By Karen Kaplan
At this time of the year, many of us are creating vision boards and dream boards, identifying new resolutions, or listing new goals for the NEW YEAR.
To us, NEW may mean enjoying something fresh, novel, not known before, not experienced before, or that has recently come into existence for us to use.
What does it mean to the individual with learning differences? For people on the autism spectrum, new can be anxiety-provoking. New can be frustrating or overwhelming for some with sensory challenges or cognitive differences. For some, it means breaking routine, which can create fear. It can mean trying to coordinate muscles that do not always cooperate for others. For families, it can mean gathering the courage to open the door to new for them. It can mean putting aside doubt and fear and embracing a coaching mentality. It can mean a bit of tough love to get through the resistance.
I recommend that parents start introducing the NEW early. When do we need something new? When might we try something new? Use New Year's as the stimulus. Take down the old yearly calendar and put up a new one. Show them how 12 months have gone by. Talk about what they did. Where did you all go? What did you all celebrate? Show them the 12 new months that are coming.
Teachers, please, the first lesson from the winter holidays can involve pulling out a new calendar and talking about 2024 being over and 2025 just starting. Students should think about all the calendar pages that will be turning in the coming months. They should also talk about what they accomplished in school already. Have them turn some calendar pages and examine what holidays and celebrations will occur in the new year.
Parents and teachers, please define new. Talk about how exciting it can be to try something new, go somewhere different, learn something new, use something they have not tried yet, taste something new, or even listen to different music. Yes, I acknowledge that new and novel might be a little scary. But assure them that you will be there to support, help, and guide them. Tell them stories about how you tried something new or different.
Some new ideas you might suggest:
Make eggs in different ways (fried, boiled, scrambled, sunny side up) and tasting them
Go to a different park each month
Change their seat at the dining room table, monthly
Try one new slice of fruit each month
Identify five different types of music and listen to one song in a different genre each month (country, jazz, rock, pop, reggae).
Add a new house or school job to learn and complete every couple of months
Take different kinds of walks. Go left out your front door. Go right outside your front door.
Change up their seat in your vehicle every other month.
Take different routes to favorite shops or grocery stores.
Go to the library and have them take at least one book on a different subject home to look through. After they read it, have them tell you about the new book.
Higher cognitive individuals should be asked to write out new goals. Inquire what they might like to do that is new, that they have not tried before, that a friend, brother, or sister may do, but they have not tried. Have them post those goals on their bedroom bulletin board for reminders. Make sure to celebrate each new try they make.
For those hoping to someday live on their own, have them write out new skills they will need to have to live successfully. They work with them to acquire those skills throughout the new year.
Expand their knowledge in grocery stores. Teach them to read the expiration dates on foods. Have them realize that fresh and new is important. When a date has passed, it is NOT new, not fresh, and should not be bought.
Point out that as they grow taller, gain or lose weight, and wear current pants, sweaters, shirts, and socks, they may become old, too small, worn, and torn, and something new must be bought. Take them shopping for new items.
After a great deal of use, their toothbrush becomes worn, and a new one is needed. Let them choose their new brush and teach them that new is essential for their teeth.
When a light bulb goes out in the home, acknowledge that the old one is no longer of use and that a new one is needed. Let them throw the old one out, locate the new one, and replace it.
As pencils and crayons are used repeatedly, they get smaller and smaller. A new one is needed. Draw attention to the old one getting shorter and shorter and identify that a new one is needed.
Point out that dishes are sometimes broken. Show them the cracks and chips, and let them know these items are old and will be thrown out and a new one bought to replace them.
Is your individual into art? Could you encourage them to try a new medium? If they like paints, introduce watercolors and acrylic. If they like colored pencils, introduce charcoal and ink.
If they play music, encourage them to try learning a different song/ new song on the piano, guitar, or drum.
If you would like to add new words to their vocabulary understanding, you might decide to teach them colors, animals, shapes, verbs, and prepositions. Buy some coloring books and hand them the new colors to use. Name them as you give the color to them. Buy some games that use matching (match animals, match articles of clothing, transportation, etc.) There are bingo games that use pictures of objects. Use a deck of cards. They can match all the numbers or suits (hearts, clubs, etc.) Ask them to give you a specific color, number, or object. These build new vocabulary words.
When their hair needs a trim, or their beard needs a shave, introduce them to a barber shop or beauty salon and nurture their desire to go get a fresh/new look.
What happens when feet grow? Do you acknowledge that they need a larger size, or can you also identify that they need a new pair of shoes?
New is a concept for all of us to learn and embrace. It opens different possibilities, refreshes and expands our knowledge, nurtures our independence, and helps us adapt to change. New is part of everyone’s life, and it is part of our responsibility to help those who learn differently and experience life differently accept, embrace, and move through new and novel things.
Karen Kaplan, MS, is a native San Franciscan. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, in speech pathology and audiology. She minored in special education and obtained her speech therapist and special education credentials in California. Karen worked as a speech therapist for schools for 20 years before opening her own residential and education program for students with autism. She worked in credential programs at Sacramento State University as well as UC Davis and spent 20 years directing private schools for those with autism and similar learning challenges.
Karen founded a non-profit, Offerings, which helps cultures globally to understand those with developmental challenges. For seven years, she founded and facilitated an autism lecture series and resource fair in Northern California. Karen still facilitates an annual Autism Awesomeness event. She is currently consulting, helping families, schools, and centers for children, teens, and adults. Karen has authored three books: Reach Me Teach Me: A Public School Program for the Autistic Child; A Handbook for Teachers and Administrators, On the Yellow Brick Road: My Search for Home and Hope for the Child with Autism, and Typewriting to Heaven… and Back: Conversations with My Dad on Death, Afterlife and Living (which is not about autism but about having important conversations with those we love).
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