**3. Conclusions**

The suggestions presented are mostly examples on how everyday life activities and routines can be used to increase the opportunities to improve the ASD child's communicative abili‐ ties and their creative use as an important part of the whole development.

The notion that the family's routine is an important part of the child's developmental envi‐ ronment, however, should not lead parents or other family members to transform it on a permanent training field. The best intentions and the undeniable stress involved in wishing to provide the better developmental opportunities to their ASD child may result on a stress‐ ful and over-stimulating situation. It will probably increase the stress level of the whole fam‐ ily decreasing the opportunities for relaxed, joyful interaction with affectively meaningful persons, which is also very important to the child's development.

The inclusion of parents and other family members in the education and intervention proc‐ esses with ASD children should not be a responsibility attributed just to therapists or educa‐ tors. Families can have an active part in it, by asking questions and demanding for instructions.

However, families can also need a "time-out" when they are not requested to collaborate on any structured activity. Each family should be allowed and encouraged to develop its own coping strategies and supported when a more direct approach is needed.

Groups of parents of children attending the same service or going to the same school can be very helpful in building a supportive network that includes persons that share similar prob‐ lems and may also share some solutions.
