Play for Children with Autism

Most of us have limited time to spend looking for the kinds of toys and activities that will help to develop the children in our care. When my second son was diagnosed with autism, I spent a lot of time looking for suitable toys for children with autism. I was looking for activities to entertain him and stimulate his development in particular his play and interactive skills but it was really hard to find them.

I worked hard and built up my collection of toys for autistic children and activities and my knowledge of how to employ them. I soon realised that I was not alone in finding it difficult and that other parents of autistic children would also benefit from a one-stop parent friendly shop or catalogue to get both advice and resources to help their children develop their language and play skills. This led to the launch of sensetoys.com a website packed with products and ideas for parents and carers of all young children but especially those with special educational needs.

The range of products includes thick wooden jigsaw puzzles with large chunky pieces and simple non-stylised pictures, lovely fabric shaped beanie bags to teach shapes and colours in a fun and tactile way, large chunky tactile shapes with big holes to encourage threading activities, cause and effect toys such as the wooden Jumping Shapes game, the Waggy Garden with its slanted posting panel so a child can see the shaped holes more easily and of course lots of tactile sensory balls such as the squirmy wormy ball.

Sensetoys helps parents find and choose which toys they need, explains how to use them and why they can work so that parents and children get the most from each product. So if you're looking for help to get started, visit www.sensetoys.com.

Lesley established SenseToys after many fruitless searches for toys and activities to help with the special needs of her two sons – her eldest suffered a language delay through glue ear and her second son Edward has an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

As a parent, the early stages of learning about and coming to terms with even the mildest of special needs are extremely difficult and stressful times. One of the greatest frustrations is identifying practical ways to help your child – whilst climbing a very steep learning curve in terms of understanding the problem, including learning about whole new areas of health and education provision which most parents never encounter, there is the overwhelming desire to want to be able to do something practical.

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Autism Signs and Symptoms - Play

Whereas an average toddler might play with several toys in rapid succession, an autistic child will often fixate on one toy for long periods of time or only play with one particular toy. Children with autism will often play with toys unpredictably. For example, three very common play-traits are lining up objects, fixating on a minor mechanism of a toy such as staring at a spinning wheel of a toy car and destructive play like peeling off decorative stickers. Most children with autism will not engage in play that is obviously imaginative. This can be hard to pick up on its own, because children with autism often do not have much speech and rarely seek out playmates (or you) to play with. Another autistic behavior that can look like play is waving hands and fingers in front of the eyes.

Another recognizable sign of autism in young children is the way they move when playing. Some kids seem to transition from toddling to track star/gymnast. They run, jump, hang and swing like little adults. Children with autism are often weak and uncoordinated, with poor muscle strength, balance, an immature running gait, and delayed gross and fine motor skill development. Because of this, they often do not engage in running games or climb around on the monkey bars. It is quite common to find an child with autism standing alone and flapping his/her hands and arms rather than engaging in typical playground play. One very common manifestation is an inability to go up and down stairs without support. Look at how you and typical children climb stairs - continuous and smooth, with one foot per stair and no need to hold a hand rail. Autistic children often use an immature and choppy two foot per stair gait and depend heavily on hand rails for stability. Climbing stairs is so done so frequently that it is a good way to measure your child's progress as they begin to conquer their autism. However, they may need significant help from a physical or occupational therapist before they master this task.

Somewhere around the age of 3-4 years, most kids will begin to play with other children rather than playing separately but side-by-side. Children with autism commonly lack the social skills necessary to initiate or engage in cooperative play and subsequently do not develop typical cooperative play behaviors.

Little kids love to show and tell. They thrive on shared enjoyment and seem to want to teach their parents in the same way they are taught. A normal kid may look up at the sky and point to an airplane with a joyful "AIRPLANE" or something similar. Autistic children often do not exhibit any shared enjoyment or exhibit a need to "teach" or "show" their parents.

Whether you are new to autism or an experienced parent /caregiver, it is VERY important to learn to recognize the sign and symptoms of autism and ASDs. It will help you to understand your child's strengths and limitations and is a critical skill when observing your child's progress towards recovery. To learn more about recognizing the signs and symptoms of autism, and about an effective approach to treating autism, go to http://www.ConquerAutism.com

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Why is Play Therapy Important For Autistic Kids?

