Unplugging T
Does anyone have any ideas on how you get a 12 year old who is on the autism spectrum to unplug??? Without the iPad she's already fairly disconnected from the world around her, with it she might as well not even be on the same planet as the rest of us. I'm not kidding when I say this child will spend 12 hours or more with headphones on watching YouTubers play video games and shreek like little girls. Or listening to terrible music while prancing and dancing around the room. She talks back to the screen and screams when they do. These behaviors are bad enough but I can see her brain melting and it's making me crazy. I love this kid and I know the amount of screen time she has isn't good for her (or anyone but especially her.)
She plugged herself in the second she woke up yesterday, 5 hours later I "forced" her to unplug and do something else. She read a book (OMG the horror), we played Clue (which she enjoyed & won) ate dinner with the rest of the family and then played a Wii game with P. She stayed "unplugged" for about 7 hours during that time she asked repeatedly if she could plug back in.
I would love to just unplug the internet but other people in the house use it (some of us work from home and need to remote in.) Plus she is absolutely miserable without it and stubborn to boot. She'll sit and complain loudly about being "BORED" but when activities are suggested, even ones she enjoys, she refuses to participate. Part of what makes this difficult for me is she is not my child, she's P&H's. If Orion was displaying these behaviors the internet would have been completely off limits. But she's not mine and really I don't have much of a say. I've been on vacation and actively trying to keep her unplugged. Today I "forced" her to get dressed, eat, brush her hair and get ready to leave the house. I'm taking her and her sister to Barns & Noble then maybe out to lunch. iPads, pods and headphones will be staying at home. I expect a fit, wish me luck. :(
Any suggestions for gently unplugging would be helpful, I have no problem being a meanie but her parents are sorta softies and that's who I need to appeal to.
She plugged herself in the second she woke up yesterday, 5 hours later I "forced" her to unplug and do something else. She read a book (OMG the horror), we played Clue (which she enjoyed & won) ate dinner with the rest of the family and then played a Wii game with P. She stayed "unplugged" for about 7 hours during that time she asked repeatedly if she could plug back in.
I would love to just unplug the internet but other people in the house use it (some of us work from home and need to remote in.) Plus she is absolutely miserable without it and stubborn to boot. She'll sit and complain loudly about being "BORED" but when activities are suggested, even ones she enjoys, she refuses to participate. Part of what makes this difficult for me is she is not my child, she's P&H's. If Orion was displaying these behaviors the internet would have been completely off limits. But she's not mine and really I don't have much of a say. I've been on vacation and actively trying to keep her unplugged. Today I "forced" her to get dressed, eat, brush her hair and get ready to leave the house. I'm taking her and her sister to Barns & Noble then maybe out to lunch. iPads, pods and headphones will be staying at home. I expect a fit, wish me luck. :(
Any suggestions for gently unplugging would be helpful, I have no problem being a meanie but her parents are sorta softies and that's who I need to appeal to.
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