Even if you use parental controls, some children with additional needs might need further intervention. This could look like clearer transition times, giving children more ownership of their screen time or providing alternatives that they enjoy.
For some children with additional needs, it’s less about enforcement of screen time limits and more about predictable screen time changes.
Your child might benefit from support with:
Understanding the tools you use to manage screen time;
Why managing screen time is important;
How they can manage their own screen time;
Exploring a range of digital activities.
Creating predictable routines
Routines can help your child ease into screen time limits a little easier. If they know when they can use their devices and when they can’t, the arguments become less likely.
For some children with additional needs, this could mean including both visual and verbal reminders around screen use.
Explore recommendations below for creating screen time routines to find something that works best for your family.
As a family, decide on when, where and how devices can be used. Write it all down, have everyone sign it and display it somewhere visible. All children and adults must follow this agreement. You can use this template to help you.
With your child, set aside specific times for device use (or use of specific apps and games). For example, if they get home at 4 PM, they can play Roblox until 4:30 PM. Then, it’s time for homework.
Some children with additional needs benefit from concrete times for tasks. You could create a timetable and display it.
As a part of the digital agreement or sensible schedule, set up timers. This could be through timers on an online search that you set manually. Or you can set up routines through your family’s smart speaker which automatically cycles through the schedule you’ve agreed on.
Timers your child can hear or see are best for keeping them on schedule.
Even if you have a routine and display timers, some children will still need 10 minute and/or 5 minute warnings from you.
Work with your child to decide on what these reminders look like and whether they’re useful.
If you’re introducing new routines, habits or agreements, remember to have patience and take your time. Reducing screen time can often lead to arguments, but it’s important to keep going.
Start with small changes (e.g. instead of reducing screen time by hours, start with reducing it by 5 or 10 minutes. Gradually increase until you reach your goal).
Curating off-screen experiences
When trying to get your child to take screen time breaks altogether, conflict can happen when there’s nothing to fill the space.
Use the suggestions below to help support off-screen activities.
When transitioning from devices to off-screen activities, some children might benefit from engaging in their favourite sensory activity away from screens.
This could include a dark, quiet room or going out to jump on the trampoline. Consider what your child enjoys most and support them.
As a part of your digital agreement or screen time schedules, make sure you add off-screen activities to the mix.
This could include things like arts and crafts but also going to the park, walking the dog or watering flowers in the garden.
If your child has been using devices for most of their life, they might not know how to do off-screen activities independently. So, create times to do things together such as playing board games, going to the shop or reading books.
When switching from screen time to off-screen time, start with the thing they enjoy most. This could be anything without devices — from having their favourite snack to spending twenty minutes kicking the football around.
You know your child best, and you can also talk with them about what this might be.
Children who have grown up on devices will find it a lot harder to entertain themselves without tech. A child with additional needs might need further support with this. Remember that encouraging more off-screen activities will be hard at first, but the more you enforce it, the more normal it becomes.
Customising screen time environments
Using physical boundaries at home and on the go can help children with additional needs associate screen time with specific areas. This could then help some children transition more easily and with less repeated input from their parent or carer, which can sometimes lead to conflict.
Find a tool or strategy below that can work for your family.
Create a visual map or written agreement around where your family can use devices and display it in a shared area as a reminder. It’s best to do this together.
Screen-free zones could include bedrooms or kitchen table.
Use screen time settings on devices, in apps and through WiFi to help maintain boundaries and screen time environments.
If your child is older, include them in the decisions around screen time limits.
Before bed, at mealtimes or during other screen-free moments, have everyone in your family put their devices in the charging station. This is a visual cue that everyone is following the rule, which can help your child feel a sense of fairness.
Avoid asking about triggers and experiences when your child is dysregulated. Wait for them to feel calm again and then talk about what happened.
Were there any cues they missed? Did they experience something new? Check-in regularly and update any systems you’ve created if you need to.
Whether you use settings, physical blockers or written agreements, regularly review what is and isn’t working. But just remember to give new routines and agreements time.
A week might not be enough time to decide if an agreement is working, but a month could. Track changes over time to keep a record of what is and is not working for your family.
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