Hidden Curriculum App

Parents of children on the autism spectrum disorder often spend the early years focussing a great deal of time on teaching them basic independent and early social skills. We fret endlessly on milestones our children were supposed to have reached at their age. We introduce new strategies and methods to try and teach them the basics. We bring in the big guns, the professional therapists, in some cases to do the intervention at home so that our children can attend school in a regular classroom. We become quite an expert on our children. We are attuned to what works for them and what doesn't. What motivates them, what doesn't. We frequently go back to the drawing table and see what old strategies are not working anymore and then introduce some new ones in tandem with the level of functioning we see in them. We hope to reach that point one day where our children would be seamlessly transitioned to the classroom environment and for the most part, accepted and "functioning well" without anxiety attacks, without tears or bewilderment inside the fast pace of constantly changing environment, where new unfamiliar faces pop in, seating arrangement changes, students all talking at once, the bell ringing making a loud din, stern faces of teachers, angry tone of voices, following rules while watching others constantly break them. The possibilities of situations that might be adversely affecting our children are endless. I listed the above based on the experiences of my child at school. Personally, I like to deal with almost all of them with my favourite autism intervention tool: social stories. But what lies ahead of him that I cannot always help him with is the dreaded "hidden curriculum" at school, information on things that most children just seem to pick up on their own and don't need someone to tell them directly that when someone they are talking to rolls their eyes, it means that they are bored and so they need to stop. They are unable to interpret the subtle signs and non-verbal cues (body language) that are obvious to others. Most children generally know what behaviour is expected of them in different situations and they have a good idea of the consequences of violating these social rules and behavioural expectations. Children with autism often unwittingly break social and behavioural rules and they suffer for not knowing the hidden expectations. This, in turn, can result in difficulty making and maintaining friendships. They may become social outcasts and target for bullies. This is an aspect of their life at school that's out of reach of parents or therapists. As a result, they suffer because they simply did not know.
Now, the good news for today's parents with a child on the spectrum is that there's some help available out there for this important and significant aspect of life that constantly surrounds him/her at school or when among his peers. I am very excited to have found an hidden curriculum app for an ipad and iphone that somewhat lets me help prepare my child for his day at school. For those interested, it's available on itunes for 1.99 cdn. There's a lot of room for improvement but it's a good start. As long as people's minds are attuned to the specific needs of our individuals with autism and they keep coming up with similarly creative inventions, the future of these children promises to be a lot brighter than, say, those who've suffered through it in the past.