Have you ever picked wild mushrooms? You would pick only good ones, not the poisonous ones. Because autism is an umbrella diagnosis, when you search online, you will find a lot of stuff that doesn’t apply to you. You will also find stuff that makes you anxious. Just pick stuff that your child needs and don’t let the rest bother you.

Many of the materials that are on the market can be replaced with simple tools you can find at your house. Get creative. For example, to work on auditory focus, get a cardboard box with assorted objects in it: a sock, a book, an apple, a mug and a couple of markers. Give your child three-step directions like “Put a red marker in a mug, open the book on page 37 and then jump three times”. You won’t get a better attention-building tool for any money.

You will find yourself constantly searching for play dates and playdate partners. Birthday parties are a great source. Go to all of them and chat with other parents. Make friends with them. By the way, you will see that many of them have their own problems to work on with their children. You will see you are not alone.

Determine what type of a learner your child is. Many kids prefer visual materials. Some kids respond better to video instructions; for some, video is too fast, they prefer pictures. Meet her where she is.

Look for resources and tools that are specific to your child’s needs of the day. Type a specific issue in the Google or Amazon search box. Generic and unspecific instructions will not work.