Regulation Rendezvous: Home Base

Problems related to stress and anxiety is common in children and youth with autism. Stress and anxiety in these children is often triggered or results from:

• environmental stressors
• difficulty in predicting outcomes of everyday events and behaviors
• an inherent emotional vulnerability
• misperception of social events
• rigidity in moral judgment that results from a very concrete sense of social justice violations

The stress and anxiety experienced by individuals with autism may manifest as withdrawal, reliance on obsessions related to circumscribed interests or unhelpful rumination of thoughts, inattention and hyperactivity. It may also trigger aggressive or oppositional behavior.

One beneficial intervention involves making the school environment as stress-free as possible by providing a student with a “home base.” Today's Regulation Rendezvous will provide more information on providing this support and examples from around the Miami Valley.

A home base is:

• A place in the school where the student can “escape” both environmental stressors and social demands. The home-base should be quiet with few visual and/or auditory distractions. Activities engaged in this area should be selected carefully to ensure that they are calming rather than alerting. In school, resource rooms or counselors' offices can serve as a home-base.

Vicki Gomes
Miami East Junior High, Miami East

Angela Crum
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Springcreek Primary, Piqua

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Nikki Tinnerman
Kleptz ELC, Northmont

• Regardless of its location, it is essential that the home-base is viewed as a positive environment. Home base is not “timeout” or an escape from classroom tasks. Many teams find incorporating special interests or having the student decorate their home base can help them view the support more positively.

Greene County ESC

Lori Bicknell
Mound Elementary, Miamisburg

• The student can take schoolwork to home base in order to finish the task in a less intense setting. For some teams creating the home base location within the classroom can make it easier for the student to access and limits disruptions to their learning. Typically teams will create the space using visual boundaries such as a study carrel or physical divider.

Wendy Sondergaard
Rushmore Elementary, Huber Heights

Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Beth Young
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

Ashley Holtz
Kleptz Elementary, Northmont

Traci Parker
Forest Elementary, Troy

Jennifer Jette
Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia

Kara Cripe
Smith Elementary, Oakwood

Greene ESC

• Home base may be used at a variety of times within the school day 
• at the beginning of the day
• to preview the day's schedule
• to introduce changes in the typical routine
• to ensure that the student’s materials are organized or prime for specific subjects

• At other times, home base can be used to proactively decrease levels of stress/anxiety by helping students recover from times of day that may be most stressful and difficult to regulate.  For many students with autism, less structured times of the school day such as specials, lunch, recess, or assemblies increase their stress/anxiety due to the increased exposure to sensory stimuli and added social demands.

• Home base can also be used to help a student gain control after a meltdown.

For additional information, visit the Home Base module on the Autism Internet Modules at www.autisminternetmodules.org