7 Tips on How to Make the Morning Routine Easier for Families with Teenagers with Autism

7 Tips on How to Make the Morning Routine Easier for Families with Teenagers with Autism

*This post may contain affiliate links. There is no extra cost to you, but we could earn money that will greatly help our family. Please see our disclosure for further information. 7 Tips on How to Make the Morning Routine Easier for Families with Teenagers with Autism In our family, the only morning person is my dad. The rest of us are NOT morning people. Mornings can be really hard in our family as we would rather stay up late then get up early. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

We get it, life is busy and we all have busy schedules and it can feel like mornings are super rushed to get out the door. The last thing you need in your life is to be late to work or to school.

I wanted to share some time saving tips that myself and our family has been using to help our entire family have an easier morning, but we also wanted to share tips to help your teenager with autism also have an easier morning as well.

Strategies that we have used to help make mornings easier to SAVE time and allow us to sleep in a little longer 🙂

  1. Set out your clothes the night before. We just use a table in my brothers room to lay his clothes on the night before so in the morning he can quickly grab and change his clothes. I have seen other examples of this where they even set out clothes for an entire week where they use a collapsable shelf that hangs in the closet where they have a shelf for each day of the week.
  2. Prepare meals the night before for breakfast and lunch if needed. In our family we bring our lunches to work and this is a HUGE time saver! If it is already packed and ready in the fridge all you have to do is grab and go! You can do the same for breakfast as well if you are needing to eat on the go or even quickly at home. Some on the go breakfast or lunch items that we take are cheese sticks, yogurt, granola bars, and bananas.
  3. Set your alarm 5 minutes sooner than when you need to get up for the day. I know this may not seem like a lot of time, but 5 minutes can be the difference between being late or on time to where you need to go. What if traffic is a little slower or you spill something and you need to quickly change. There can be so many what if’s in the morning that it is always a good idea to give yourself a 5 minute buffer.
  4. Do not check your email or social media accounts when you first wake up. I know it can be soooo tempting to take a peek at your emails or what is going on with Facebook when you first wake up, especially if you use your phone as an alarm, but this can take up valuable morning time that you don’t already have. We can get lost in time trap of just scrolling and lose track of time. Instead I would recommend doing some morning stretches in bed, drinking a glass of water, or using an app where you can read a short prayer or affirmation for the day so you can start your day on a positive note.
  5. If you really want to help yourself get up in the morning you can set up your alarm across the room, so that when it goes off you will have to physically get out of bed to turn off the alarm.
  6. Maybe start your day off with eating breakfast first. I know there are many times when I skip breakfast because I ran out of time and then I am starving by the time lunch or mid morning hits. If you are more motivated by food, maybe try changing up your routine and start with breakfast first during your day.
  7. Try to use a checklist to help you remember each step of your morning routine and so that you don’t forget something that you needed to take to school or to work. This can be especially helpful if you are trying to teach your child/teenager how to be more responsible for themselves in the morning and save mom some time in the morning with allowing the kids to be more independently. Place the checklist in a location the child/teenager will see it either in the bedroom or the bathroom or both locations. We have a created a FREE CHECKLIST for you to use for your morning routine that you can try to customize to fit your lifestyle and routine. Download your FREE Morning Checklist below by providing your name and email!

Our last tip is to find an alarm sound that can wake you up so you don’t sleep through the alarm. You may need to change the alarm sound up every so often so that your body doesn’t get used to the same sound over and over every morning.

Our family really dislikes mornings, but we hope with the help of these strategies together we can start to like mornings a little bit more 🙂 We hope you can find these tips helpful for your morning routine as a family and specifically to help give more responsibility to your teenager or child with Autism. Try out the checklist and we left some space for you to add in your own that are specific to your routine. We would love to hear if you have any additional suggestions or strategies that have helped make your morning routine easier.

Is your family looking for additional autism support? Check out our FREE Autism Resources guide with over 180+ Resources to help you and your family!! Download the Resources below!!

