The First Commandment

I find that commandments of "thou shalt not" don't work so well.  The reason that they do not work so well is because it does not truly tell you what you are supposed to do instead.

So, I'm going to tell you how to follow the first commandment.  You can keep reading if you want to, if you don't, that's fine.  First things first and this will be the last thou shalt not that you will read in this post.  "Thou shalt not touch unless absolutely necessary."  What I want to talk about first are those times that you feel that it is absolutely necessary.  What constitutes, in my mind, absolutely necessary is if they are about to walk onto a street and there is no crosswalk and they might get run over.  There are other people who that is literally the only way that you can get them to go anywhere.

So how can you get them to some place without touching them.  This is where it gets a little bit tough.  You have to figure out where they are going and step in front of them and turn yourself in a way that brings them to the place where you need them to be.  For instance, my last week of camp, I had a camper who walked around all day long and he would always overshoot his destination.  I realized this and any time that I felt that we should turn I would stand in front of him with the body turned in the way that I needed him to go.

Is this the simplest way to do it?  Yes and no.  No, it is not because you may not go directly there and you have to figure out what they are going to do next.  Yes, it is the simplest way because if you touch them and they get anxious, then bad things are probably going to happen and you are not going to get them wherever you need them to be.

This way is tougher for us, however, I feel that this is the way that works best with helping lower anxiety in the person with autism.  And in my mind, that is the most important thing that we can do.  If we lower the anxiety of the person with autism, they cease to be a possible exploding helium balloon.  If we lower the anxiety of the person with autism, we help them calm down and be themselves.  If they know that you are not going to touch them, then they realize that they can trust you and a bond forms between you and them.