Provincial– Arabic: Tips for parents and caregivers to Support Transitions through Using Visuals Strategies نصائح وارشادات للاباء ومقدمي الرعاية للاطفال المصابين بطيف التوحد المراحل الانتقالية باستخدام التقنيات المرئية

As a result of the challenging situations that children are exposed to, overall social changes, and transitional stages during the Corona virus pandemic, some children with autism may be displaying challenging behaviours.  We offer some tips and instructions for parents and caregivers of children with autism to help them overcome these behaviors.

Challenging behaviour and tantrums occur in children for several reasons - these reasons must be understood to reduce the behaviour. Sometimes the cause is obvious, but other times it may not be so. What can be said is that your child shows difficult behavior because he feels a certain need that is not fulfilled, or because the child is unable to express his needs and does not adapt to the emergency change.

One of the most important reasons that lead to behavioral disorders in people with autism is the inability to communicate with the environment as a whole, in addition to the changes that occur in the routine and the internal environment, for example:
· Age transitional stages
· Moving from one place to another
· Sudden changes in daily routine
· Moving from one activity to another
· The birth of a child to the family
· Separation or divorce

It is essential to help prepare children with autism spectrum disorder for change. Strategies to support transition can be:
· Reduce the amount of time it takes for children to move from one stage to another.
· Promoting an increase in appropriate behavior during transitions
· Increasing children’s independence, and working to increase their successful integration into the home, school, and society

There are many academic and educational approaches, and methods that reduce the stress of the transition period for children with autism and thus reduce and limit tantrums and behaviors disorder in children.

Visual strategies are one of the most effective of these techniques, it helps children with autism, regardless of age, location, and environment to overcome tantrums and reduce disruptive behaviors.

In this lecture, we will discuss how this technique is used to prepare the child for each transitional stage.

In order to participate in this event, you will need to be able to access the ZOOM platform; a link will be emailed to all registered participants the day before the event.

Presenter Bio: Ban Mualla is a senior therapist and Co-founder of Bright Steps Learning Center. She offers great experience to the clients she works with. She has over 20 years of direct ABA experience, working in a variety of agencies along with many different cultural backgrounds. Ban also hold a degree in Early Childhood Education and diploma in behavioural sciences where she soon plans to pursue her BCBA.