About trick-or-treating on Halloween

Many parents of children on the autism spectrum disorder are fully aware that their child does better in situations and environments when they are prepared for those events well ahead of time. Halloween is a fun event, the only time when children can dress up in their favourite characters and go trick-or-treating in the neighbourhood. Although costume considerations might be the only challenge for parents of typically developing children, this is an event that can be a huge sensory challenge for children with autism. They may not like the sights, sounds, smells and even the feel of their costume and have a mother of melt-downs even as the sun sets on the eve of Halloween when children begin happily trolling down the streets for candies. However, parents can help their children with autism enjoy the fun of Halloween events by following some of these steps below: 1. Parents can start by reading about Halloween day together, about activities that take place on or before Halloween either at home or at school. They can role-play ways to go trick-or-treating such as how to wish someone handing out candies Happy Halloween, to hold out a bag for candies and to say thank you. 2. The child may not be ready to wear the costume both parent and child had chosen at the last minute so have a plan B and wear both costumes alternately during the days leading up to Halloween. 3. A key preparation is to write a social narrative that tells the child all about Halloween, what to expect and when. Some children might even need a visual schedule on the activities. 4. It is important to build the right amount of expectation beforehand and stick to it. Both the parent and the child should agree on the number of households to visit on Halloween evening and stick to those numbers. 5. If the child happens to be staying at home and handing out candies to visitors then he or she should have a social narrative designed to address that particular activity. Again, role playing would be a good idea here. Doing the above would help set the familiarity of activities on Halloween and lessen the chances for anxiety and consequently, unhappy meltdowns.