Autism Conference at Gleneagles: Part 2.

Question: How do I teach my teenage son about sexuality? 
(Asked at the Gleneagles Conference, 1^st April 2012)                 

Answer:

Well there are many ways to teach this but the most important point about teaching a child with autism is to:

a) Break the skill down so it is easy to learn and does not frustrate the child

b) Individualise the method of teaching to that specific child’s ability

c) Have sufficient repetition that the child is able to retain the information (this does depend on the child’s level of functioning, some children need more frequent repetition while others may not need so).

One of the methods we use at EAP Malaysia (this is a generalized suggestion but for it to be effective, it has to be individualized to your child’s level of learning).

The Private/Public Programme:

We encourage parents to teach their children from a young age to only undress in their bedroom or in the bathroom. We also encourage parents to teach their children that they need to close the door when they use the bathroom (note: please use discretion of age appropriateness for this).

As the child gets a bit older, you could teach the child about scenarios that are private and scenarios that are public. You could get the child to sort these scenarios into the Public pile and into the Private pile. You could also do this programme in a Receptive manner or in an Expressive manner.

It is important to model the right phrases in context. For example, when your child goes to the toilet, a parent could say, “Private, going to the toilet is Private!”

If your child is starting to demonstrate sexual behavior, redirect him or her to the toilet or to their bedroom and emphasize that it is Private. You could also alternatively redirect him or her to another activity. Remember: Do not give too much attention for this behavior or the child could start to do it to get attention or start to feel bad about it and to try and do it more in secret (like any other self-stimulatory behavior).

There are other strategies such as teaching the child about Genders, Personal Space & Circle of Friends (identifying the closeness of relationship each person in the child’s life has and how close that person is able to be with the child).

It is imperative that we use sufficient visual strategies such as a Social Story, a Visual Schedule and even a Visual Tokenboard.

Call us at 03-2094 0421 or email us at autismmalaysia@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment.

Written by, 

Jochebed Isaacs

Director, EAP Malaysia