Install an Indoor Swing to Stave Off Winter Blues - DIY - Lifehacker
This may sound insane on the surface, but its the exact thing we've done for our 6yo son, who is autistic. We've gone a step further and put a sandbox in the basement, despite the obvious difficulty in keeping such an area clean.
And it is with good reason. Last winter, he suffered a complete meltdown when we returned from our holiday vacation at Marco Island. It took over a month to recover, and even his sleep and therefore educational progress was impacted. We know the issue was having to adjust to winter weather and staying indoors more of the day, compared to the free reign of the beach and sun he had in Florida. While the swing and sandbox (oh, and the "happy light" we also added to the basement) are poor substitutes for true outdoor play, we're hoping that this will be enough to stave off any issues this year.
I'm interested if other parents of autistic children have encountered such issues with seasonal changes (particularly from summer to winter), and what other steps you've taken to mitigate the effects on your child? We were caught completely by surprise and had great difficulty coming up with coping methods on the fly last year.
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