Autistic children often struggle with many aspects of everyday life.
In this post, I will show you over seven benefits of being outdoors and how it can help your autistic child.
You will learn how your child can spend outdoors, what activities you can choose for them and why they benefit your Autistic child’s development.
We live in a world where children spend so much time indoors and in front of screens. It may cause anxiety, obesity, social development and communication delays.
Our children live in a different world from ours.
We used to play outside all the time until being called home for dinner.
We made great memories by playing with leaves and rocks, kicking a ball and riding a bicycle.
Research shows that children living in areas with fewer green spaces show a higher prevalence of autism.
This post will show you that being outdoors promotes: communication, emotion, cognition, interaction, physical activity and well-being, among many others.
7+ Reasons being outdoors can help your Autistic child
1. Spending time outdoors can support your Autistic child’s well-being and health and help with anxiety and stress
Being outdoors has been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety.
Research shows that images of nature can be soothing and reduce negative feelings.
Being indoors often causes lots of stress and imposes social and sensory demands.
People with autism often experience anxiety.
Many different sources of information are available, but they are all consistent: research shows that anxiety is common for autistic people.
Anxiety in people on the ASD spectrum might be caused by demanding social expectations and difficulty navigating them.
Taking your child outdoors might help them decrease their cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
When they are outside, they can feel “free” and connected with nature, and by being active, they can improve their well-being.
Being outdoors means that your child can get some sun.
Very often, autistic children spend their time indoors without experiencing the daylight outside.
It can reduce their vitamin D intake.
The sun is a natural source of vitamin D, and it is challenging to find it in food. Vitamine D deficiency can cause bone, muscle and teeth problems and also affect mood.
People with low vitamin D levels can feel tired, sad and hopeless.
Being outdoors reduces anger, stress and fear, blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension.
2. Being outdoors helps meet your Autistic child’s sensory needs.
Autistic people often experience problems with sensory processing.
Most people will have moderate responses to what their senses experience.
When these responses are extreme, sensory processing will start interfering with daily life and become a sensory processing disorder.
Sensory processing disorder is a condition that makes someone experience greater sensitivity to how smoothly sensory information is processed.
Autistic children very often might be overstimulated, finding it hard to tolerate different sounds, smells, lights or textures.
They might also look for some sensory input more than others, always seeking their favourite scents, textures or sounds.
Being outdoors can help regulate their sensory processing and provide them with the sensory experiences they need.
It may also offer an escape from places indoors where the sensory input is just too overwhelming for them.
They might prefer to avoid being in busy, noisy areas or small and dark rooms.
Being outside and active, they can regulate their sensory experiences themselves.
Nature can create a therapeutic, stimulating environment and help decrease autistic sensitivity.
For example, a walk in the woods can source so many sensory inputs.
Your child can watch trees, leaves, and birds, listen to the wind blowing or birds singing, smelling the trees and earth.
They can pick up pine cones and leaves and feel their textures.
They can feel the rain on their face.
It can be an experience that would be difficult to replicate in a specially built sensory room.
3. Spending time outdoors can strengthen your Autistic child’s executive functions
Being outdoors supports developing Executive functions.
You can learn what they are reading in my post here.
Lots of children (and adults) with Autism struggle with executive functions.
They may find it challenging to manage time, start and complete a task or put themselves in someone else’s shoes.
It all has to do with executive function disorder.
Two of the principal executive functions are organising and planning and inhibitory control.
Playing or being outdoors can help with organising and planning.
It can be done with activities like sorting objects of nature (leaves, rocks) or grouping them by colours or shapes.
Even an obstacle course on a playground will make your child estimate and asses their way through it, supporting this part of executive functioning.
Your child can strengthen inhibitory control when being outdoors.
Through taking risks, they may have to stop themselves before doing something dangerous, for example.
Your child may think twice before jumping from a very high tree branch or picking up a spiky branch- an example of exercising inhibitory control.
Being outdoors helps with other executive functions and cognitive skills like reasoning skills, awareness of danger or situational awareness.
It can also Increase attention span and help develop observational skills.
4. Being outdoors improves motor skills and promotes physical activity
Some studies found that many children with Autism have poor gross motor skills, which influences their social skills.
They are less likely to participate in sports and games with other children, so they have fewer chances to develop their social skills.
Children with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) find movement challenging very often.
They may have trouble controlling and coordinating their body movements.
They may also struggle with fine motor skills linked to cognitive abilities and attention development. Think about all those movements, actions, and sequences that require coordination- it might be a big challenge for your little one.
Think also about hand-eye coordination involved in your daily activities: cooking, driving, or typing.
To learn more about it, read here about gross motor skills and here about fine motor skills.
Freedom to move comes from outdoors, improving gross and fine motor skills.
All the running, jumping, balancing, grabbing or pulling are examples of how your child can improve their motor skills.
Spending time or playing outdoors also Improves the vestibular system (balance) and proprioceptive system (self-awareness, spatial awareness, and spatial skills).
