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Hand-over-hand - Why this can be an excellent tool for the parent of the autistic child who knows how to "move on", or a crutch that needs to be let go! "Hand-over-hand" is a basic behavior therapy practice that parents of autistic children need to be aware of. Basically, with Zachary, I've always instinctively done this, but, I wanted to make sure all parents were aware of exactly what this is since many of you may be doing this without actually realizing that you are. Again, based on the fact that I found order, and specifically, partiality processing to be key in everything that was a problem for Zachary, that also became a "key" I could use in teaching basic life skills. If things had a "specific order", that meant, by definition, they had a beginning and an end. In working with Zachary, I found that if I helped him "do the first motion" for a task or process, he could go on and complete it himself. So, to a child who knows only an "all or nothing" world, simply doing the first motion for the "in between", makes it so that he sees "this task" must now be completed. The partial motion, the partial process triggers the desire to complete the whole! That's, in my opinion, why this technique works so well! This, I found to be true for teaching many life skills, such as getting dressed or undressed as well as things like writing, cleaning up, etc. For example, in teaching Zachary to put on his socks, I literally took his hands and showed him how to put his thumbs inside the socks and then told him to pull them up. The "action" of putting his hands on his socks helped him to "do the task" because that was the first "part" of "putting on socks" (I still get the socks out for him...so, I could work on that...and teach "getting the socks out" as the first "part" of the task...the first "motion" in the "critical path" to the process). The idea was basically to simply "get him started" with the task. If I kept talking to him and encouraging him as he completed the process, then, I found he was more open to doing it the next time...more independently. I think with many, many tasks, the key was simply a matter of "initiating" what you wanted the child to do and eventually, the child figured it out and could do it with minimal prompting (such as a simple, "put your socks on"... and later, a simple, "get dressed"). The technique of "hand-over-hand" is definitely something I think many parents "do" without realizing it is actually a "technique" that works well for autistic children. I know, recently, I was playing a game with Zachary and I used this technique and that was what reminded me to include the discussion on this topic of "hand-over-hand". I had taken a deck of cards and was on my back on the floor. As Zachary tried to zoom past me, I'd take the deck of cards and make all the cards go flying "at him". He thought that was absolutely hilarious. When the game was over, I picked up half the cards and placed them on the table. As I was busy picking up the other half, Zachary was busy throwing the first half back onto the floor (to him, all cards "went together). I took his hand and forced him to pick up the cards with me. Verbal prompting alone did not work. I had to literally take his hand and force him to pick the first one up. Once he touched the first one, and placed it on the table, he picked up all the others just fine too. So, as he helped me clean up, I simply kept saying, "good job helping mom pick up the cards", or "what a big boy...helping mom clean up...thank you!". Before I knew it, he had completed the task. So, although it was difficult to "initiate" the first move, to force him to pick up the first one by me actually taking his hand and making him do it, once the first card had been picked up Zachary understood what was expected, and he gladly completed the process/task. Sometimes, when you do something and get the results you wanted, you may not know why it is that "it worked"... and as such, I wanted to make sure parents understood this "technique", because I am sure many of you are doing this without realizing it and perhaps not identifying it for what it is...and the next time, because you did not make that association and perhaps did not understand exactly "what worked", you may not tackle the task the same way and hence wonder why you can not get the desired result. Therefore, I wanted to make sure parents were specifically aware of this valuable technique, known as "hand-over-hand". Hand-over-hand is a valuable technique indeed in that it can truly help teach the autistic child many many processes. However, as I have so often done, there is an almost inherent desire for the parent to continue to "do too much" for the child rather than move on to the next level of simply using verbal prompts. For example, when trying to go somewhere in a hurry, I will often still help Zachary to put on his socks - still help him with that first motion or the entire process. It takes a great deal of patience to simply "let him do it all by himself" when you are in a hurry. :o) But, in reality, that is what needs to be done. The time must be taken for the child to do the task on his own, so that you can move toward the simple use of "verbal prompts" such as "put your socks on" or "get dressed when you get up in the morning" and to eventually move to no prompting at all. :o)
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