Does your child have difficulty learning personal hygiene self care skills? Check out our Ebook Everyday Life Skills Personal Hygiene Skills in the Bathroom for TONS of tips and resources to help your loved one become more independent with these skills!

This post was part of a monthly series by other Special Needs Bloggers where we all shared tips on Time Management! Check out their amazing resources below for further ways to help make life a little easier!

How to Win at Time Management When You’re a Busy Special Needs Parent | My Home Truths

The Busy Mom’s Guide to Juggling Multiple Appointments | The Chaos and The Clutter

How Visual Schedules Can Assist with Time Management Skills | Kori at Home

Tips to Improve Showering and Bathing for Children with Sensory Processing Difficulties

Tips to Improve Showering and Bathing for Children with Sensory Processing Difficulties

*This post contains affiliate links. There is no extra cost to you, but if you purchase something through our links this will greatly help our family. Please read more about our disclosure here.

Showering and Bathing Tips for Children with Sensory Processing Difficulties

My brother has always had a difficult time with taking baths and showers because he hated having water get on his face or in his eyes. Don’t get me wrong he loved being in the water, but as soon as he would be splashed in the face in the pool or we would have to go to wash his hair in the bath, a flood of anxiety and fear would come over him. He has had this difficulty ever since he was little and he is still learning to decrease his anxiety with water on his face. It wasn’t until this year that he has now been able to wash his face and hair more independently (14 years later). We wanted to share the tips and tricks that we have used to help my brother decrease his anxiety with water getting on his face to allow him to be more independent with these skills.

Tips to Decrease Anxiety with Water Getting on the Face for a Child with Sensory Processing Difficulties

What we did first was recognize this was a fear for my brother and we were always patient and understanding with him. Something that my mother has been working on this past year with my brother is working on identifying what his fears are and understanding that fear is an emotion. These emotions can come from what you are thinking, and they have been working on changing his thinking to a positive thought to help him create a solution. So for example, before taking a shower or washing his face at the sink they would state positive statements about putting water on his face. They would say, “I will be able to get my face wet or I am calm and I can do this.”

These were ways that we were slowly able to decrease fear for my brother with getting water on his face.

He was very motivated to go swimming, so during the summer we were constantly at the pool, going to water parks, or playing outside in the sprinkler. He was usually having so much fun during these activities that when he would get water on his face we would always make sure we had a beach towel near by or he would wear a swim shirt that he could use to help wipe off the water on his face to help decrease his anxiety. We were constantly exposing him to activities that were motivating to him where he would be exposed to water on his body.

Other fun ways we would expose him to water were through water balloon fights and using a bubble machine outside with bubbles popping around him. Again, we would always have a towel near by him, but during the activities he was happy and excited having fun!

When we were swimming in the pool, we would constantly be trying to teach him how to hold his breath or blow out of his nose when he would go under water. As well as closing his eyes under water. We would play games to help motivate him to make it more fun. We would always demonstrate for him so he could see how to do it. We would try to make it motivating and be super excited over the top if just the littlest bit of his face touch the water such as his chin. We would give tons and tons of praise and encouragement.

It took us many many years for him to be more comfortable with getting his face wet in the pool, but we never gave up. Even today he still does not prefer to go underwater and we are still working on learning how to swim, but every year we are making progress. We learn to celebrate every little victory along the way.

Now this year, we have been working really hard with being independent with showering and washing our face. Now that we are going through puberty we also get to work on these skills to help us prevent breakouts. We started a new acne medicine for our face this year, so that has also helped increase the motivation for my brother to want to learn the skill so he can decrease the acne. My mother has learned to be so patient with him in helping him learn these skills.

