Ideas to make the walk to school easier for my autistic four-year-old

[Goodwitchglenda]

Autistic 4-year-old, just starting school, which is a 15 min walk away (for adults, more like twice that for child). I don’t drive though am learning and it’d be a ludicrously short trip even if we had a car. Don’t want to use a buggy and risk him being bullied. Scared to cycle in London. Doesn’t have the motor skills to do a scooter yet (I just end up pushing it).

Just wondering if anyone has any novel ideas for making the walk a bit easier? We are managing by doing social stories and bribing with snacks and playing music but I already know there will be some days where child really fights us on it. Open to anything really! Wondering if there are things I haven’t thought of.

I don’t think we are at the point of asking the local authority for transport but I will if it becomes very challenging.

What about a seated scooter?

A push trike? Do you get DLA? It could pay for a taxi. I know you said short journey.

Pull strap for the scooter? That's the only way I'm managing to get my son home from school.

A picture board, spot the items on the way to school and a scooter on the way home.

Hi @Goodwitchglenda sorry if this is an obvious question, but is the issue mostly the physical element (ie he struggles with the walk itself) or emotional, as in if he's upset/anxious about going to school?

I only ask because my son (now in year 2) is autistic and from nursery up until about mid way through year 1 most of our mornings were HARD due to massive anxiety around separation and transitions. The car was so much worse - he'd fight getting in, he'd fight getting out, it was a nightmare.

Walking was loads better - we had to leave more time and there was a snack involved (which we managed to cut out in year 1) but the fresh air, walking and talking/collecting things/spotting things etc helped him to relax a little bit.

what's he finding difficult? The physical side of it will get easier as he builds more stamina and he gets older.
Could you take a bus or tube?

I'd get him to stand on the scooter while you pull. It's worth getting a decent scooter like a mini micro (even second hand) if you're going to be using it everyday.

If you feel the need to use a buggy then use one.
4 year olds don't care other than maybe a "why are you in a buggy?" question to which you reply "oh his legs get a bit tired sometimes" and they just accept that.

Agree with posters asking if its' an emotional or physical challenge. The physical is about practice and taking time. and I'd suggest that a buggy for some of the route if he's really struggling could help - agree he has to walk for 10 minutes, buggy for 10, then 10 walking. BUt appreciate he might struggle with this if he has ASD and he's only 4.

The thing I found was just giving us enough time. If we were rushing, I would be stressed, he would be stressed etc. Whereas if we had enough time, I didn't care if he was dawdling along.

Also, probably not helpful for you if you dont' have one - taking the dog helped! He was "walking" the dog and liked having him on the lead.

And yes to a scooter that, at a push, you can pull or if you have a three wheel one he can ride it and then, inevitably, when he got tired, Id' carry the schooter and he'd walk.

Do you get dla if you do get a taxi there every day if he will benefit from it you can walk back

At that age we had a balance bike - I’d a bike with no pedals. Can be ridden on the footpath.

We are 15/20 mins from school. My daughter is also 4 and I take her on the buggy board…. But there are PLENTY of reception kids in a buggy! They are so so exhausted at the end of the day. I once got her to walk when I didn’t take my son and it was such a struggle to get home, she’s pretty physically capable and not autistic, I’m sure she’ll get used to walking in time, but until then I’d have no issue with the buggy.

Take the buggy, loads of reception pupils have younger siblings who get booted out for the journey home (or have a buggy board)

I agree with a scooter strap. However does he have any interest in numbers? My DS got so much better at walking once we got him a watch that counts his steps. Suddenly there was a 'point' to the walk to get towards his steps and active minutes total, plus he liked looking at the numbers increase.

Mine liked to play games - I Spy, I went to the market, 1 line stories etc. He got to choose the game.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. It’s not physical, he is super active. It’s the turning left to go the route to school as opposed to doing other fun things. If we were going in a direction he liked he could walk for miles!!!

Yes we do get DLA and we do take taxis when we need to. I think if it became enough of an issue that we were taking taxis regularly we would talk about community transport (we are in a good borough where there are lots of small buses for special needs kids).

Thanks to the mum who said take the buggy. The school were very anti this but even neurotypical kids his age seem to get tired after a while.

The issue with pulling a scooter along is it’s hilly and my back starts to kill after a while!

It’s a bit pointless because it would mean going out of our way to the point where it’s the same distance to get on that mode of transport. However I appreciate you mentioning it because the tube is an obsession so if it really came to it I’d take him to to the tube and we would go one stop to school

Honestly, if he’s obsessed with the tube and a one stop ride is enough to please him I’d be tempted to do it even if it doesn’t save you any time!