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House move & transitions

Liliana81

Hi all, wondered if anyone had any advice/recent experience on moving house with an autistic child? My son is five and has ASD. He struggles with transitions generally but we’ve been trying to at least get him excited about the upcoming move and reassure him that all his favourite things will be in the new house, they’ll all be coming with us. But I don’t think he fully grasps what’s coming and I’m concerned he’s not going to cope very well. Thanks 

  • I am not sure if you are moving locally or a distance. We moved locally when my son was 11, so he was still in the same school.

    He visited the new property with us. We asked to have another viewing so he could see and start to build up a picture. He asked us later about belongings as he had not realised the current owners would be taking their possessions for us to move in. He may be able to discuss where he wants furniture in preparation.

    For us getting the TV and WI Fi sorted early helped. Our internet provider sorted a temporary hub.

    We made sure we had familiar food ready for when we moved and had his room ready first. We were fortunate to get into the property before the day we moved which may not be an option. We put bedding in a bag so it could be quickly transferred to his bed. We also took his lampshade and left a different one. Familiar smells help too if there is anyway you can change that early on.

    When I move house I colour code the boxes and try to pack in areas which speeds up unpacking.

    He did find things which were different a problem for a while. As the odd thing got fixed he became more relaxed. We also tried to keep as much routine as possible and were able to move whilst he was at school.

    I hope your move goes well. If you think of any specific questions happy to advise from our experience. I can say it took a while for my son to settle, but in the end he was very happy. We managed to solve other problems as they occured.

  • Hello ,

    Congratulations on your upcoming move! It may be useful for you to have a look at the following information from the NAS on 'social stories' which can help children with autism to transition: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/communication/communication-tools/social-stories-and-comic-strip-coversations

    I hope this is useful!

    ChloeMod