Sensory Friendly Shopping

Teaching children the independent life skill of grocery shopping can be a stressful task for every parent. We've all had our public moments where children scream, run around, grab at grocery items or if you're very unlucky they'll throw a tantrum in the check out queue.

Sometimes there's a reason such as tiredness or hunger, even frustration at their inability to verbalize their emotions or just simply demanding their own way. There is however a much deeper and long term challenge ahead for parents with autistic children. They manage to overcome some obstacles but anything which can reduce the anxiety for them, and their child, in a busy highly sensory environment is a Win Win Win.

Awareness and Understanding.

Autism Awareness has been promoted for a number of recent years but Autism Knowledge and Understanding is now more critical. If we can appreciate how Autism can affect a person in different ways it places us in a better position to act accordingly and be more understanding.

Families are inclusive and it's heartening to see retailers adapt to allow them to shop together.

Local Support

Smith's Supervalu Johnstown began hosting weekly Autism Friendly Shopping Experience every Tuesday evening, 7pm to 9pm.

During this time the bright counter and fridge lights are dimmed, all sounds from machines are noticeably reduced, and the in-store music and PA are switched off. This certainly creates a noticeably calmer environment for anyone affected by sensory issues.

Going One Step Further

More support comes in the form of the Autism Life Skill Friend Trolley (ALF) which is available on request via the Service Desk to assist any child who needs it.

Designed by SuperValu employee Tony O'Donovan and his wife Theresa to enable their own son, and other children, with autism to develop the essential life skill of grocery shopping.

The beauty of this solution is the simplicity and familiar low tech interaction.

Central to the design is a 'Visual Shopping List Panel' with removable images and a collection box. The aim is to lower the child's anxiety where parents can help them build a visual shopping list to provide a familiar focus on the task at hand, with the trolley, and also with the shop. As each grocery item is located and placed in the shopping trolley the child peels off the corresponding image from the list and places it into the 'Finished' box. As the shopping list reduces it provides a gradual sense that the activity is coming to an end. Parents can create and use their own images to personalise and reinforce the experience.

To further help parents each store provides a layout map to help parents plan their route and navigate past areas of different sensory intensities.

ALF designers, Theresa and Tony O'Donovan, display the store layout map within one of over 70 SuperValu Stores now hosting Autism Friendly Shopping Experiences.
Image Source: autismlifeskilltrolley

The Autism Life Skill Friend Trolley can also be very beneficial to people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s where a written shopping list can be attached to the clipboard and ticked off accordingly so that nothing is missed from the list.

Contacts

Autism Life Skill Trolley

Smith's SuperValu, Johnstown

More Local Support Groups

TAG Meath Autism Group

Meath Autism Network

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