The Caregivers Corner: Grocery Shopping with Your Special Needs Child

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by Merely Me
Monday, January 04, 2010

In addition to social stories it is also helpful to give your child something to do when he or she is in the store. This is a chance to teach skills of daily living and or academic skills such as reading and math. I like to use a visual grocery list for Max with pictures of things like "two apples" and "three green peppers." You can work on counting and number and color words this way. Another skill to teach at the grocery store nowadays is how to use the self check-out. This will teach a number of skills including reading and money skills. But then again by using such a service your child will be missing out on the human interaction inherent in checking out in a regular line. My son has met some exceptionally nice people who work at the grocery store and go out of their way to try to engage him in conversation. I feel it gives him a sense of community and belonging that people recognize him and know his name.

One last tip I will share is that it is far easier to go food shopping with your child when the store is not so crowded. The most crowded times for supermarkets that I have found are on the weekends and weekday afternoons near dinner time. We avoid these times of day like the plague.

Now it is your turn! How do your supermarket outings generally go with your child? What special challenges do you encounter? What strategies have you used to make the process a more easy going and less stressful time? We like hearing from you!