Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Halloween Guide (ESSENTIAL)

Transcript

Autism Halloween Guide (ESSENTIAL) · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  So autism and Halloween can be super difficult.
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  Here is my essential guide Let's get into it don't go anywhere
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  guys what's going on welcome back to the aspy world.
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  My name is Danny of autism and ADHD, and I absolutely love
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  helping autistic people reach their full potential.
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  And so if you want to come along for this journey with me, hit
• 0:17
  that subscribe button by clicking the notification bell
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  down below and follow me on all my social media channels for
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  daily videos. I upload 4A day because I'm just
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  a crazy dude. I love Halloween.
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  It's probably one of my favorite holidays and my son loves
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  Halloween. I know so many people who just
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  love Halloween because it's like one of those cool holidays,
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  right? It's just nuts.
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  You get to do crazy stuff and eat candy.
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  It's not always easy for assisting people to enjoy
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  Halloween. I know here it's kind of crazy.
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  We probably get maybe 100 to 200, you know, trick or treaters
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  on the night coming here. And you know, we decorate the
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  house and there's a whole lot of stuff that goes into it.
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  So that being said, it's not always easy to navigate around
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  what to do on Halloween, how to prep and how to prepare.
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  This is why I'm giving you this video.
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  So the first thing I would say is that you need to choose the
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  right costume. Now, this means that you're
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  going to choose a costume that's not triggering for yourself or
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  for the child that you have on the autism spectrum.
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  It's sensory pleasing. So the material is sensory
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  pleasing. You're not going to get
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  irritated by being too hot in it.
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  It's not too fuzzy, It doesn't make noises, it doesn't light
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  up. All these things have to be
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  coming into consideration when you're picking a costume.
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  If you're going to make it yourself, maybe have your child
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  or yourself, you make the costume so that you know exactly
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  what's going into it, how you can get out of it, see, you
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  know, you know the way around it.
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  Also, I would definitely say wear it a couple of times around
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  the house before actually putting it on for Halloween.
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  You need to get used to something before using it.
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  And I did this last year. I was a dragon.
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  My whole family were all Dragons and but we all got covered just
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  before Halloween. Even though I was better, my son
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  was better, my partner, she still had covered.
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  So it's just me and my son going out as Dragons on Halloween.
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  It was really good. It was really warm.
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  But I was so glad that I wore the dragon outfit in the house
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  first for a little bit because if I hadn't done that, I would
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  have been a bit kind of like, oh, it was quite a hot uniform.
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  So I knew that I didn't have to wear shorts underneath or a
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  T-shirt. I just put the thing on.
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  But if I hadn't done that, I would definitely put shorts and
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  T-shirt on. And I would be so hot walking
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  like the entire block just collecting candy.
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  And we had so much candies to bring back.
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  So definitely make sure that costume preparation is #1 OK, so
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  the next thing is preparing for trick or treating.
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  Now, this can be done in both ways, that you prepare yourself,
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  that you know that kids are going to come to the door.
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  What we did after a certain time is we left a bowl of like candy
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  and sweets and stuff on a table with like a scary skeleton
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  saying please take one. And this camera is all over the
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  place. So it's not like the kids could
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  have trashed that lawn or anything like that or a car.
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  And so preparing for that was probably super interesting
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  because it allowed me to relax knowing that I wasn't going to
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  get disturbed after a certain time because I prepared.
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  I prepared that, yes, until the daughter trick or treat is up
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  until like 8:00 at night. And then everybody after that
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  will just kind of have to deal with the fact that it's late
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  enough that we'll be chilling out for our evening and watching
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  Halloween scary movies. And then the kids can just take
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  the candy as they come. Because again, we live in a very
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  busy estate and there's a lot of kids here and there's a lot of
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  trick or treaters around. If you have a child and you want
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  to prepare them for Halloween, if they're on the autism
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  spectrum, then I would definitely watch videos and
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  trick or treating how it's done, the language, the lingo, what is
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  meant by trick or treat, Maybe a little bit about the history of
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  it. The more context and detail you
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  can give somebody about this, the more easy they will have and
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  actually falling through and doing those things because
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  they'll feel more like relaxed because they know more about it.
