Over adherence to routines

January 2, 2004

Hi Naomi!

In our family we call it rigidity and my 5 year old Colin is the king of it!

In our case it is about walking. Colin almost completely stopped walking over

the summer insisting that he be carried everywhere. When you put him down,

major flip-out. It got to the point where he refused to walk one block from

the car to school.

The advice I got from a brillant PHD psychologist was to break the rituals

and not allow the rigidity to exist. For us it meant never picking Colin up

again. Of course this meant lots of dragging him around and rolling on the

sidewalk. We also had to do a walking program where every time he stepped foot

out

the front door and turned left, we grabbed him and made him go right. We

have been doing it for three months and have just begun to see results.

Although this example doesn't apply to you directly, the program we

implemented can be used universally. Start with putting the new video on for 15

seconds. If your son flips out let him. Tell him that mommy needs to watch

this

video. After you turn it off reward him. Do this every day and increase the

time the video is on slowly.

Rigidity is a by-product of autism and many kids go through it. I have

talked to several parents of older kids who have said the key is to continually

break the routine and eventually they let go of it. Be consistent. It's very

hard I know. I took my son to a crowded aquarium today and was dreading it

because he doesn't do well in any inside places. While it started off tough, he

got used to it and walked around and looked at some fish. It was very hard

for him and I felt terrible but I know this is the only way to get him past

this stage. I say stage on purpose because that is what it is and we all go

through various stages on the road to recovery. As I always say there is a

light

at the end of the tunnel, it's just the road from here to there is hard as

hell.

Good Luck!

Mom of soon to be recovered Colin

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