Generalization is so hard to overcome

Holy crap balls, today was a rough start. One of the biggest challenges the Lost and Tired family faces in regards to Autism is generalization.  In the eyes of my kids, if something happens once, it will always happen.

This morning, Emmett was freaking the frak out because we wanted him to wear his coat.

Apparently, at some point, he had a problem with hanging his coat up on a hanger at school.  Because of his perception that he must hang his coat up on a hanger (which turns out to be an incorrect assumption), he refuses to wear a coat.

He has a full on meltdown now, every time we try to get him to wear a coat to school now. 

What’s so frustrating about this is the fact that he actually doesn’t have to hang his coat up.  We spoke with his teachers this morning and they clarified this for us this morning and are going to reinforce that with Emmett as well.

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Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
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anansison

Create a flash card with the rule about hanging up his coat.  If he cannot read it then make a visual with some sightwords that he can learn.  As you already know, repetition is often needed to teach some children before they grasp a concept or are willing to change their mind about something.  Giving him a visual representation that he can carry may help reduce his anxiety about it  and also help him not draw attention to himself (and increase his anxiety).