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 Treatment And The Power Of Music

A relatively new method for treating individuals that are suffering from autism is musical therapy. When discussing treatment options, serious consideration should be given to incorporating this method. Musical therapy often helps patients improve their temperament as well as their learning skills. By connecting to the non-verbal sections of our minds, music proves to be an excellent form of therapy for those suffering from disorders that limit their communication skills. If you haven't had much success with other forms of autism treatment, you may be pleasantly surprised by how much this method may help.

The reason that musical therapy can be so effective is because you can use it in addition to other treatments for learning social skills. By its very nature, music therapy is non-threatening to patients allowing behavior and social skills to be improved by the many games that can be played using this method. Autistic patients can break through social barriers through the encouragement of eye contact during singing or the use of an instrument, such as a harmonica, that needs to be in close proximity to your face.

The most important way that music therapy helps autistic patients is by helping to develop their use of speech. Music helps us connect to the verbal and the non-verbal functions of our minds. Many people that suffer from autism have varying degrees of difficulty with speech. Some patients can only make humming or grunting sounds, while others have developed the ability to put together words and sentences that will at least allow them to communicate. Regardless of how much skill the patient has with speech, there is something to be gained by participating in musical therapy.

It is not unusual for autistic patients to be particularly good with music. Some have excellent pitch; others can learn to play instruments with a minimum of instruction. Even if the person doesn't show amazing musical abilities, some difficult to handle autistic patients have musical abilities that greatly exceed their other abilities. Musical therapists will use music to link this type of learning to other types of learning, including speech, social and behavioral development. This can also be used as a means of communicating emotions and to develop the memory.

Music therapy can be very beneficial to autistic patients on its own and when combined with other treatment techniques. A trained music therapist can teach a patient how to communicate using nonverbal methods, which makes it easier for autistic individuals to learn. It may be in your best interest to spend some time researching musical therapy to see if this form of treatment may be a good choice for you and your loved ones.

There is much more to learn about the management and treatment for autism The best thing you can do for the health and welfare of your family is to become informed. The most up to date resources and information about diagnosing, controlling, and treating Autism can be found at Http://AutismAwareness.wordpress.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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