Autistic children often have problems with these systems, so offering them a safe environment to climb, balance, and move over different levels and surfaces in a fun and playful way and with friends improves their development.
Being outdoors, your child will improve their coordination and balance and agility.
5. Spending time outdoors supports social interactions and helps with communication.
Autistic children often struggle with social interactions and making friends.
They find it navigate social situations and often feel lonely and isolated.
Spending time outdoors can be an excellent opportunity to meet new friends.
Playgrounds, parks, outdoor sports and groups can offer a great environment and a chance to socialise.
Many of these activities involve practising turn-taking, which autistic children often struggle with.
The more opportunities they have to practice these social skills, the better.
Outdoor group activities also involve a chance to collaborate, negotiate and work in a team, so it is an excellent opportunity for your Autistic child to grow confident in social situations.
6. Being outdoors boosts your Autistic child’s confidence and self-esteem.
Playing and learning outdoors can help your child gain new skills.
They might be, for example climbing higher than they thought they would, building something out of sticks or recognising plants or birds.
These newly gained skills will give your child confidence and independence.
They will boost their self-esteem.
Very often, autistic children struggle with self-esteem, thinking they are not good enough or feeling isolated and different.
Achieving new goals and completing new experiences while being outdoors can help with their Self-esteem.
Taking on challenges and taking risks when playing outdoors will help them with their sense of achievement and boost their confidence.
7. Spending time outdoors helps with their learning.
Children with autism struggle with classroom-based learning.
The environment might be overstimulating for them, and social demands (answering questions and interacting with others) might be too demanding.
Learning outdoors might be more meaningful and enjoyable for them.
Research shows that children learn better outdoors and are free to explore.
Let’s analyse Forest Schools’ example, where children can explore and choose what they want to do.
They learn by experiencing, being hands-on, inquiring, and solving problems.
It ensures that their learning is more effective and meaningful.
In forest schools, children take active control and have power over what to learn.
They play all day outdoors regardless of the weather; this is how they are close to nature.
Children there are allowed to learn by choosing their activities (climbing trees, digging in the mud) and to get to know themselves, building their confidence and self-awareness.
Being outdoors engages children physically and using all their senses.
Based on my experience working with autistic children, I know they prefer to play outside rather than be in a classroom.
Some could spend hours outdoors, running, jumping, and playing with water for example.
The symbol “outside” in their timetables or Now and Next boards Is always the highlight of their day.
Learning outdoors in groups, children can collaborate, solve problems and find practical applications for their learning.
They will learn by judging risks and obstacles on uneven terrain, estimating, and evaluating by themselves.
They can also learn how to take care of nature and increase their awareness of climate change.
More reasons why being outdoors can help your Autistic child.
Being outdoors can also help your child get healthy by getting dirty!
We all need bacteria to help our immune systems be strong.
Autistic children often suffer from digestive or gut problems.
These problems can sometimes come from issues with good bacteria in their gut.
Getting muddy sometimes might not be that bad.
Also, I believe that being outdoors and with animals, for example, walking a dog or visiting a farm, can help your child with more focused attention, social interaction, positive emotion and speech.
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Outdoor activities your Autistic child can try:
Gardening/horticulture
Bushcraft
Walks
Outdoor sports
Camping / Playing in a tent
Picnic
Going to the beach
Playing in the garden or backyard
Drawing with chalk on the pavement/sidewalk
Planting trees
Obstacle course
Treasure hunt
Feeding birds, making feeders, birdwatching
Going to parks, woodlands, playgrounds
Walking the dog
Working with tools
Looking for worms
Safety first
Remember that safety comes first.
You know your child best, and you know what can trigger them, scare them or to what degree they are aware of the danger.
Always be vigilant and gradually adjust the activities to their level of awareness of risk.
Remember to supervise your child, especially near water or when swimming.
Be aware of plants or small objects that your child may ingest.
Some autistic children have pica, a condition/disorder in which a person eats non-edible things.
Remember suncream, a sun hat, or a raincoat if the weather is unpredictable.
Actually, there is no such thing as bad weather, and it is also a book title that promotes the idea of children spending time outdoors.
How can you make it work?
Introducing your child to outdoor activities will depend on what your child enjoys and like to do.
Remember to consider their sensory preferences, especially the sounds, textures, images or smells that cause them distress.
Children with autism often struggle with transitions.
They might need help to end an activity and do something else.
A timer like this one might come in handy.
Explain to your child what the activity involves, what is expected and how long it will take.
You can use social stories or Now and Next boards to do this.
Giving your child reminders before the end will also help transition to the next activity.
Read my post about how to communicate with your autistic child here.
Having a plan b or some backup toys is also a good idea if something goes wrong.
You can also bring their favourite toys out. Playing with the same things in a different
environment creates new learning opportunities.
I hope you can get inspired today and try to encourage your Autistic child to spend more time outdoors.
Let me know in the comments what is your child’s favourite outdoor activity!
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