Anchor Points
“We have to travel the same route each day or he’s too upset to go into school”
“It has to be fish fingers and chips for dinner every day or he doesn’t eat a thing”
“We can’t afford to change even the smallest detail or it can upset her whole day”
Many of the questions parents and carers of autistic individuals ask me are related to the challenges around the need for set routines and difficulties coping with change. They explain that this can make life even more challenging for the whole family because no matter how hard they try, it’s just impossible to keep everything the same, change is an inevitable part of life.
Putting Yourself In Their Shoes
I love an analogy, in fact one of my clients calls me ‘the queen of analogies’. But there is a reason I love them and it’s because they help us put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. By finding situations that give us similar feelings and reactions we are immediately in a better place to empathise.
In this case of dealing with unexpected change I don’t think you can get much better than the notorious yellow diversion sign. I don’t know about where you live but here in West Essex, there seems to be one round every other corner.
So let’s just imagine the situation…
It’s a lovely sunny day, you’ve had a wonderful time with friends and are now heading home. The journey is going well when all of a sudden in the distance you spot it, the dreaded yellow diversion sign. You follow the first one and as you approach the next roundabout you cross your fingers and hope there will be another.
Thank goodness there is, but now you’ve travelled 5 minutes down the road. A further 10 minutes but you’ve not seen another sign.
Things are starting to look more and more unfamiliar, your anxiety level begins to rise.
You look to your phone. One single bar of reception and no sign of any 4G. Your anxiety levels are sky rocketing. You’ve got no choice but to continue driving. To hope you’ll see another yellow sign but this doesn’t see likely.
Five more minutes pass when you see a pub in the distance, as you get closer you realise it seems familiar. Yes, your pretty sure you came here a few weeks back, if you are right there will be an old telephone box on the green.
Yes, there it is!
Suddenly your anxiety lessens a little. Now did we turn left or right at the end of the green, I’m sure it’s left. You follow your instincts and as your travel down the road you see a sign for your home town. Your anxiety drops another notch or two.
You follow the sign, within 5 minutes you are back on a well-known road, you know exactly how to get home now. Your anxiety is almost gone. The next thing you know your pulling into the drive way. You open the front door, shoes off, bag and coat on the peg where they always belong. You walk into the kitchen, flick the switch on the kettle.
Teas ready.
Warm cuppa in your hand as you settle down on the sofa, not a sign of anxiety left in your body now your home safe and sound.
Did you notice the more unfamiliar and unpredictable things became the higher your anxiety levels rose and as things became more familiar and predictable the anxiety level dropped again. From my work and conversations with autistic individuals this is not dissimilar to their experience when they have to deal with unexpected change that cause their routines and patterns to be disrupted. However, whilst this type of experience is rare for the majority of us for autistic individuals this can happen on a daily basis, if not several times a day. So, how can we help reduce these situations?
Why change can be a challenge
Before we consider strategies to put in place let’s first look at why set routines and patterns play such an important part in the life of an autistic individual. Autism is often said to be characterised by a difficulty with social imagination. We’re not talking here about creative imagination but the element of imagination that allows us to read contextual clues within the environment or to see the perspective of another person. This type of imagination allows us to recognise, understand or predict what will happen next and how others are likely to behave. Imagine not being able to do this with ease. Now imagine that, as many autistic individuals do, you are experiencing high levels of anxiety as well as sensory sensitivities. The world can feel very unpredictable and this is where set routines come into play. They provide a level of certainty and predictability, they help make sense of what can be a very confusing world. The more predictable they can make their environments, the calmer and safer they will feel. It’s no wonder they can appear resistant to change, it’s only natural to resist something that challenges our feelings of safety.
The same thing, the same way, at the same time…
Or as I like to describe it ‘anchor points’. These are the parts of the day that incorporate an individuals routines and patterns, they feature things that are very familiar and very predictable. Just like the pub, the telephone box, the cup of tea from our analogy. These elements of the day are so familiar they take very little effort to understand. They are things that always happen at the same time in the same way and therefore bring about a sense of security.
Let me give you an example from my time as a classroom teacher in a special school.
Our first anchor point was the way we started the school day. Every day was ALWAYS the same. The children would hang up their bags and coats and place their home communication books into a basket that was ALWAYS in the same place.
Next they would complete their individual work tasks at tables that were ALWAYS in the same place and once everyone had arrived we would gather for morning circle. A highly structured group session that ALWAYS started with the hello song, followed by the day of the week and finally the weather.
The session after this could be different each day of the week but would ALWAYS end with snack time followed by playtime. The rest of the day would work this way with less familiar and predictable activities sandwiched between regular and highly predictable routines, that ALWAYS happened at the same time in the same way. In this way we were able to introduce the children to new ideas and concepts and to help them broaden their life experience whilst developing crucial academic and life skills.
Anchor Points in the home
Establishing anchor points in the home environment is something I encourage all the families I work with to do, because they really can make a difference. An anchor point can be absolutely anything as long as it’s ALWAYS done at the SAME time and in the SAME way.
Now, when I say same time I don’t mean at 10AM on the dot, just that it should always happen at the same time in relation to other activities. Some days our morning learning was long and other days short but at the end of it we always had snack no matter what time of day it was.
And with the idea of the ‘same way’ you want to keep as much of that routine the same as possible. Do it in the same order, in the same place, make sure it looks the same too. The more features that you can keep the same the more calming and effective it will be.
I think one of the longest standing ‘anchor points’ for children is the bed time routine. You’ve probably lost count of the number of times you’ve been told how important a night time routine is for you and your child and I’d agree.
However, what I want to emphasis is that there is no right or wrong bedtime routine, in fact there are no right or wrong anchor points. Create whatever routines work for you and your family as long as you ALWAYS do them in the SAME way at the SAME time.
Here’s a few anchor points that families I work with have created:
“We always sing the same song when we are putting our shoes on, we just change the word for where we are going, this means the anchor point works wherever we go and transitions seem to be getting easier”
“I’ve realised clothes are a real anchor point for my son, he associates certain clothes with certain places, he is so much calmer travelling to his Gymbobs session if he is wearing his Gymbobs t-shirt”
“We have the same routine everyday when she comes home from school, shoes and tights/socks off, then 10 minutes on the sofa with iPad, while I make a snack. We’ve found getting changed out of her school uniform is so much easier since we added in this anchor point, I think it gives her time to process the day and settle back into being at home”
Anchor Points take time to achieve their full effectiveness
Anchor points aren’t an overnight fix, it takes time for them to become established, especially when you’re creating new ones. But the more times consistently they are used, the more familiar and more effective they will become, so keep persevering.
Anchor points won’t eliminate anxiety around less familiar activities. At the very least they will help ensure anxiety doesn’t build up too much during the day by provide individuals with regular opportunities to regulate their senses and emotions. At their best they will give your child the capacity to go outside of their comfort zone, as they’ll have the security of a familiar routines bookending the activity.
Are anchor points going to be featuring in your day? Perhaps they already do, if so what do they look like? Are they working or do you need to tighten them up, remember the more predictable an anchor point is the more security it will bring and the quicker the individual will feel safe and calm again.
If you’re supporting an individual who struggles with change and would like support creating anchor points please do get in touch.
