Just a quick note before Halloween! 

This feast is one of the many feasts introduced to Malta through our influences, including media and pop culture. This piece is not being published to discuss if the feast is good or bad or if it’s ok to trick or treat or not. Instead, this piece is to raise awareness on the following. 

1. If your child does not want to wear a costume, it’s ok. Textures and costume colours might be an issue for some children. 
2. If your child is looking forward to Halloween, take a picture of them in the costume before and create a social story to help them understand the feast and what they will be doing. 
3. If you live in an area that gets frequent trick-or-treaters, you may want to hang a sign on the front door that says that your home environment is Autism Friendly, if you do not want any visitors, do the same.
4. Remind children that the decorations and sounds are not real; they are just things people do to celebrate this holiday. 
5. Be prepared that the child might get uncomfortable during this experience, have headphones, earplugs and fidgets handy. 
6. Not all children have the same fine motor development; some might grab candy in a funny way and manipulate them differently. 
7. Offer different kinds of candy if you’re going to give any at all. 
8. Some kids take a long time to decide what piece of candy they want; offer options but maybe not too many. Also, children with motor planning issues might find decision-making difficult. 
9. You might not get a please or thank you; you might also not have children shouting trick or treat at the top of their lungs. These children might be non-verbal. 
10. Non- Verbal children could also use signs attached to their costumes rather than saying trick or treat; others might want to learn how to sign the sentence or prepare a Trick or Treat tab in their communication devices. 
11. Be patient with children, be kind and make ALL children comfortable. 

There are a lot of resources online to help you create social stories or signs that help your kid communicate on Halloween. If you would like any help always remember that you can reach out and we can have a chat 😀