Family Meals and Social Gatherings

Time spent with family has the potential to be one of the most emotionally draining aspects of the holidays. Even if your family is understanding and does everything they can to support you, the very fact that you experience changes in routine and must communicate in new situations and group settings makes things even more challenging.

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The Shopping Challenge

Even if you personally choose to avoid certain activities during this time of the year, other people’s participation in their holiday routines may have a big impact on you. Case in point:

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Travel Tips

When traveling, virtually every experience can be new and unpredictable. So it can be particularly challenging for autistic folks. It can involve sleeping in new and unfamiliar rooms in beds that may not be comfortable… eating in noisy, crowded restaurants… navigating public restrooms… driving long distances in busy traffic… or taking public transit in the midst of holiday crowds.

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Establishing Healthy Expectations for Yourself, Other People and Circumstances

Mary’s Story
My mother’s house was always the place family went for holidays. She decorated, cooked meals from scratch, housed out of town family members, bought and wrapped gifts for all dinner guests and entertained during dinner parties. When she went into the nursing home I took on these responsibilities for the family without even thinking about it. I just did what I’d always seen her do. Plus, I now had to care for her. But I don’t have my mother’s energy or organizational skills. While things turned out ok, and by that I mean nothing burned down, I got very little sleep, ended up forgetting to pay the bills and felt disappointed in myself for not holding things together the way my mother always had. The next year I stressed about the holidays and dreaded them even before they got started.

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Welcome to Your Online Autism Holiday Survival Guide

survivalguide1The holidays can be an especially challenging time for folks on the autism spectrum. Depending on your religion and location, the excitement can last from October through December, without much of a break along the way. Many of us are solitary, silence-loving introverts, and being thrust into the sometimes frenzied, social pace of the holidays isn’t easy. Not only are our routines disrupted, but we’re also bombarded with sights and sounds and smells and sensations that overwhelm our sensitive natures. The constant stream of demands and expectations from others, pressures to “perform” well socially, and add extra activities to our normal routine can be exhausting.

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