Blog — Autism Awareness Month

This year, Autism Awareness Month looks a little different. Because of the current school closures, schedule changes, and the unknowns, there is growing anxiety. This can be especially difficult for families with children with autism. As we wrap up Autism Awareness Month, we wanted to highlight some tools that may help with the anxiety that has come along with this uncertain time.  

Nine Notable Sensory Essentials 

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, Time Timer, along with a group of companies that create sensory tools for individuals with autism, curated the Nine Notable Sensory Essentials to help individuals (and, especially, children) with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) navigate everyday life without sensory overload. Autism currently affects one in 59 children in the U.S. and their families. 

To read more about these and explore these nine products, click the image below.  

Sensory Activities for At-Home  

Because of school closures and the change in your learning environment, you may need sensory activities and exercises for your children at home. Here are some videos we found that we thought families would enjoy and can do together!  

The first one is an exercise sensory activity that you can do on a nice day in your driveway, down the sidewalk, or street (but be careful and watch for cars)! 

The second video is a sensory activity you can make with supplies found around the house! This one focuses on practicing numbers and letters but can be used for anything.  

There are so many more to explore on Youtube if you are looking for activities to do with your child at home!  

Autism Society --- Coronavirus: Response & Resources 

If you are looking for more resources during this time of unknowns, the Autism Society has a page designed specifically for that. They have created toolkits for families by topic. You can find educational, mental health, lifestyle, and so many more resources. You can access all this information at this link https://www.autism-society.org/covid-19/.  

Time Timer is Here to Help Ease Anxieties  

As long as we have the ability to distribute products, and as long as kids are at home, we are offering structure, peace of mind, and free shipping on all orders within the United States. We would love to help you and your child during this time.  

In addition to the free shipping, we are offering 20% off all products on our website. All you have to do is purchase from TimeTimer.com and use the code HOME2020. For a limited time. Retail Only. Valid in the US only.  

Also, to further help families at home, the Time Timer apps for iOS and Android (available on the Apple Store and Google Play) are free of cost. This can give you an instant visual timer to help regulate routines, schedules, and ease transitions in the home. We are here to help.  

Please stay safe and healthy.  

Every community includes people who have disabilities, and you may find yourself wanting to get involved. But how can you make a difference? And encourage your community to be more inclusive? We have four ideas for supporting people with disabilities, and we think you’ll build some new relationships in the process.

EZPZ, one of Time Timer®'s partners in the Essential Eight Sensory Tools campaign, offers great advice on how to use the tools at mealtime if you have a child with Autism in this blog that also appears in their website.

In advance of Autism Awareness Month, which begins next week, Time Timer and a group of like-minded companies that create sensory tools for individuals with autism curated the Essential Eight Sensory Tools to help individuals (and, especially, children) with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) navigate everyday life without sensory overload.

“Many parents of children newly diagnosed with autism aren’t aware of the many tools that can help them and their child manage the stress in everyday activities that the disorder can create,” says Heather Rogers, Vice President, Marketing & Operations of Time Timer, one of the essential tools. “We want to make it easier for parents to find ways to help their children feel calm and have their senses stimulated. From chewy jewelry to weighted pets to silent fidgets, this virtual toolbox of sensory products was designed with them and their child in mind.”

April is Autism Awareness Month, and it’s the perfect time to learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the people it affects. PBS Kids is getting involved by airing autism-related episodes of some of their most popular shows, including Arthur and Sesame Street, encouraging children to befriend peers who are on the autistic spectrum. Affiliates of the Autism Society will hold special community events and activities throughout the month.

All children learn differently, but this is especially true for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As you discover the tools and techniques that work best for your child, everyday life can be challenging. So, what can you do to help your child with ASD feel happier and be more productive? ASD experts and caregivers (who are experts in their own right!) weigh in below.

Add Structure to Their Days by Using a Timer

Children with ASD depend on structure to get through their days. Using a timer during activities can help provide that sense of structure, but it’s difficult for any child, and especially one with ASD, to understand the abstract concept of time. Let’s face it, there’s a world of difference between looking at a clock and being able to say that it’s 3 o’clock and understanding “how long” 5 minutes is. This type of abstract thinking is difficult for all children, and can create a level of heightened anxiety for those with ASD.                                                    

According to Dr. Olive Healy, widely acclaimed for her work in the treatment of challenging behaviors and a lecturer in psychology at the National University of Ireland in Galway, “The passage of time is often difficult for such individuals to comprehend, and this can further impact expectation of an event, waiting for an activity to begin or end, waiting to receive a reward, sharing with others, apprehensiveness, impulsivity, on-task behavior and self-control.”

