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Helping your child with autism wear a face mask

painting face masks
Vitalxchange Members

Helping your child with autism wear a face mask

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Face masks can be difficult for any child to wear.  However, children with autism or sensory issues, it can be especially difficult.

It is clear that we will need to wear masks for a while, especially those that are especially susceptible to viruses.  We asked our parents what worked for them and created this infographic and a resource list for you!

Helping your kids with autism wear masks
Helping Your Kids with Autism Wear Masks 1. This is a new skill for kids: Think of this as your kids learning a new skill. Presume competence, meaning that your child understands much more than they let on. Start by telling your child in simple, age appropriate language why we need to wear masks. User social stories. 2. Model it for your child: Model the mask for your child so they don’t feel alone. Practice at home at first. Wear masks together. Look in the mirror and talk about it. 3. Create Happy Associations: Start by doing something fun with your child with both wearing masks. Show your child pictures of other children wearing masks. Make the mask more personalized by drawing or ironing on a decal of your child’s favorite character. Draw a mask on your child’s favorite book character. Put a face mask on your child’s favorite stuffed animal or doll. 4. Experiment for Comfort: Experiment with your child to see what is a comfortable fit and fabric. Sew buttons onto a hat and hook the face mask to the buttons on the hat so it doesn’t hurt the ears. Secure the back of the mask in a fun harness to create extra room.

Get a tutorial from experts: Video on Wearing Masks

Make your own masks instructions:

Autism Sensory Friendly Face Mask

Kid Mask Template

For those children that are deaf or hard of hearing or rely on facial expressions and reading lips

How to Make an Accessible, Deaf-Friendly Mask

7 Clear Face Masks for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People, Interpreters and Teachers

Resources for new skill building – Social Story: We Wear Masks – A Social Story about the coronavirus

Resources for creating happy associations: Sesame Street video helps kids with autism learn to wear a mask

Hear directly from autistic kids: Face Masks

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What you get:

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  3. Access to specialists that can help answer questions on specific child development topics 


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