Dental Care Handbook
Dental care is a difficult to deal with aspect of autism, as it relates to many sensory triggers that people on the spectrum experience. In the presence of oral sensitivities, children find it difficult to open mouth, allow a brush inside, use appropriate pressure to brush etc. The resulting lack of oral hygiene causes issues starting from gum infections to dental carries, causes pain, restricts eating, and negatively impacts the overall health of individuals on the spectrum.
Dental issues develop over a period of time when oral hygiene is not maintained. Dental problems also tend to be very painful impacting the mood and behavior of the autistic individual. On top of everything, going to dentist is also a difficult experience for many autistics. Therefore, preventive care becomes very important. The following information is focused on enabling dental care for young children.
Tools included and how to use
This resource includes two types of tools - Social Stories and Visual Lessons.
Social Stories
Social stories are a widely used tool to support autistic children in understanding and navigating everyday situations. These stories are simple, tailored narratives that break down complex behaviors into clear, manageable steps, helping children learn what to expect and how to respond in various settings. Social stories are also used to introduce and reinforce various day to day behaviours.
Social stories can be presented in various formats, including written narratives, pictures, or even videos. They are often read repeatedly to reinforce learning and are most effective when used just before the situation they describe
Visual Lessons
Lessons and activities built around a visual structure like a graphic story book offer several advantages for helping autistic children learn activities of daily living (ADLs) by leveraging their visual learning strengths and providing structured, engaging ways to practice essential life skills.
Here are some ways to use visual lessons.
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Joint Reading and Shared Attention: Read the book together, pointing to pictures and discussing each step. Encourage the child to ask questions or make comments about the story.
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Visual Schedules: Use illustrations from the book to create visual schedules or checklists for daily routines, breaking down complex tasks into manageable steps.
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Role-Playing and Reenactment: After reading, have the child practice the activity by following the sequence shown in the book. For example, after reading a story about brushing teeth, guide the child through the real-life steps using the book as a reference.
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Activities: Select appropriate activities included in the graphic story book and do them with the child.
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Personalization: Optionally, you can customize the books or activities to include the child’s own experiences, familiar people, or specific routines to increase relevance and engagement.
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Repetition and Reinforcement Read the same book multiple times to reinforce learning. Repetition helps children internalize routines and build confidence in performing ADLs independently.
About the activities
All the activities included with the graphic story books are anchored around conversations and discussions, which depend on facilitator's ability to ask the right questions, modify them as necessary and go with the responses. The objective of the activities is to ensure the learner participates and engages along with the facilitator, and not to test the knowledge or to challenge the learner. The nature of the activities, the visuals and the discussions, is such that by engaging in these activities, the learner is bound to learn. Therefore the key is to get the learner's cooperation, participation and engagement. Even if the learner does not respond with completely correct answers, it is likely they will learn to implement the steps in their daily lives.
A note for parents
All parents want their childrren to learn and look forward to that happy moment of learning. However, it is important to remember each child is different and has their own ways of being and responding. We can learn to understand there are and will be differences between parents' expectations and what the child is able to do or demonstrate at any point in time. Please seek help from an expert or the child’s therapist when you are unable to get a desired response from the child or feel stuck at any point.