Autism is a developmental disorder that affects roughly one out of 100 children. It is characterized by a lack of ability to function socially and in more severe cases, the process of communication.

Discovering that your child has autism can be a traumatic experience. Oftentimes, parents may believe there is something developmentally wrong with their child, but accepting that autism is the culprit can be difficult to say the least. Accepting that your child is autistic and getting him the help he needs is just the beginning. There are many other factors that go into parenting an autistic child.

At first, having an autistic child can be embarrassing for some parents. Autistic children do not have the same social skills as most of their peers. They are often prone to fits of anger and violence due to their inability to properly communicate. Oftentimes, these ‘tantrums’ occur in public.

There are many people that do not understand the first thing about autism. This means that they are more likely to make rude or insensitive comments about autistic people. People, on the whole, are an understanding bunch, although there are plenty of people who will make insensitive comments, ask inappropriate questions, and even stare at autistic children.

The first instinct for many parents may be to meet this insensitivity with anger. This is not the best approach. Consider that the person who makes an insensitive comment is ignorant to what autism is. They just don’t know any better!

What you should do as a parent, is try to ignore the comments if possible. This may be easier said than done, but it falls upon you to be the voice of reason. In addition, you should always focus on providing a good example for your child. Remember, the well-being and safety of your child is paramount. Everything else is secondary.

If ignoring rudeness is impossible, you should approach confrontation with the aim to educate. If someone understands that your child is autistic they will be less likely to make any further comments.

In addition, it is a good idea to have a plan when you go out in public. Understand the types of situations that can upset your child and do your best to avoid these circumstances whenever possible. It is also a good idea to keep a journal of your child’s behaviors and cross-reference them with locations. This will allow you to understand the triggers for bouts of violent or aggressive behavior.

To minimize disruptive behavior, think about the particular outing you have planned and what the worst case scenario would be and then plan for it. Take along a favorite toy or snack for placating your child, if they do ‘act out’ or make unusual movements/noises have some stock answers at the ready i.e ‘Sam has autism and lots of people/noises/new environments upset him. His movements/noises helps him cope with stressful situations’. Try going out in small groups of friends or family who know your child and can help you cope with any public outbursts or comments from strangers.

Dealing with autism in public is not an easy task. There are many people out there who will make judgments, comments, and other rude gestures at your child. Parents of other ‘normal’ children may also make insensitive comments. This is a negative part of human nature – but it is impossible for you to change it. What you can do is to provide information about the disorder and offer insight that will help others understand. If this does not work do not initiate a confrontation, as that will probably only upset your child and probably attract further attention.

Rachel Evans writes a Free Autism Newsletter. You can join for free here please visit Free Autism Newsletter. For more information on the latest autism research and for information on autism pdd

Public schooling can cause serious problems with regard to an autistic child’s behavior. Despite getting grants from the government to cater to the requirements of special children, the facilities in most of the schools are not up to the mark. What’s more, not all faculty members are trained to handle the special requirements of such children. When you add peer pressure into it, you are bound to get worried about the well-being and mental state of your child.

Home: The Ideal Place to Study
No one is going to argue against the fact that for all special kids, home is the ideal place to study and learn. As a parent, if you can provide your child a top class education at home, then what’s the point of sending your child to a public school where facilities are not as good and your child can suffer due to mental stress?

There are particular schools that are designed exclusively for special children, but the fact of the matter is that autistic children suffer from behavioral disorder because of their developmental inability to function in a proper way socially. And that is where if they share the space with those who are already suffering from emotional issues it can worsen their condition even more.

On the other hand, home offers an ideal environment for autistic children as there is no social regulation attached. Your child will get special attention at home in every aspect of study. In addition, when studying from home your child does not need to deal with the negative mindset of fellow students and faculty members.

Online Education

With the advent of the Internet, online education is making rapid strides in the education field. With no real compromise in the quality of education, eLearning can be quite useful for autistic children. In online education, your children can study from the comfort of home.

Time is also not much of a factor when it comes to online education as your children can attend classes whenever they want. For example, if your children do not want to study early on in the morning, option of studying in the evening and night is also available. Another good thing about online education for autistic children is the fact that course material is provided by the online school itself, so your children do not need to worry about taking notes during the lecture.

The best part about studying online is that faculty members are highly qualified and experienced. Therefore they can deal with any situation without any hassle. To attain online education, all your child requires is a computer or a laptop with Internet connection. As compared to the traditional classroom setup, the fees of online institutions is a lot less so as a parent you can easily afford it. Before opting for any online school, it is advisable that you check the accreditation of the school first.

Tammy Greene is an educationist with decades of teaching and learning experience. Currently, Tammy is working for OnlineEduBlog (http://www.onlineedublog.com/) acting as their advisory member and helping students with online degrees and distance learning programs and finding accredited online colleges and universities

Self- injurious behaviour and autism unfortunately tend to go hand in hand. For the parent of a self-injurious child it can be heart breaking to watch. You feel helpless and unable to assist your child in their pain. Often times, due to the lack in communication skills it can be next to impossible to verbally find a reasoning for the self injurious behaviour or SIB. The best we can do as parents and educators is to educate ourselves, so that even with their limited ability to communicate, we can meet their needs and perhaps minimize the behaviour.

Self-injurious behaviour manifests in many forms from the autistic child. Unlike those with other mental disorders in which SIB may occur once a month or even less frequently, the autistic person proceeds at break neck speed when it comes to repetitive behaviours and SIB falls as one of these. The behaviour can be anything from head-banging, where they sit and rock against a wall and smash their head with every rock, to biting to the point of bleeding. The SIB can cause great bodily harm if the child is not stopped quickly from doing the behaviours. But it is not as simple as just stopping the behaviour. It is something they are drawn to, obsessive about.

Though self injury and autism go hand in hand by being aware as a parent or caregiver to your child’s behaviours and responses prior to the bouts you can begin to expect the situations that trigger these behaviours. By knowing your child’s trigger points you can do your best to prevent those from occurring or at least minimize them to save your child and yourself the heartache and physical pain associated with self-injurious behaviour. By knowing your child, you can better assist them and help to regulate them in their autistic worlds.

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