Mon 14 Dec 2009
With the holidays upon us, selecting suitable gifts can be challenging, especially when the recipient is a child with autism. Parents and gift givers should keep in mind, that every child is unique and will respond differently to certain toys and teaching materials. You can check with your child’s therapist or teacher to determine what’s most appropriate for your child’s needs and interests.
For example, some appropriate toys for 10 year old boys include:
Think Fun Games – http://www.thinkfun.com/
Card games like Scattergories Card Game and Uno
Puzzles games like Rubik’s 360
Learning toys such as the Smart Globe or Geo Safari lap top – http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/browse.asp?cid=3&scid=53&page=-1&partner=google
Lego creator sets or other advanced Lego sets.
Radio control toys: robots, cars, helicopters
Digital cameras and MP3 players
For more toy recommendations, please visit: http://www.autismtherapies.com/PDF/Top_Toys_for_Young_Children_with_Autism_Tip_Sheet.pdf
Mon 7 Dec 2009
Many families will soon experience an increased level of holiday-related anxiety stemming from more than just the usual demands of shopping, cooking, and decorating. The holidays can be stressful for any family, but particularly so for families living with autism. There are unfamiliar social situations, changes in routine and unstructured time off from school, all of which can be stressful and over-stimulating for a child on the autism spectrum. However, there are practical strategies parents can use to lessen children’s anxiety and increase everyone’s enjoyment of the holidays. Suggestions include:
- Decorate the house in gradual stages and allow your child to interact with the decorations, especially flashing lights or musical decorations, which can be disturbing to some children.
- Avoid crowded malls and last minute shopping.
- Wait until just before the holiday to set out gifts. If you put gifts under the Christmas tree, prepare well ahead of time by teaching that gifts are not to be opened without the family there. Practice by giving your child a wrapped box and a reward for keeping it intact.
- When opening gifts as a family, try to pass around an ornament to signal whose turn it is to open the next gift. This will help alleviate disorganization and the frustration of waiting.
- Prepare siblings and young relatives to share their new gifts with others.
- If necessary, consider giving your child a quiet space to play with his/her own gifts, away from the temptation of grabbing at other children’s toys.
- Families should discuss ways to minimize disruptions to established routines and how to support positive behavior when disruptions happen.
- Try behavior support strategies, such as social stories, to help your child cope with changes in routine. Visual supports can help prepare for more complicated days.
- Use a visual schedule if your family will be celebrating the holidays on more than one day, such as Hanukah, to show when there will be parties/gifts and when there will not.
Autism Spectrum Therapies offers a number of tip sheets and other resources for parents on our website.
Mon 23 Nov 2009
As advocates for children and individuals with autism, we need all the insights, information, and assistance that we can absorb. The AST Advocate is designed to be a forum to share those insights, observations, and experiences that will help us in this quest.
One of the best things about our close-knit autism community is our sense of a shared mission. We are all in this together, seeking answers, sharing solutions, and supporting each other through every experience. It is our hope that The AST Advocate will expand and enrich this sense of community, by creating meaningful conversations that will benefit all our readers – parents, physicians, policy-makers, and professionals who work with individuals with autism.
Autism Spectrum Therapies (AST) staff will also share our own thoughts and stories on a regular basis, as well as those of our insightful and informative guest bloggers. Your comments are welcome, and can be submitted below. To ensure that all comments are respectful of others’ opinions, we will review them first prior to posting.
Another goal for The AST Advocate is to provide timely news-you-can-use and practical advice. To this end, AST also publishes regular Parent Tip Sheets with advice on raising your child with autism. You can sign up to receive these monthly tip sheets at www.autismtherapies.com.