Just like ordinary kids, autistic kids love to play and they love toys as well. Before commencing play therapy, we need to build up rapport and trust as well as to arouse their interest to play. Dad and mom are the most suitable persons to start with their children, not only the time spent together is indeed joyful but help to achieve the purpose of play therapy. Moreover, the opportunity to play together can help to increase their language skills. This is the great opportunity for both parents and children with special needs, just that parents need to put in extra effort to plan this play therapy.

The importance of playtime needs not over-emphasized, it is through this time that they learn motor coordination, develop skills to handle toys, learn skills to interact with his playmates, build up self-confidence, etc. Needless to say, playtime give kids the opportunity to pick up their social, emotional and physical developments. Also, choosing the suitable playtime activities can help to stimulate their language skills besides giving them enough fun.

Followings are the suggestions to start with play therapy:

Correct environment for play therapy: start with an appropriate decoration, such as play mat helps to define the play area, minimal distractions of sounds and visuals such as radio and TV, certainly gives them comfortable feel to play.

Deciding right time for play therapy: always pick the right time when they are not exhausted or needing nap hours, better still to start after nap hour or when fresh. While playing, if they become bored or tired with these games, it is no point pushing them to continue, Also, in the beginning, is better to have shorter playing session says five to ten minutes and several of these short sessions spread out in a day. This way, not only helps to arouse their interest to continue playtime, it contributes to lengthen their attention spread.

Picking new toys: is always good to start with plays or games that they are more interested with, and works up slowly to include toys that help to develop cognitively.

Be flexible: learning from playtime is not necessary only at structured play sessions, it can be flexible while shopping, driving in the car, baking cakes or cookies, cleaning up the house, folding clothes, etc.

Lastly, let them initiate: since our roles are more of supportive one, we should consider to let them initiate their moves, leave them playing unless they want us to participate, or choosing their choice of games during play therapy.

Click here to read more about Play Therapy.

Click here to find out about other Treatment Alternatives.

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10 Great Activities For Autistic Children

Sometimes trying to come up with activities for autistic kids that will be fun, educational and not cost a lot can be a struggle. So it's reassuring to know that there are a number of possibilities out there, it's just a matter of finding some that will appeal to your child's personal tastes. The following are examples of popular activities for autistic children between the ages of 7 and 11.

Indoor Activities:

- Singing - autistic children gain a number of benefits from singing. Children who are non-verbal can hum, make sounds, or play musical instruments such as whistles, tambourines, drums, kazoos, or small keyboards. Repeating sounds, making up new tunes, or even learning educational lyrics can be very useful for helping kids to learn and may also provide them some much-needed sensory stimulation - the same they would get from yelling, only more pleasing to the parental ear! Mimicking one another's notes and tunes can be an important social experience that encourages interaction. Experiment with different sounds and different types of music to find the ones your child enjoys and responds best to.

- Funny Sounds - making and mimicking funny sounds can be a laughter-filled social learning experience for autistic kids and their parents. Children enjoy the sensory outlet and repetition element of this game. You can try writing down a number of different animals or items on different pieces of paper and whichever you choose you have to make the appropriate noise.

- Castles - building castles out of just about anything can be a great deal of fun. The type of building "blocks" depends on the motor skills of the child. It can range from plastic or wooden alphabet blocks to large "Lego" or "Duplo" style blocks, or even playing cards if they're manually dexterous.

- Safe Emergencies - these games are educational based but can also be fun to. They involve enacting the right procedures for what to do in an emergency event. This includes what to do in case of fire and other urgent situations. The important part of these games is to build a calm routine around them.

- Simple Board Games - Begin with simple or basic board games and increase the difficulty level as your child gets older and learns how to work with the rules of the games. Many board games are enjoyable activities for autistic kids because they are relatively predictable and provide a routine. They also encourage turn taking, but make sure losing is never a big deal, it's just an outcome. Otherwise they may associate negative emotions with the game and refuse to play.

Outdoor Activities:

- Simple Childhood Games - think back to your childhood and the games you used to play. For many children there's no reason why they can't take part in basic childhood games. As long as they are not too socially complex, many autistic children can have a lot of fun playing games such as tag or follow the leader. Keep in mind that the best activities for autistic children don't require them to keep close or extended physical contact with other people. You may want to make sure that you stick to games that focus on your child's unique skills to add comfort and confidence to the playing.