These are ways that we have helped him learn to wash his face on his own:

  • He used a face mist blower (something he liked) to help him get used to the feeling of water on his face.
  • He would wash his face at the sink with just a wet wash cloth (my mother would have to do it first, then she would have him slowly increase his ability to use the wash cloth himself)
  • They slowly increased splashing water on his face by getting his hands wet and having him touch his face then slowly add more water over time.
  • Finally, they had him get in the shower and use a wash cloth in the shower to wash his face.
  • NOTE: He would always have a dry wash cloth or towel right next to him so that he could dry his face off if it was too much for him.
  • This was a very long process and took a lot of patience and practice. We think it went better for him this year because he was motivated to get rid of the acne on his face.

These are ways that we helped him learn to shower more independently:

  • In the beginning my mom would be in the bathroom and available for him if he needed anything, this helped to decrease the anxiety.
  • We first talked about the importance of why we need to take a shower and how we need to smell good when we are around other people. This was the first year that he has ever mentioned that he wants to get married (over the past two years my sister and I both got married and he realized that he would need to get married if he wants to carry our families last name). So my mom would make sure to talk about how if he wants to get a girl friend he needs to smell nice and this has been motivating to him.
  • When they were at the dermatologist, my mother had the doctor explain the importance of showering and washing our face to him, which had a bigger impact on him then my mom telling him that. He seems to do well with taking advice from doctors.
  • While my brother was taking the shower there was always a towel available hanging over the edge of the shower.
  • To wash his hair, my mom would use a large cup and place a was cloth over his face and he would tilt his head back and let my mom wash his hair for him. They would slowly transition away from this by having him participate more with washing his hair and having him do more of it on his own, such as having him put the shampoo in or slowly pour some water on his head.
  • Washing his hair is something he has always had a really hard time with and he still needs help at times from my mom to help him, but he is doing so much more of it on his own! He will be doing it on his own in no time!
  • Also they learned that he does better with taking a shower night before going to bed as the warm water helps him go to sleep. Try to figure out the best time of day that works for your child.

Here are some other strategies that we have used over the years to help decrease anxiety as well:

  • Installing a “rain” shower head
  • Installing a handheld shower nozzle to give him a sense of control
  • Sometimes we would just take a bath
  • Warm up the bathroom ahead of time to make the temperature change less dramatic
  • Play music while in the shower or bath for fun and a distraction
  • Have fun bath toys in the shower or bath tub
  • Mr. Bubbles foam soap for fun in the bath
  • Using a schedule and sticking to it. When we figured out a night time routine worked well we have been sticking with it.
  • We would sometimes use baby wipes to help clean off at times
  • We have heard dry shampoo can be helpful
  • When we used a wash cloth or shampooing his hair we tried to use slow deep pressure. Slow deep pressure is more organizing than light touch.
  • Finding soap products that they like (some kids prefer scents and some prefer no scents) Allow them to participate in picking out the soaps to give them more independence.
  • Use motivators whenever possible. We were constantly trying to figure out what motivated my brother to help make it more fun and turn it into a goal that he wanted to meet!

We hope that these tips and suggestions can be helpful for you and your family to help make bathing a better routine for everyone. As a family we are always working on this skill and taking it day by day and celebrating every little victory. We would love to learn if you have more suggestions that have worked for your family!

Does your child or teen struggle with personal hygiene skills due to sensory challenges? Check out our free Personal Hygiene Sensory Strategies Toolkit for help!

Personal Hygiene Sensory Strategies Toolkit #sensory

Does your child have difficulty learning personal hygiene self care skills? Check out our Ebook Everyday Life Skills Personal Hygiene Skills in the Bathroom for TONS of tips and resources to help your loved one become more independent with these skills!

everyday_life_skills__3D_cover

Please let these suggestions remind you that you are not alone and together we can grow and learn from each other.

 

Voices of Special Needs Blog Hop

Welcome to Voices of Special Needs Blog Hop — a monthly gathering of posts from special needs bloggers hosted by The Sensory Spectrum and The Jenny Evolution. Click on the links below to read stories from other bloggers about having a special needs kiddo — from Sensory Processing Disorder to ADHD, from Autism to Dyslexia!

Want to join in on next month’s Voices of Special Needs Hop? Click here!