Halloween Games to Prepare Children with Autism for the Holiday

Halloween is coming and like all Holidays, it can be a delight or a stressor for children with Autism.  Wearing a mask or costume may be your child's favorite thing or may be a sensory challenge.  Seeing other people in masks and costumes may be fun or horrifying.  Going in the evening up to a house and knocking on the door one house after another is a behavior that children may find interesting or may, with some justification, flat out refuse to do. Then there are the houses decorated with all things frightening.  Even if a child is willing to knock on doors for the sake of getting candy, who in their right mind approaches a house that moans and groans?   Who walks across a lawn filled with flapping ghosts and skeletons?  And finally, there are the parties, usually loud events where many people look, and sound and act differently than they normally do. So if Halloween is hard for your child, well, this is easy to understand. 

However, it is an interesting idea to have a community evening devoted to pretend play and visiting and candy.  This is an opportunity, not just for your child to learn how to cope with an odd American cultural phenomenon, but an opportunity for your child to engage in intellectual, social and language learning.  The ideas below are, of course, more or less appropriate depending on your child's age, language skills and emotional regulation skills.

Halloween is an evening where anyone can don a costume and imagine themselves with a different identity- as a tree, a movie star, or a goat.  Not only is this fun, but learning how to imagine and then act out a different identity is an important skill to develop.  We change, or at least adjust, our identity many times in a lifetime.  We go from single child to big brother, from first grader to second grader, from single woman to wife, from student to employee.  Each change requires that we imagine ourselves differently and then act differently.  

I am not a fan of all the candy that is consumed but the excuse to greet neighbors at their front door or our front door is a wonderful opportunity. Learning how to prepare for or attend a party is also a life skill that, if mastered, will make your child's life socially richer. 

The trick for making the experience of Halloween positive for children with autism is preparation.  And then letting your child engage in the festivities and enjoy them to the extent that he or she is able each year.  

Starting in early October is just about perfect.  Here are some ways to help your child prepare and get the most out of Halloween: 

• Use social stories to help your child understand Halloween.  Click Here for Free Social Stories.
• Help your child look for a costume that delights them and is not a sensory challenge.  
• Let your child try on Halloween masks and see you in masks even for brief moments. See Trying On Noses on my website, Autism Games.Org
• If you plan to go house-to-house, pretend to do this in your own house, knocking on the bedroom door, for example, and having a friend or family member on the other side, perhaps wearing different masks as they hand out candy.  Play the whole skit out multiple times.
• Let your child play the part of handing out candy if that is what he or she will be doing for all or part of the evening.
• Walk the route you intend to take if you intend to go out in the evening.  Walk the route in the daytime and point out interesting things and maybe do it again in the evening so that this route is familiar.   
• If you are going to a party, find out who will be there and what they plan to wear and what activities will happen.  Make a social story for your child explaining as much as possible about the party in advance.  Use the social stories written above as a model for how to write the story.  Practice any upcoming party activities ahead if possible. 
• Don't stop the pretend playing Halloween Games on November1 because once your child has experienced Halloween and the experience is fresh, pretend play can get even better.  It is not preparation so much after Halloween as it is a way of learning more of the language and social skills that are featured in the celebration of this Holiday.
• Finally, if you need a good resource to help you keep your child's teeth healthy, what with the uptick in candy consumption at this time of year, here is a good link.