Tips to Transition Into Monday

Monday's can be difficult for everyone, but especially for autistics and ADHD’ers. It's a sudden change in routine from the past two days.

The weekends are days when almost everyone lets loose and routines generally go out the window. Which is healthy and good! But, that two day period of relaxation and drop in structure will make Monday more difficult ...

In general for autistics and ADHD’ers, transitions can result in increased anxiety, stress, and frustration. It is naturally more challenging for neurodiverse individuals to transition from small tasks, such as going from class to class, to larger tasks, such as getting ready for work. This is due to the neural differences in executive functioning skills. More practice, time, processing, and planning are required for the brain to perform such cognitive functions.

Even if Monday's have looked the same a hundred times in a row, it is still a new Monday, with a new routine from Sunday.

Some tips to help ease into those Monday Routines:

1. Be patient. It's easy to fall into the thinking trap of, "why can't my child just get up on time??" but there is a lot involved in such a task. Just as you do not want to sit there and nag at your child to get ready for school, your child doesn’t want to hear the nagging. If they could move faster, they most likely would…Not only that, but the brain of someone who is neurodiverse takes more time to "wake up" than for someone who is not neurodiverse…so, planning is required.

2. Prepare the day before. Set clothes out, talk about how the morning will look like, give a time where you need to be in the car. Set up food and one’s backpack. Lay out toothbrush/paste, vitamins and medication out on the counter to limit the amount of containers that need to be opened and steps that need to be taken.

3. Track Timing. Take a day where you simply track yours or your child’s daily routine. How long does it take to put on makeup? How long does it take to shower? Make the bed? Eat? etc. Then, determine how much time is truly needed for each activity and set an alarm for each activity. (Yes, you will have numerous alarms going off through the morning hours!). This strategy does two things 1) Helps to signal when it’s time to end a task and start a new task and 2) creates independence so you do not always have to tell your child when it’s time to be brushing their teeth

4. Limit Language. The more language you use does not mean the more your child understands. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Use clear, concise language with clear expectations, such as, “put on your socks and shoes and get into the car” vs. “Okay Bobby, Now it’s time for you to go grab your socks and then you can put on your shoes, let me know if you need help with that. Then you should get into the car, I’ll warm it up for you.” I can promise you, that will go in one ear and out the other ;)