Christmas Presents For An Autistic Boy

Choosing toys for a child with a disability can be challenging. I think every member of my family has asked me at one point or another what they could buy for the little man this year. He is a difficult case because he simply doesn't take interest in toys - in 'things' - the way that regular kids do. He has specific and narrow interests, and sometimes, even I can't tell whether or not he will take a fancy to a particular thing. I know he likes toys that move, spin, light up and make sounds/music. The problem is, that he might absolutely love some things for a while, but then he quickly loses interest in them; while he likes repetition and patterns, such repetitive toys can become boring for him after a time.

Our SP said something interesting at our last session there. She said that to expand his interests, we need to find what motivates him - what he really likes - and work from there. For example, my boy loves lines Especially when they go in a pattern. He stims on lines. You can often find him staring at the venetians, or going along the bench tops eyeing off the grout lines on the tile splash-backs. Find a toy that incorporates this sort of thing, and you're likely on a winner. Things like a marble race or car race work well, because the items must go along a particular line/route.

Anyway, these are the things my little Mr Boy got this year:

A concertina. He likes this one, but took him a little while to warm to it. Even now, he doesn't play with it very much. My thoughts were (as I mentioned above) that he likes things with lines.... he likes the hose on the vacuum, and he likes Slinky's. A concertina is very similar in that respect, but it also makes music (read: annoying noise hehe). I also felt that the push-pull action would be good for strengthening his hands and working those motor skills.

Gears play set. This was something I chose based on what I know he loves; spinning and moving toys. It was perfect for him, since it had the gears and balls you drop through a little tunnel as well. He loves both those aspects of it. It plays music, and the gears on it are compatible with other toys in the series. It also turned out to be one of his favourites this year.

A foam sword. This one ended up in his stocking because he keeps taking the green one for the iToy and I was afraid it might get broken. He absolutely loved the thing (green sword). The one he got in his stocking has been a fitting substitute. He liked it immediately. He liked to look at it (straight line again) and he liked to hold it. Now perhaps we can squeeze in some role play with it too....?

A small puzzle. Totally not interested. Won't even look at it. So much for gestalt learning! Haha!!

A toy microphone. This I bought on advice of our SP. She has one in the therapy room. The idea is to encourage him to make sounds in it - any sounds at all, it doesn't matter. We want him to realise that he can do things with his mouth and his voice. He likes it when we show him what to do, but all he actually does is lick it, haha!

A handheld spinning light storm. This was supposed to go in his stocking but it didn't get delivered in time. When we brought it out and showed him, he was immediately enchanted by those colourful lights. He took it and held it in his hands and just stared at it with a smile touching the corners of his mouth. But I've noticed he doesn't like to touch it anymore. I think this is because it vibrates when it is on, and he isn't too fond of that.

A wind up bug. Came in the same package as the light storm. I am pretty sure I specified the toys to be for a boy, but they sent me girly ones. Oh well. The butterfly amuses him somewhat, but it doesn't make him laugh like the wind-up frog Miss Jane brought home one day last term.

A groan stick. Same package as the previous two things, so again, didn't get here in time. anyway, it makes a 'neeeeeaaaaaaaawwwwwrrrm' sound when you tip it end to end. He likes it, but isn't obsessed with it or anything. Occasionally I will hear it's distinctive noise around the place when he finds it and fiddles with it for a while.

Plastic trucks. We weren't too sure he would take to these, and to be honest, he doesn't seem interested if left to himself. But when someone else plays with them together with him, he smiles and tries to join in. Very good to see. Great for socialising and showing him 'what to do' with toys.

A magnetic light spinner. This was from one of my sisters. Took him a little while before he actually noticed it, but this also has become a favourite. You can often hear him giggling while the thing spins up and down the wires.

A pop-up tent filled with coloured plastic balls. Unfortunately, little man hasn't shown any interest in this whatsoever. But to be fair, we haven't brought it out very much to allow him exposure.

A lot of clothes. Christmas wouldn't be right if we didn't get a bunch of clothes out of it! He might not get it yet, but I do, and I seriously appreciate it. He is my only boy, so no hand-me-downs here for him. He always needs stuff - growing boy :).

A magnetic drawing board. This was from my mother, and it turned out to be a very timely gift! In our last speechie session, the SP brought out one of those drawing boards when I mentioned that he likes to take pens from my desk and fiddle with them. He took to the thing in an amazing way. I've never seen him that interested in drawing before. He drew scribbly circles, rubbed them out, and drew them again and again. He just loved it. It made me so happy to see this, because he hasn't shown very much interest in drawing until now. Little man loves this toy from his grandma - it has turned out to be one of his favourites.

Fifty Dollars. From my mother, for me to get him something from her. She really struggled with finding something for him, although she hit the nail straight on when she got the drawing board. I am considering putting it towards some character bedding for when he moves to his big bed. Maybe Diego, or In The Night Garden, or Wiggles or something. Make it more inviting for him :).


He still didn't seem to get the whole 'present opening' thing. We'd put him on our laps and try to encourage him to look inside the package. But he'd just keep trying to escape. The only thing that seemed to interest him a tiny bit was ripping the paper off , because it ripped in a strip pattern - lines again. But at least he in enjoying most of his presents. Maybe next year he'll get it.



xx

Back From Holidays

We spent the week leading up to Christmas away on holidays with most of my original family. I had drafted a couple of long posts to publish before we left, but I wasn't able to get them finalised in time. Although we are home now, 'busy' mode is still in full swing here, and we haven't even settled into our return home yet. Once we do, I will be able to share more about the trip away as well as publishing those other drafted posts. I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas, and just in case I don't get the chance to blog in before the new year, have a good one :)

xx

He Has Discovered.....

