting probably a whole rooms worth of paintings.
There is something about creating something using your body that is really therapeutic.
Autistic people tend to overthink. And just think too much in general.
It leads to feeling like our heads are overcrowded and are ready to explode.
Honestly, it is quite difficult if not impossible to turn off!
So using our hands to make something is a complete contrast to overthinking.
It balances it out very nicely and makes for a nice break.
Also, most form of arts and crafts are really good at stimulating sensory plays in Autistic children.
And as we all know, very good for their mental development.
Personally, when I have had an extremely overwhelming day, a crazy hard workout.
Or even sewing something using the sewing machine.
Is the brain freeze that I need to reset myself and be able to actually fall asleep.
-
Swimming
If you want to read my post on how to help your Autistic child learn to love water, you can read it here. ‘4 Steps on How to take Autistic child Swimming‘
This is another one of the activities that we have chosen for our child.
The reason that we have chosen swimming as the other activity for our child is because my child enjoys the water and asks to go swimming quite often.
Swimming is especially good for the health. And excellent for health and safety.
I truly believe that swimming is a skill that all people should be taught.
Water sports is a really good sensory play type sport, especially for Autistic children.
It can be made a team sport but also an individual sport.
Why we chose swimming
Similar to the self defence that our child takes part in, swimming allows them to also be part of a team as well as being an individual.
So, then once my kid has had enough conversations for that day and they feel like that they do not want to speak anymore, they can still continue to do their hobby.
My child will still be able to do the activities that they enjoy but without the additional contact.
It also is an excellent way of releasing their energy when they have had a rough day and need to release some of that energy.
Swimming is an all encompassing activity.
You move in the water. With water around you.
You must focus on your body and on your movements. It becomes dangerous if you focus on something else.
Actually I used this technique to give myself a break from studying when I had stressful exams coming up and I had been studying the whole week. I would go for a swim in a pool to literally shut off my brain and only rely on my survival senses and skills.
It is honestly an amazing way to destress.
Not to mention the fact that you become so tired that you are unable to think or do much else.
Also the act of swimming in water also counts as a full body muscle massage!
So you end up sleeping like a baby for that night.
A note from me
Observe your child.
Ask them what they like.
What they want.
Let them have trials of different activities to see which one they prefer.
And listen to them. If they do not like an activity do not force them to continue.
I still have the belief that you should allow your child to have 3 sessions of any given activity.
Because I do not think that 1 session is enough to truly make up your mind.
Work with them and figure out what they like.
Good luck and have fun.
And make sure your kid has fun too.
And if you need to do some of the activities with them in the beginning to help get them comfortable then so what.
Do it with them for a session or 2 to show your support and make sure that your child knows you are there for them all the way!