Activities of Daily Living (ADLs as they’re known amongst professionals) are very important in the autism community and something that parents & educators must work on relentlessly for success. Remember the picture of the nutty professor with wild hair? This is because some on the spectrum have narrow interests and looking ‘cool’ is not in their top 10 essential daily ‘to dos’.
I decided to start a simple graphical resource to help with these important things and while I rely heavily on digital – using my son’s AAC software – The Grid3 – old school is still sometimes better – for various reasons. One comes instantly to mind – when making biscuits and trying to follow a simplified recipe with your oftentimes very bouncy autist – you’ll find that laminated pictures can take the onslaught of butter, flour & raw egg far better than an iPad. #justsaying.
Static calendars are also great. When explaining the daily & weekly happenings to my son, I’m forever flicking through screens to show him everything, while having a large A1 poster on the wall that won’t change for the whole month is actually very helpful and comforting.
I made this simple DIY calendar to help my son navigate the time during the school holidays which are fairly long and can cause frustration after a while because of days with less structure and form to them.
Sometimes low-tech solutions are great because you can put them up as a permanent fixture somewhere easily accessible in the home. They can also be be big, bright and static (everything else constantly moves around on our screens, so it is a rare pleasure if something remains still when looking at it for once!)
You can use this DIY calendar for any number of days you wish to show (up to a max of 31) – for any year and any month.
I’ve created 4 different base posters: Autumn, Winter, Spring & Summer. Also included are 3 images relating to each season you can cut & stick around your poster for decoration.