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  They'll be more in control of what that is.
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  And so trick or treating can be really fun, but also you've just
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  got to make sure that you're doing it right.
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  OK, so the next one is sensory considerations.
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  Now this is basically about your house and where you're planning
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  to go. Is the environment that you live
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  in going to be decorated for Halloween?
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  And if so, is that going to be sensory pleasing for century
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  seekers or is it going to be sensory annoying for people who
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  are sensory avoiders? Now, I would highly recommend
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  checking out some examples of like sensory muted houses for
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  Halloween or awesome friendly houses for Halloween on Google
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  and probably find a bunch of different people who have made
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  soft lights, not scaring loud noises, no disco lights, all
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  that kind of stuff. And also the environment that
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  you're going to go visit. Are you planning to go to a
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  party? Well, think about the
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  decorations they're going to have that.
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  Think about the, I don't know, the lighting or the sounds and
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  the music and stuff. Just prepare yourself or your
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  child for those events in that area.
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  Guys, I just want to take this short message break to tell you
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  that I want to thank today's sponsor Brillia for sponsoring
• 4:27
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• 4:29
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• 4:36
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• 4:41
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  concentration and attention, which is what I need and also
• 4:47
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• 4:50
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• 4:52
  for adults and kids, but I would definitely recommend checking
• 4:56
  out with your doctor first. Make sure it's safe for you to
• 4:58
  take if you're on anything else. So just checking out anyway
• 5:00
  because it's always handy. Now Brillia is available from
• 5:03
  the link in my description of this video or in the link in my
• 5:06
  bio. Depends where you're watching
• 5:07
  this video. You can actually use a code ASP
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  15 to get 15% off as a little bit of a help from me to you.
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  But yeah, it's awesome. Anyway, let's get back to the
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  video. OK, so the next thing I'd say is
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  communicate with your neighbors and friends.
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  Now, if you have neighbors in the area, you know, if you're
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  going to be trick or treating to just your neighbors or make them
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  aware that maybe your child on the autumn special might need
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  some help or you may need some help.
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  If you're going to a friend's house for a party, if you're
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  going to your family's house for a party, if your neighbors are
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  having a street party or next door is having a party, make
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  them aware of your needs and your worries and your concerns
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  because they may be able to accommodate some of those things
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  as well. Because at the end of the day,
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  nobody's evil, right? Everyone of us have a good time.
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  So as long as you communicate clearly to people what your
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  needs are and what you kind of maybe would need help with, then
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  they're going to be able to accommodate that.
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  I can guarantee that people are just wanting you to communicate
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  a bit more. This is super vital and super
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  awesome. OK, so the last thing I'll talk
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  about here is setting realistic expectations.
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  You can't expect that everybody is going to just be all quiet on
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  Halloween. I mean, it's just, it's
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  Halloween, isn't it? Everyone's going to have a good
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  time. Everyone going to be partying
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  and doing all these things. So you have to set a realistic
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  expectation. Expect that yes, it's going to
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  take a little longer to get around the streets if you're
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  kind of avoiding certain houses, or it's going to take a little
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  bit longer to go see friends if you're having to kind of avoid
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  certain busier times, etc. So always think about your
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  expectations for how the night is going to go or how the day is
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  going to go because a lot of people do parties during the day
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  as well as the night. So just set a realistic goal,
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  set a realistic expectation and that would be super awesome.
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  Now guys, if you have anything to add to help this community
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  pop in a comment down. I read every single one.
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  Give this video a thumbs up and share it if you think this is
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  golden for somebody to get help. All right, I'll see you in the
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  next one. Peace.