Ep. 116 Why Routines Don’t Always Work for Autistic Kids
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What is the episode’s main focus on why routines often fail for autistic kids?
Hey,
y'all,
how
you doing? Welcome to the neuro firm show. So excited to be here with you. And can I just tell you that Chris and I have been working on a couple of massive projects behind the scenes, we have not announced to anyone, any of the things that we have been working on. But that is going to be coming out very, very soon. And we're just so excited. I think it's a special time because Chris and I can get very wrapped up sometimes in like our other full-time jobs other than...
our online, online, what we're doing together. And we
have been so cognizant about putting in more time together to work on the neuro firm show to work on all of our big neuro firm things coming. And I just cannot wait to share that with you guys. And that's what I had to tell you, because we finalized something this morning. And it was just So exciting. Can't wait. So stay tuned. Lots of really, really awesome things coming your way from us. But today we are going down my special rabbit hole of more sensory stuff for you. Today we are talking about routines. We are talking about why routines do not always work for autistic kids.
Why do routine‑based interventions need to be re‑defined for autistic children?
And when I'm talking about routines, I'm not talking about bath time, bedtime, mealtime. Not our standard daily routines. What I'm talking about is routines-based interventions like the ones that we see and get encouraged to do a lot in our therapy, especially in the world of early intervention. I would say that has got to be one of the top interventions. strategies and approaches that we are taught to use when we work with little ones is routines based interventions, because routines based interventions can be amazing. And in fact, I do use them, but I don't use them in the way that we are taught to use them. Because something that I have found is that the way that we are taught to use routines in our therapy is
oftentimes does not work when we have an autistic child. It needs to be modified. So today we're going to be talking about why that is the case and what modifications need to be made in order for routines to be successful for adults. autistic kids okay so i will give you three reasons why i feel like they they don't always work number one is because autistic joint attention is different
than neurotypical joint attention and when you realize that you realize that maybe these goals
that you had were not actually appropriate goals, meaning the approach was maybe not the appropriate approach, right? Because let's put it into terms. If your goal, say it was a fitness goal, but say your goal was to run a marathon. Okay, your training program would look like, I couldn't tell
you because I've never done it, but I would imagine it goes something like run one mile, run a few miles, run a few miles more until you get to 26. and change, okay? That's my best guess. Whereas if your goal was, I want to win Mr. Muscleman USA, also don't know the names of those because never done that either. But say your goal was, I wanna win this Mr. Muscleman competition. You're not gonna be running every day.
How does autistic joint attention differ from neurotypical joint attention?
You're gonna be in the gym
lifting weights, okay? So you have to know what your goal is in order to know what the most effective approach is going to be. And if our goal for autistic kids is neurotypical joint attention, meaning eye contact, meaning we're here playing together, we're looking at this toy, we're looking back and forth at each other, this constant state of looking back and forth, ping pong conversation, like all the neurotypical skills, then our approach is going to be one that we would use with a neurotypical child, right? But if we know that autistic joint attention looks different, autistic kids are a lot less likely to make eye contact consistently. They're a lot more likely to have their eyes directed at the object or the toy.
They're a lot less likely to look at you when they're talking to you or even look at you when they want you to do something. Like if they want you to open bubbles, they might just hand you the bubbles. And that's their way of communicating to open them, right?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the episode’s main focus on why routines often fail for autistic kids?
0:07–1:31
2
Why do routine‑based interventions need to be re‑defined for autistic children?
1:31–3:51
3
How does autistic joint attention differ from neurotypical joint attention?
3:51–5:54
4
What role does hyper‑focus play in shaping effective routines for autistic kids?
5:54–8:09
5
Why is flexibility essential when designing routines for autistic learners?
8:09–10:23
6
How does a child’s sensory regulation affect the success of a routine?
10:23–12:33
7
What are practical ways to embed sensory needs into communication routines?
12:33–13:57
8
Where can listeners access the full sensory‑based routines training and resources?
13:57–15:40
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
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Ep. 124 Building Rapport Isn’t Enough...How Therapists Become Part of the Intervention
Ep. 123 Not Seeing Progress in Speech Therapy? Start Here.
Ep. 122 Screen Time Considerations for Autistic Kids
Ep. 121 The Biggest Sensory Mistakes SLPs Make
Ep. 120 Why Anxiety is So Common in Autism (And What Actually Helps)