- Organized Sports - many children enjoy taking part in organized sports like any other children their age. Aim for sports that allow them to take part without too much sensory stimulation and that doesn't require lots of equipment. Golf and baseball are good activities for autistic kids, whereas sports such as tackle football may not suit.

- Water Balloons - autistic children can often benefit from various sensory stimulators and water balloons can fit the bill. Tossing them about, or holding and squishing them can be lots of fun. This also encourages children to play with others when it comes to games such as "hot potato" - tossing the water filled balloon to one another pretending it's a hot potato.

- Skipping Rocks - if you are fortunate enough to live near water and your child is responsible around water, skipping rocks can be a great way to have fun and use arm muscles, encouraging the development of motor skills. If you have a swimming pool that is large enough, you can try skipping plastic floating disks instead.

- I Spy - whether trying to pass the time in the car or sitting in the yard, this game is a great way to learn colors socially interact with others.

These activities for autistic children are a great way to have fun, learn important lessons, and develop basic social skills without spending the earth.

Grab your free copy of Rachel Evans' brand new Autism Newsletter - Overflowing with easy to implement methods to help you and your family find out about fun activities for autistic children.

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Autism and the Importance of Play

Children have been learning through play for millions of years. In my opinion most children learn best through play, including children with autism.

Play is extremely important to children with autism, even though they typically have a difficult time understanding the concept of play. The reason is because play is an abstract concept and children with autism are generally more concrete thinkers. In addition, play involves an intense level of communication and eye contact, something children on the spectrum typically have a hard time maintaining.

At the beginning of the school year 2010- 2011, my assignment was teaching a classroom of children with multiple disabilities. There were seven children and they were all of Kindergarten age. Three met the diagnostic criteria for autism. Two of the seven were non-verbal. Three were only partially verbal. The remaining two were verbal but with autism-like verbal skills which included an inability to understand abstract questions or answer "W" questions or who, what, when, where and why.

Reason Number One: Play is important to children with autism because it teaches reciprocity.

Children with autism have a hard time understanding the give and take action of reciprocity, as well as the eye contact which usually goes along with the reciprocity. They tend to play by themselves as a way to isolate themselves, often engaging in self-soothing behavior. This year I witnessed a six-year-old with autism experience her first experience with initiating play be making the simple gesture of "Come chase me." To see her laughter as she understood the concept of initiating play was remarkable.

Reason Number Two: Play is important to children with autism improves communication skills.

Whether it be verbal or non-verbal communication, play naturally increases communication skills because children have to communicate in order to get what they want. Even if the activity is independent, as in each child having their own play doh and tools, or their own sensory bin, they naturally want to talk with each other about what they are doing.

In the case of the child above, we found she does better with silent forms of communication rather than speech. Instead of saying "Throw me the ball," I found it better to simply hold out my hands and wait for her to throw it. It took me time to learn this and also to learn to give the appropriate amount of wait time.

Reason Number Three: Play is important to children with autism improves the ability to think abstractly.

Children with autism tend to be concrete thinkers making imagination difficult. What comes naturally to some children, such as playing with baby dolls or in the housekeeping area, has to be taught explicitly to children with autism.

Reason Number Four: Play is important to children with autism promotes friendships.

Play promotes friendships by creating bonding and communication experiences between children. As children play together, they develop a fondness for each other through laughter and sharing.

Reason Number Five: Play is important to children with autism promotes bonding between caregiver/teacher and child.

Getting down on the floor to play, dancing and singing, running around in the gym, chasing children around on the playground equipment - all of these things promote bonding between the teacher/caregiver perhaps more than anything else.

The joy of seeing a child learn to play who didn't know how to play before is perhaps even more rewarding than teaching a child academic skills. The reason is because play will last a lifetime and provide continuous pleasure for a person with autism or developmental disability.

Reason Number Six: Play is fun!!

Play is important to children with autism because it's fun and it promotes physical exercise and mental well-being. We all need to take time out to play every day.

For more resources on children with disabilities or tips on how to get a teaching job, go to Kristin's website, My Special Needs Classroom, at http://www.myspecialneedsclassroom.com

Kristin Whiting is an adoptive Mom, Special Needs Preschool Teacher, and a regular contributor to Associated Content, EzineArticles, Squidoo and Hubpages. She has varied interests in such topics as family life, domestic adoption, foster parenting, healthcare, education, working with children who have special needs, social issues and parenting.

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