My son is autistic and is unfortunately also one of those who has no language – at least not yet. Luckily, he’s small, so there’s still hope. The fact that he’s small also helps with “communication” – there’s only a limited range of wishes he has, so we can often guess what he wants.
But as he grows and his needs become more complicated, he can get extremely frustrated that we don’t understand him. We’ve experienced countless meltdowns, all of which could be linked to a wish that wasn’t guessed correctly – right from when he was 1 year old.
So I started thinking about what a solution could look like. It should also be said that he hadn’t been diagnosed at the time, so the concept of autism was still up in the air and I knew nothing about the different educational methods available.
A simple solution – for us parents and for my son
I really don’t know how I came up with the idea of making it. I think I was actually inspired by an episode of the show House, where there was a boy with severe autism as a patient. I remember he had a book with a lot of little illustrations that he had to point at to tell me what he wants or how he feels.
I embraced the idea and spent a lot of time photographing – first all the food we had at home that he showed interest in, and then all his favorite toys.
I then spent several hours editing images and creating a folder for him. I created the file in PowerPoint and then printed it on regular A4 paper. Since he was still only 3 years old, I thought it was necessary to have a few large images on each page, with a good distance from image to image. This resulted in 6 images per page. I also focused on not having too many pages, as I wanted him to learn how to use the menu and not just be overwhelmed by having to flip through endless pages to find what he wants. This resulted in 4 pages of different dishes and foods.
All pages were laminated – yes, I’ve invested in a laminating machine that I use exclusively for making pictograms. Expensive pleasure, but when I get an idea, it’s hard to stop me.
I punched holes in all the pages and attached a key ring – so they hung loosely together (easy to flip through).
I similarly made a folder with his favorite toys, 4 pages in total again and put it together with another keychain.
I placed the two menus, as I called them, on a table where he could easily see and flip through them. They haven’t been moved since, even though several years have passed.
Skepticism
When we had an autism consultant in the home after my boy was diagnosed, she was a bit skeptical about my menus. She felt that he would probably be overwhelmed by the many choices and that he should probably use the TEACCH method instead, where he would have to learn to put together a lot of different images to communicate.
However, I trusted my gut instinct, which told me that it would be 100 times harder to teach him and that he could find his way around all the pictures – and I couldn’t be happier that I did.
My boy got used to the menus in a few weeks and we started using them in different contexts – when he wanted to show us something and when he tried to tell us what he wanted (without looking at the menu) and started getting frustrated.
It has saved us all from so many meltdowns and frustrations I can’t count them. At the same time, we have a boy who expresses his wishes, both in relation to food and activities. Furthermore, this practice with the menus has led to him being able to take no for an answer and adapt his wishes (the fact that he would be upset about being rejected was another one of the consultant’s arguments that the menus were not a good idea).
Conclusion
I’m not going to say that a menu is the solution for all autistic people – because it’s not. The menu, on the other hand, is the possible solution for some autistic people. Given how many challenges a family with autism faces in daily life, it’s often only wise to try new strategies and find what works for you specifically.
I have had a great experience with the pictogram menus and wouldn’t miss them for the world. At the same time, I’m aware that my boy is moving, which has meant that I’ve expanded the menus to include more choices. I also realize that the menus might not be enough one day, but then I just have to sit down and figure out the next strategy based on the reality of the situation.
Until then, I’m sharing my good experiences in the hope that it’s something that can make your life easier too.
Greetings,
in autism-mor
