Make the most of the summer holidays: plan your time
School summer holidays are here! Let’s hope we get plenty of warm weather and sunshine.
While the summer holidays can be a great time to relax and recharge, they can also bring challenges for autistic young people and their families.
Often the lack of familiarity, structure and routine, normally created by the school day, and the changes resulting from time away or days out, can create anxiety leading to differences in behaviour that may be difficult to manage for the young person and those around them.
Over the next few weeks, our Therapy and Specialist Support team will share their tips for making life easier for parents, carers and young people during the six-week break. And, when it comes to going back to school, some ideas for getting your child ready.
Each local authority’s offer page will list activities that are running over the summer holidays. You browse find the local directory for Trafford, Manchester and Stockport. Additional activities can be found in the Manchester Local Offer Newsletter and the Stockport Leisure and Activities directory.
Our team’s first suggestion is to plan your time.
- Plot your main activities on a weekly calendar. Make your plans fit with your family, lifestyle, locality, transport and family finances.
- Then create routines by setting out a daily task list with regular activities and set mealtimes. Include some quiet time and creative time.
- Prepare your child for these changes and stick to routines as much as possible.
- Colour code your plan to highlight what is happening and when.
Our next set of tips in this series will be about preparing for holidays and travel away from home.
For more comprehensive advice, you can download the slides below prepared by our Clinical Services team on the topic of 'Surviving school holidays'.
Downloads
If stress levels do start to rise, try speaking to another parent who understands. Look online for local support groups or call the Parent-to-Parent service set up by NAS (0808 800 4106), or The SEN National Advice Service (0808 808 3555).