Do People with Autism Manage Time Well?

Managing time properly is an essential skill that everyone needs to possess. In fact, it’s one of the main skills necessary to promote independence.

Everyone from children to adults need to manage their time well, so they can do everything from complete a test in school to ensure that high-pressure deadlines are met at work.

People who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may face significant challenges in managing their time well. In fact, many people with autism require special accommodations at school or at work to help them compensate.

While people on the autism spectrum may struggle with time management, it’s a skill that they can build and improve with the right support, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy).

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the reasons why people with autism struggle with time management, as well as what can be done to help them improve this essential skill.

Table Of Contents

Why Do People with Autism Struggle with Time Management?

There are various factors that can potentially contribute to a person with autism struggling with time management. Some studies have suggested that a difference in the autistic brain in relation to executive functioning plays a factor, while others have suggested that people with autism have an altered perception of time compared to their neurotypical peers.

Those are high-level scientific explanations of why people with autism might struggle with time management.

Some other more practical examples include …

• Distractions: People who have ASD are often more easily distracted. They may become hyper focused on a task or on one of their special interests, which can make them easily lose track of time.
• Routine: Individuals with autism not only thrive on routine, but they often have trouble anticipating that everything won’t be perfect all the time. This might result in them not leaving enough extra time to travel to work, for example, to compensate for traffic.
• Perfection: Many autistic individuals strive to be perfect. They want to do everything the absolute best they can at all times. While this is certainly a good trait to have, it can also stand in the way of proper time management.

Can People with Autism Improve Their Time Management Skills?

Luckily, time management is a learned skill. So, despite the fact that ASD may cause unique challenges for individuals on the autism spectrum, they can learn to build the skills necessary so they can manage their time well.

ABA therapy, which is considered the gold standard of treatment options for children on the autism spectrum, can help build these skills in many different ways.

One of the core strategies of ABA therapy is teaching skills by breaking tasks down into smaller, individual steps. This often helps children with ASD more easily grasp complex concepts, since they can more easily manage individual steps.

This principle can also be applied to help improve time management skills. Focusing on individual steps can make large tasks much more manageable and less overwhelming.

Establishing a routine that is clear and consistent is also very helpful for individuals with ASD to help them manage time well. This is a strategy that is used in ABA therapy as well.

Creating predictable routines is something that is very beneficial to individuals with autism, because the structure it creates helps to reduce anxiety. From a time management perspective, you can create a routine that works for you, helping keep you on task and even incorporating set breaks.

Visual aids are also very helpful for individuals with autism. It’s something that ABA therapists use quite often as prompts to indicate it’s time for patients to do certain things. They can also be used to keep individuals on track, such as having picture schedules or even charts.

These visual aids can also incorporate things such as a start and end time for individual tasks, as well as deadline times for things throughout your day.

 

Blue Gems ABA Helps Children with ASD Build Essential Skills

People with autism may struggle to manage their time well, due to the many different symptoms of their ASD. That being said, time management is a skill that can be taught and improved over time.

At Blue Gems ABA, our team of therapists help children with autism build a variety of essential life skills through administering ABA therapy on a one-to-one basis. We craft individual ABA therapy plans that are customized to each child’s unique strengths and challenges, which helps them be more successful.

To learn more, please contact us today.