Most typical children love videos and dvds. It brings stories alive, brings richness of imagery, music andsinging and is something that they can watch completely alone or with friends and family. Typical children also like to watch their favourite videos and dvds over and over.Autistic children are no different in the respect that they seem to love watching videos and dvds and theyenjoywatching them very many times. However, there are other reasons that our autistic child is watching Cinderella AGAIN! Videos and dvds never change, but bring certainty, repetitiveness and comfort to a child with autism. Some studies state that we should not allow our autistic children to watch videosat all, because it prevents them from interacting with us and switches them off, so that we cannot reach them. The idea is that we should use that time to interact and connect with our autistic child. I have a slightly different angle to this. I agree that allowingyour autistic child to do nothing but watch videos all day and use the tv as a baby sitter so that we can get on with our lives, is at best unhelpful and at worst detrimental to your childs development. However, I think dvds and videos do have positive side effects, so lets use them to help our children interact and connect with the world.When your child is watching a film, it is very difficult to know exactly how they are perceiving it and what they are getting from it. Our child sits, stares, sometimes flapping their arms, getting excited orvocalising in some way. So, if there is a reaction from our child to a film, then it is reasonable to assume that something is being gained from it, on some level.WATCH EVERY DVD/VIDEO TOGETHER(ONCE!!)If you sit and watch each dvd/video that your child is exposed to, at least once, then you are in a position to have a shared language with them. If your child has echolalia and repeats words or phrases from the dvd, you will be more likely tounderstandwhat they are saying and knowwhere it came from. This will then enable you to extend and elaborate that language with them.SHARED LANGUAGEOnce your child has chosen particular dvds to watch on a repetitive basis, they will develop things to talk about (if they areusing language as a means of communication). You can talk endlessly with your child about the characters in a dvd and share in their interest. You can move your child from repeating phrases to usingunique language, answering and asking questions and talking about the subject more generally. If you use your childs interest, they are more likely to connect with you. USE YOUR CHILDS MOTIVATION TO OPEN UP THEIR WORLDYou can create other activities, using your childs passion. You can readstories,write the character names, draw pictures of the characters and colour them in. You could search the internet for pictures and use YouTube for video clips. You could buy the characters and carry out role play, and make up stories.There is absolutely nothing you cannot teach your child, once they are motivated.

SIBLINGCONNECTION AND ACTIVITYIf you have other children,thenwatching dvds and videos is something they can do together. You can create movie parties. This will get your autistic child used to having other children around, without the stress of interacting with them. They are just sharing a space with their siblings.HELP YOUR CHILD CHILLLAt the end of day, when your child gets home from school, they may not want to interact with you at all. They may completely switch off, because they have used up their interaction quota for the day. Watching a dvd or video will allow your childtime tojust chill.

CINEMAEventually, if your child loves videos, you may be able to take them to the cinema, to watch one on the big screen. There are autism friendly screenings at the Odeon and Cineworld, which will ease your child into the cinema experience, without overstimulating them unnecessarily.So, next time your child wants to watch Toy StoryAGAIN, instead of seeing it as a bad thing, think about how it can open up your childs world and connect them with you.An obstacle is often a stepping stone,PrescottTake care.THE AUTISM NANNYwww.theautismnanny.co.uk