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As a family, whenever there is a problem, you stick together. But sometimes when a sickness or disorder is diagnosed in a family member, all are affected. Sometimes, the parents tend to neglect that their other kids are also undergoing their own stresses that they experience in coping with the big changes that the family has undergone.

Some kids who feel that their parents always spend time with their autistic sibling tend to be jealous and “act out”. Acting out is similar to rebelling since the child does thing that he or she know that the parents disapprove of in order to get the attention he craves.

Fortunately, sometimes having an autistic sibling makes one “grow up” and be a responsible sibling who can and will take care of their autistic brother or sister.

To help your other kids cope with this new situation, you can find them asupport group where they can also meet and talk with other sibling of autistic children. this way they can better understand the family situations and feel less resentful with their brother or sister whom they feel has taken all the parental attention. the support group can help tehm vent out their frustrations regarding their family and help them accept.

You should also encourage regular family interaction where you all can spend time with each other. You should also open up to your other kids about your own feelings so they can feel that they are not alone and appreciate them also. you should also pay attention to your other kids because they are also having a difficult time adjusting. You should communicate with them to be able to help them cope better with having an autistic sibling.

Graduation for anyone is a scary thing, right? Especially when you grew up in a sheltered environment where everything you need is provided by your parents. Finally you are on your own. This is the scary part.

Imagine, for a moment, that your are an autistic individual on your way to the real world. This is harder since the environment in which you grew up in is a controlled one, meaning that your parents and school control the surroundings for you to be able to cope better. But in the real world of business it is not the same. You will encounter people who are not as understanding as the people you grew up with and most of them work in unethical ways.

Also you have to dress up all by yourself, fend on your own, brush your teeth, wear appropriate clothes and use a deodorant. These may come easy to others but for autistic individuals it can be a chore.

However, this may not be the problem for you, it may be for others. Problems in the work area may arise since others do not understand what autism is. They discriminate against it. For the bosses, they have to train autistic individuals to be able to function in the work area plus make the employees understand the situation of the autistic individaul tehy have to work with.

For all this to work out, an autistic individual should be made to realize that a big change will occur in his or her life once he or she graduates from college. having mentor or therapist or simply family support will be able to help the individul cope with the major changes in life.

Hugging and squuezing autistic children is not the same for others. For us, hugs can relieve stress and calm us but for them it increases their anxiety leading to a more frustrated and confused self. They cannot communicate their needs effectively.

To better address this problem, a hug machine was created by a woman who has autism. this is to help relieve the frustration autistic children by giving them control of their situation.

How does a HUG MACHINE work?

It has two padded sideborads connected near the bottom of the board to form a V-shape. a lever helps push the sideboards together to create pressure and also allows the user control the amount of pressure. The hug machine is also called the hug box or squeeze machine.

The hug machine provides the pressure the autistic children needs to affect their heightened sensory perception makingt them concentrate on the pressure which calms them. For them pressure releases anxiety.

If hug machines are out of your budget, you can get creative. wrap your child in a blanket or you can improvise a hug machine, just follow the same principles of the original hug machine. Or, you can contact your child’s schoold if they have plans of purchasing one.

The hug machine may not make all your child’s problem  go away but it functions to help your child and others like him better survive in our environment.