How to make Sunday School or Youth Group a bit easier for people with Autism

Every child or young person is made in the image of God and there is no substitute for building a relationship with them and getting to know their own personal needs. But these five ideas can help as a starting point for that.
And pray… prayer really helps us to understand, empathise and bear with others; after all no-one knows them better than God.

• Make a plan and stick to it
  Being predictable in your Sunday School or Youth Group can be a real help for anyon who likes plans, suffers from anxiety, or are new and need that extra help to settle in and understand what’s happening. A written down or pictoral plan means everyone knows what’s happening next, without asking; it can remove worry about what is coming up and allow every to concentrate on what is happening at the moment.

• Be aware of anxiety
  Autism isn’t a mental health issue; anxiety is. But autistic individuals often suffer from anxiety as a result of functioning differently to everyone else around. Because not seeing the world in quite the same way or feeling like there are unwritten rules everyone else knows can be a constant stress. Also other people can often misunderstand or dismiss something you are genuinely worried about – and that worry can overwhelm and make it difficult to focus on anything else. You can find some tips on dealing with Anxiety here.

• Communicate clearly
  Say what you’re thinking – no-one is a mind reader and not everyone finds it easy to interpret facial expressions correctly.
  Mean what you say – sarcasm and insincerity at best confuse, and at worst make you a liar. Metaphors and euphemisms may also be taken literally or at least be interpreted differently to how they were intended. On the positive side giving someone a compliment means they know that you’re thinking positively about them – be generous with compliments, be specific so everyone knows why they’re being complimented.

• Be sensitive to sensitivity
  Hyperaesthesia is more often known as hyper-sensitivity and occurs when normal sensory experiences are processed much more rapidly than usual making touch, fluorescent lights, patterns, perfume, some flavours or loud noises an overwhelming or even painful experience for you.
  Hypo-sensitivity is the opposite where the brain is processing information too slowly to be recognised: if this occurs visually someone may need to walk around and touch every object in a room to feel like they know where they are. They may want to create or experience sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures to what someone else may consider an extreme, which can be distracting so know what can help them feel secure and give them time.

• Be prepared to do things differently
  It might mean changing your Sunday School room, writing a plan up on the wall, sticking to time exactly, not wearing patterns or using emojis to clarify what you’re thinking. Start by talking to their parents and their last Sunday School teacher about what helps, but end up by talking to them: “Hey, I noticed the drama wasn’t fun for you today; what can we do to make it more enjoyable next time?”

There are lots of great resources out there including Disability Scoop, and a lot of the ideas in this post were inspired by The Girl With The Curly Hair.