Mike is one of those autistics who thrive on routine, but usually his attending skills kind of kill the whole thing as he needs to be constantly redirected. However, he has suddenly made this great developmental leap and is doing so great at these things.

We find that once we teach him a new routine and he has learned it, it really really sticks. Great autism trait in this instance.

The best is laundry. I have had a checklist of all the steps on the laundry machine for a year, but he finally really got it. For the past week I have been teaching him the steps and now he does the laundry by himself nearly perfect. Still needs some help with sorting and if things are not quite right it can throw him off like when the dryer wasn't finished tonight. But over all it is great.

It is a totally different experience teaching a kid with AS to do laudry. For instace, the first night I had to leave the wash room and left him with the list. He didn't understand the soap step because I wrote detergent. Found out later he skipped it and I had to rewash. So when I told him the next night to add soap he was totally dumb founded. "Why do you need soap? It doesn't say that on the list" he skipped detergent because he didn't know what that word meant but it just didn't naturally occur to him that if you are "washing" you must need some sort of soap. lol. I learned my lesson.

However, I am loving that once a routine is really learned for him he sticks to it like clock work. He has become my big helper.

Renee

Lucky Lady - I do all the laundry at my house. But my husband cooks dinner and Max does the dishes every night so guess I can't complain! But having someone else that knows how to do laundry in the family would be nice. Max does a really good job on the kitchen. Maybe we will tackle laundry next. I esepcially like the list idea so you don't have to reteach each time! Linda

I am happy when I learn something new. Once I learn something, it sticks, but it has taken me a while to learn new things.

Renee...I just read your post. I think it's great how Mike has tackled the laundry. I've been trying to have my Mike do laundry for quite sometime now. He's 15 and at that "whatever" stage. I honestly think if I didn't do his laundry, he'd just re-wear his clothes (gross!!).
I do his laundry, fold it, and sort it on his bed. He once actually put it back in the hamper instead of putting it away. That happened only ONCE! He is really good at helping out with Harry and he also does the dishes, so I take what I can get. I think I'll try the list in the laundry room as well. GREAT FOR YOUR MIKE!!!!!