... light switches!

I was wondering when he would make this discovery. It's not unusual for ASD kids to have a thing for flicking light switches on and off. However, by normal developmental milestones, he should have discovered the light switch several months ago. As with many new things my little man does, I'm not sure if I should be pleased about this or if I should expect some frustration from it. I've already found lights switched on all over the house! Now I know why, hehe!

Can't help laughing, and can't help being happy. It's a new discovery after all :)



xx

The Paper Tree

This year, the Christmas tree never made it out of the garage. I won't go into the reasons why, suffice to say, that I am seriously annoyed about it. I was really hoping that my son would get a little more into it all this year, but we don't even have a decent Christmas tree to work with!! Well... I guess we still have the presents. I hope he gets that part this year. The big girls kept asking when we were going to put the tree up, and to have to tell them finally that it wasn't going to happen was going to break their little hearts. So before I had to tell them, I devised a plan for a substitute.

This is it.

Yup... it's a paper tree. Laugh if you want to! We had a roll of butcher paper from Ikea, not quite wide enough to draw the whole tree on it, so I drew two halves on separate pieces. We painted them, cut them out, then stuck them together. Then drew some baubles and such and coloured those in, and added some glitter glue for a bit more sparkle.

Once the glitter was dry we stuck them on the tree, along with some tinsel and coloured pom-poms - half of which right back off again - and gave the whole lot a good spray with glitter hairspray. Very blingy. We pegged it up where the original would have gone, and tucked in the extra tinsel into the blind slats around it, since we had no blu-tack to stick it anywhere else.

Miss Jane had to glue her bell right next to mummy's one. Too cute :)

The girls had a ball doing this. They kept saying it was the best tree ever. I just smiled. I was happy that they were so happy. Very pleased to see that they had gained a sense of personal achievement and satisfaction from their work in this mini project. But I must admit, I kind of felt sorry for them too.... a paper tree for Christmas? Poor kiddies LOL. Still though, this tree seems to have produced alot more positives than putting up the regular one would have.

There is one more advantage to this paper tree though; when we go away for our holiday next week, we'll be able to take it with us, so they can have a Christmas tree at the resort too. Just unpeg it and roll it up. Voile'!

xx

Mini Christmas Tree Cupcakes

For Miss Jane who has her class break up party tomorrow. Terrible pics as usual, and far from perfect anyway, but I'm sure the grade one's won't mind too much!




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A Little Green Caterpillar

No, it's not a caterpillar........ my cute little man does not eat vegetables, unless they are chopped small and mixed in with rice or hidden in a red pasta sauce. Last night I whipped up a quick fried rice dinner for him, since the rest of us were getting pizza - which he does not eat. He ate most of the vegetables in it, but managed to dodge a few peas. While I was busy with the baby miss, he amused himself by lining them all up. Too cute :)

PS. I hope the picture doesn't gross you out! Sorry if it does! LOL



xx

In Their Shoes

Last night, I went to a rock concert for the first time in my life. It was U2, and it was very good.

The four of us - myself, my hubby, SIL and her man - were all sitting and waiting for the main show to start. As I was taking in the enormity of the place (Etihad Stadium), and pondering the noise that so many thousands of people altogether make, my SIL leans over and says that it was going to get very loud. I smiled and said that was fine, I can handle loud noises. Besides, I am not pregnant and so I don't have to be worrying about any babies being affected. (It was something I used to worry about in movies and such LOL).

Then the concert actually began.

You are going to think me a terrible wuss for what I'm about to say.....

The lights went out to emphasis the stage lighting and the sound effects began. The bass vibes and rhythms were fantastic, but all I could concentrate on, was the feeling of my whole body being assaulted by those bass vibrations. It went through me in waves, making my heart - all my insides - tremble. I didn't like it one bit. I honestly thought my heart was going to stop. Suddenly, everything seemed too much. The darkness, contrasting lights, people everywhere - all this was full on, but I could cope with it until the sound turned up. On the verge of a panic attack, I turned and buried my face into my husbands arm... still terrified that my heart was literally going to stop. The concert had just started, and I couldn't wait for it to be over. More than once through those first few songs, I debated whether or not to actually leave the building....it was that much for me. Nausea settled into me and I felt sick to my stomach with fear, and those bass vibrations would not let up. I just want to highlight here, that I became afraid only because of the physical sensations that hit me.... it was not a mental thing as such.

In those short lulls between songs, I would find myself taking deep breaths. I didn't realise I had been holding my breath and tensing up so hard when the music was playing. Nevertheless, taking a mental hold of myself, I made a firm decision to ignore how I was physically feeling, and told myself that if thousands of people here can go through this and not drop dead, then I could too. Eventually, I became accustomed enough to the bass waves to relax a little and enjoy the concert a lot more.

It occurred to me that this could be how ASD kids might feel in situations that are overwhelming to them. I feel lucky that my little man doesn't seem to be particularly bothered by loud noises and busy environments. He loves trips to the shopping centre - all the colours and lights, sights and smells - he loves going into the big auditorium at church - loud music (not as bad as the concert though!), darkened room, stage lighting and church news presentations. But I imagined that other autistics who do have such sensitivities might feel the way I did when the concert first began. I am already mindful about anything that may put my son into sensory overload, but this concert experience has opened my understanding in a deeper way. If it was that much of a shock for me - an adult able to regulate myself and adapt to my environment, I can totally understand why it is so scary for them.



xx