Screen time?

[Veebs21]

Hi lovelies,

I’m just wondering what parents of autistic children do about screen time. I am fully aware of picking my battles, and also a realist 😂 I have no problems with our 4yo using a tablet and believe it encourages her to use more language and is teaching her lots of things too. Plenty of positives.

However, she really is obsessed with it. It’s the first thing she asks for in the morning and it’s a case of diversion until we feel it’s an appropriate time for her to have it. Given the opportunity, she would sit on it for hours.

I know it’s important for her to be able to use her tablet to chill and remove herself from certain situations when things get too much - we give her time on it when she comes back from nursery too as a way of “unloading” but we don’t really have any proper boundaries in place. Do you, and if so, can you give me an idea of what you allow or how you deal with it?

I just read between 3-5yo should have 0.5-1 hour a day, and… spoiler alert… it’s more than that… 😂

My DC are older but we limit screen time. Monday to Friday outside of using screens for school work or during treatments for a medical condition/physio they can have 1 hour a day. Which, for us/them, is plenty when you take into account clubs and things that they need to do. Weekends are more relaxed so long as it’s not at the expense of other things e.g. sports clubs they go to.

I know others have different rules, but limiting screen time works for us.

I just read between 3-5yo should have 0.5-1 hour a day, and… spoiler alert… it’s more than that…

mine has often had more than that by 5am!

Same. I don't think limited screen time works. I don't allow them out of the house, but I don't limit screen time at all at home.

I used to be so strict with this before just giving in and accepting that the world is a different place to when I grew up and my little boy is autistic and sometimes needs that outlet. I would say screen time for us probably equates to about three hours a day (except nursery days) as he won’t eat without it either. I know people probably judge me but I do plenty with him, like parks, soft plays, trampoline parks, walks, out every day doing something. In the house it’s harder with his limited interest and understanding. We’re trying. We’re dedicated but we won’t stress him out to reach our goals.

anyway, I’m in your camp here.

I hear you on that!!

@Bex268 Yes that sounds familiar. She loves to be outside but we can’t be in parks and playgrounds 8 hours a day! When she’s in the house she’s asking for it constantly and we can only divert attention so long. I’m trying to say no in the mornings before nursery and save it for when she’s home before dinner and then stop after dinner until bed. But weekends are definitely harder to control.

Weirdly at my Mum’s house she’ll never ask for it because she doesn’t associate her house with there being a tablet available.

Do you think your DD would respond to a visual timetable? We used to use one with my DS when he was about the same age.

We made a timetable with the days of the week across the horizontal and then broke every day up into 1-2 hour sections. So eg: Mon 6 to 7am TV time. 7am to 8am get dressed, breakfast. 9am to 12pm nursery.
You can make it on a whiteboard so it can be changed on a weekly basis so you can add in things like 'park 2pm-3pm' etc.
That way she can see what times she's allowed for screen time. We also had a physical timer (like a big egg timer) so I would give countdowns - eg 'OK, you've got 10 more minutes to watch TV' and then set the timer so my DS could see how long he had before he had to transition from watching TV to getting ready for bed etc.

I found I couldn't just go into the front room and turn the TV off. He'd have a massive meltdown.

In terms of hours of screen time, my DS watches a LOT of TV. It's his way of unwinding after school and weekends. He likes to watch nature and history documentaries so I can kid myself that it's actually educational! I think for a lot of our DC, it helps to regulate themselves.

It's also about picking your battles. Sometimes just getting them out of the house to school/nursery is a massive win.

It’s likely that it’s never going to be this easy to control how much screen time she has, it will only get more difficult as she gets older. I think getting a routine in place where she has enough but not loads is important, I wish we had been more intentional about it when ds was younger as it’s a slippery slope. Even at ds’ special school they use screen time so it’s not just at home either.

Toomanyminifigs’ suggestion of a timetable is a good idea. DS’s are teens now but we still have a weekly timetable as it helps them, DS1 and DS3 need to know what is happening. It includes everything that is happening and our meal plan etc. What is included on the timetable has changed over the years e.g. now screen time isn’t timetabled as DS’s can choose when to use their time as long as nothing else is timetabled then.

If DD loves parks and playgrounds do you have sensory equipment at home? Both for inside and, if you have one, the garden. DS1&3 use ours daily to self regulate.

We're in the midst of this at the moment. Our ASD 4yo is OBSESSED with Hey Duggee right now, but he is actually picking up so much from it that it's hard to turn it off (for now, I know this can't carry on). He's expanding his vocabulary, copying the characters, I think understanding the basic concepts of the storylines... all things we were trying to help him with via 1:1 tutoring sessions, but with a billion times more effort. With Duggee he is joyfully, enthusiastically imitating language, dancing, yoga, singing, and all the other stuff we were trying to teach him in - as far as he was concerned - less interesting analogue ways. I'm at least trying to watch and get involved in the episodes with him to anchor some of this in real life experience off the screen.

The best and only way I can tear him away from the screen is by getting him outdoors. It's been a long winter with way too much screen time - spring can't come soon enough!!

I'm a bit strict with tablets for my 4 year old but tv I don't mind at all. They do learn a lot of language from peppa, hey dugee bing thomas tank engine etc. The issue I have with the tablet is that he holds it close to his face.
But during the time he doesn't have tablet I have to play with him otherwise he gets bored.

I should add TV shows helps us a lot in term of social stories. When we were going trick or treating I put the peppa episode to explain or when he had injections we watched the bing episode.

@Zooeyzo I wondered that with Duggee. It may all be coincidence, but since getting so into Hey Duggee our DS has also gone through a nice little leap in increased interest in his peers. I know TV can't do all the work for you, but I'm hoping if you watch with them and get involved it can have its place.

@Scratchybaby I think seeing it helps them a lot. The other one I get told is good for autistic kids is pocoyo or give a mouse a cookie.

@Zooeyzo we've got Give a Mouse a Cookie! I'll have to try that one again as, when we first got it about a year ago, all it did was remind him that he wanted a biscuit 😂Thanks!