Time Timer®, with its simple red disk that disappears as time elapses, allows children to see and understand the passage of time. When the red disk vanishes, time is up. When children can look and see for themselves how much time they have left to complete a task, it empowers them to take ownership of their routines and transitions.

“Our grandson, who is six and has Asperger’s Syndrome, knew straight away how it worked!” one grandmother told us. “Alex has great trouble knowing how much time has elapsed and the visual movement of the time passing is an enormous help to him.”

Reduce Disruptive Behavior During Waiting Periods

As adults we can communicate using “later,” “soon,” “not now,” “in a few minutes” and a whole range of similar words and phrases. To a child with ASD, this might as well be someone speaking in a foreign language. It isn’t surprising that the results are so often confusion, frustration and even anger. But how do you translate an abstraction like elapsed time to a child when most adults would be hard-pressed to explain it to another adult? Setting the Time Timer® while you wait can help ease the frustration.

Dr. Olive Healy says, “Often persons with ASD will display very challenging behavior because they do not have the means to understand a delay in accessing reinforcement. They cannot understand how long they have to wait and they may not have any means of verbally mediating this time delay. This can be a huge challenge to teachers, parents and peers. It is a natural and everyday occurrence to have to wait, share, or experience delays or disruptions in activities. It is a vital skill for any person with ASD to learn how to deal effectively with such demands. Using the Time Timer can improve the quality of life of such individuals by allowing them to visually mediate the passage of time very easily. The Time Timer® is a device that has the potential to change the lives of many children, adolescents and adults.”

Minimize the Anxiety of Transitions

What about going from one activity to another? When it’s time for someone else’s turn with the game or computer, do your children or your students peacefully trade places or are you constantly forced to step in? Transitions can be even more difficult for children with ASD who depend on structure, as well as those prone to hyper-focus. They can grow anxious when required to transition from one activity to the next. Using the Time Timer® can significantly reduce this stress.                                   

Dr. Howard Shane, Director of the Center of Communications Enhancement at Children’s Hospital, Boston, focuses on enhancing the expression of people with communication disorders, particularly those with ASD. “We find that when children who have trouble with temporal concept can see time visually, it helps them to organize their day. If they can see how long they’re going to be working in a particular activity, this will often reduce their disruptive behavior,” he says.

One mother told us, “My autistic son has learned better turn taking and sharing by having the Time Timer® count down how much time he has to play with the computer or watch his favorite TV show.”              

Dr. Diane Twachtman-Cullen is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in ASD, and is the editor-in-chief of Autism Spectrum Quarterly. She says, “As a professional in the autism community, I am particularly thankful for the unassuming, yet ingenious device known as the Time Timer®, for it has helped to make the world more predictable, understandable, and comfortable for individuals with ASD. Clearly, that’s something for which we can all be thankful!”

Autism Spectrum Quarterly is one of the best resources for families who love someone with Autism. By

 interviewing real people and sharing stories from all walks of life, editor Diane Twatchman-Cullen rallies the Autism community to nurture children on the Spectrum into confident adults. 

This quarter, AS Quarterly's TIPS section featured "Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Time Timer" by Jennifer Twatchtman-Bassett, M.S., CCC-SLP!

Jennifer writes: 

"While I have found Time Timers in many of the facilities where I practice, I also find missed opportunities for using them. So, this issue's TIPS column not only presents strategies for teaching kids how to use the Time Timer, but also some specific examples of situations where they are very helpful."

You can subscribe to ASQuarterly.com to see Jennifer's full list. Here are our favorites!

1. Accentuate the positives! Always begin with small amounts of time on the Time Timer that lead to preferred events or activities (e.g. 5 more minutes and we'll be finished in the store; 5 minutes to break time).

2. Set the child up - for success! When you do begin to use the Time Timer for non-preferred activities, start with only small amounts of time. For example, if your child doesn't like to clean her room, set the Time Timer for 5 minutes and gradually lengthen to 15 or 20 minutes over time. 

3. Use the Time Timer as a substitute for indefinite words like in a little while. 

4. Use the Time Timer to reduce conflicts at home or in school by showing how much time each child has before he needs to relinquish the TV, computer, iPad, etc. 

5. Use it for so many other situations in which knowledge of the time involved can ease anxiety and help with transitions!

Thanks for a wonderful article, Jennifer! Visit ASQuarterly.com and Facebook.