Autistic children require more assistance in learning basic life skills. As your toddler grows, teaching him basic life skills is important for him to be independent. One of the basic life skills that he needs to learn is how to wash his hands properly.
One method that works really well is to create a visual image of the whole process of washing hands. You can either look for picture books that discusses this topic or you can create your own visual images. If you decide to create your own images, here are some tips on how to do it. Grab your camera as this will require you to take a couple of photos.
The first thing you need to do is to prepare your bathroom sink. Take a picture of it and make sure that the photo shows the faucet, soap as well as the hand towel. Now, ask your child to get close to the sink so he can prepare to wash his hands. Take a picture of this too.
If your child is able to understand simple commands, ask him to turn the faucet on. Check to make sure that the water is neither too cold nor too hot before you position his hands under the water. Take a picture of your child with his hands under the water.
The next step is to ask your child to get soap. As he is doing so, take a picture. Show your child how to rub his hands together and make sure that he rubs both over and under his hands. Ask your child to sing the alphabet song while rubbing his hands together and tell him that he can only stop rubbing his hands when the song is finished. This will give him a sense of time as to how long he should soap his hands. Take a picture of him soaping his hands.
After the alphabet song is done, guide your child’s hand under the water and have him rinse his hands. Take a picture of this. When he is done, ask him to turn the faucet off and then as your child to wipe his hands on the towel. Take a picture of this too.
Now that you have gotten images of all the steps in washing his hands, you can now upload these images on your computer and have them printed out. Once you have them printed out, organize the photos in sequence and write a short and simple description under each photo. You can paste these photos in a binder to make your own picture book which you can read with your child daily or you can paste these photos in a poster which you can hang on your bathroom wall to remind him of the steps he needs to follow whenever he washes his hands. Either way works well to help him learn the process.
