In this post, I am listing activities that I did with Aakash to engage him at home. I have listed down activities that we did when was around 4 years old.
Aakash was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3.5 years. At that time we were in UK. Before even a speech therapist had a session with him, myself and my husband and few other parents whose kids were also recently been diagnosed with Autism were given a parents training program. It empowered us parents who were new to this world to take our first steps confidently to handle the child directly at home. So, my first recommendation for parents is to educate/train yourself on how to interact and work with your child. You can do this by attending workshops that happen from time to time in all major towns, discussing with other parents, read Autism-Activity related books etc.
Before I proceed further want to state that, whatever I share here are my trials in understanding and working with Aakash. I had not followed any fixed protocol. Everything we had done were out of Aakash’s interest and based on his ability and understanding at that point of time.
List of things I prepared for myself to work with Aakash:
• Picture book (pictures of the things in Living room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Park, school etc)-I myself prepared this by taking photos of objects in our home, printed, laminated and bound it as a book by punching in the corners and tying them with spiral binding string. I thought it would be easier for him to relate with things he sees constantly. Generalisation comes later. A easy and comfortable start with the child comes first according to me.
• Plan some Rhymes to train and interact with the child -Initially I chose some Rhymes which I planned to teach him as a first step. To be interactive and fun for Aakash, I chose some action oriented rhymes (e.g. Bye Bye Good Bye..), rhymes involving movement and body parts like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, Number rhymes like “1, 2 Buckle my shoe”. Please also decide and choose Rhymes which you think will excite and involve your child.
I used to teach it with stress and pause which is a technique to make the child get involved in rhymes, make it say some sounds or words and participate in rhymes. You can find more about this experience in my blog if you are interested:
http://autism-contacts-in-india.blogspot.in/…/extend-stress…
————————————————————-
Tub with sand/rice/ragi and some small toys (Hide the objects in the sand/rice/ragi and ask the child to find the hidden objects)
Very Simple images for Colouring (say a big apple with a leaf/ square). The image should of so simple that needs maximum 2 colours. So that the kid may find it easy to colour the picture.
Black / white board and chalk/white board marker. Ask the kid to scribble, make straight lines, Slanting lines, put circles, Zigzag lines and draw lines to connect two dots.
Two bowls, tong and some cotton balls/small objects (Ask the child to transfer the objects from one bowl to other with tong)
4 to 6-piece jigsaw puzzle
Inset wooden board puzzle
Piggy bank and some coins-Aakash used to love the jingle that the coins used to make when dropping the coin in the piggy bank. This is one of the first activity we did to make him sit and co-operate with us.
Building blocks (give them some 10 blocks and ask them to fix two blocks together. After fixing, ask the child to detach).
Bowls, pulses/sand and a spoon (ask the child to transfer the sand/pulses from one bowl to another with spoon)
Beads to string. Ask the child to put the beads in a string(use a shoe lace like thick one)
For Break time/play time:
———————————-
I used to play games which involved interaction, child seeing our facial gesture and very importantly which were fun. This brought me and Aakash closer. This kind of games made him more co-operative to sit with me later for activities and some of these games like Trampoline were also used a relaxing game during activity break time.
Play Peek a boo
Play tickles
Have trampoline, gym ball, swing/hammock, tricycle.
Running activity (say 1,2,3 run and ask them to touch a door/fridge/table and ask them to come back to the starting point)
Crawl like baby (ask them crawl around sofa/dinning table/two or three chairs put together)
Bubbles (you blow bubbles and ask the child to pop it)
Ball and a basket (simply ask the child to throw the ball/ throw the ball into the basket which will be kept at some distance, put some 5 or 6 around and ask the child to pick the ball one by one to put it in the basket, ask the child to throw the ball against the wall)
For activity time with Aakash
—————————————-
1. I tell him that we are going to do Activity by say “ACTIVITY TIME START”.
2. Then an activity like drawing/singing rhymes/puzzles/motor/fine motor activity. I would give each activity a name, say Puzzle activity. To initiate the activity, I would say “START Puzzle activity”.
3. Once he finished off the activity, I would say name of the activity and then OVER. Ex. “Puzzle activity OVER”.
4. We should give directions and make the child to understand the START and END of an Activity so that it will not have anxiety or get confused by activities starting in quick succession.
5. Then a break time by saying “BREAK TIME”. And do break time activities like running/bubbles/ball game etc.
6. Then by announcing “BREAK TIME OVER”, take the child back to the work table.
7. Again, an activity-break time-activity- break time and finally windup the activity time by saying “ACTIVITY TIME OVER”.
There is no hard and fast rule to follow to teach our kids. If we understand our kids’ interest and strength, we could work with them effortlessly. If you think I have a pattern to teach Aakash, then it has come out after a lot of trial and error and better understanding about Aakash’s strength and weakness.
I want to share two other points also
1. If the child cries/ throw tantrum while doing activity, move the child out of the work table to a comfort place and be with the child for some time without a word. Sometimes I would gently massage his legs and hands. And in between I would say gently one or two times its “Activity time”.
Don’t pamper the child too much as well. Say gently that crying is not acceptable.
2. If the child runs out of the work table, don’t chase the child immediately or rise your voice and say come and sit down. First gently say in a soft tone “come and sit”. And give the child some time. If the child continues to roam around or busy with other activity, then repeat the instruction “come and sit”. Even after your second time communication still the child is busy with its own agenda then you go to the child and physically direct the child to the work table gently.
I want to conclude by saying the core of whatever you are doing should be based on your child’s interests and strengths. Before Aakash learnt “Bus”, he learnt the word “Pizza”. This approach helps me to take his lead and then gently guide him in the learning path. And it is not all the time about teaching the child. Our children like typical children are also “children”. They need to have their share of fun and we need to have good time with them as well. So don’t forget to play and laugh along with them.
All the best for all games and activities with your kids.
Aakash was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3.5 years. At that time we were in UK. Before even a speech therapist had a session with him, myself and my husband and few other parents whose kids were also recently been diagnosed with Autism were given a parents training program. It empowered us parents who were new to this world to take our first steps confidently to handle the child directly at home. So, my first recommendation for parents is to educate/train yourself on how to interact and work with your child. You can do this by attending workshops that happen from time to time in all major towns, discussing with other parents, read Autism-Activity related books etc.
Before I proceed further want to state that, whatever I share here are my trials in understanding and working with Aakash. I had not followed any fixed protocol. Everything we had done were out of Aakash’s interest and based on his ability and understanding at that point of time.
List of things I prepared for myself to work with Aakash:
• Picture book (pictures of the things in Living room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Park, school etc)-I myself prepared this by taking photos of objects in our home, printed, laminated and bound it as a book by punching in the corners and tying them with spiral binding string. I thought it would be easier for him to relate with things he sees constantly. Generalisation comes later. A easy and comfortable start with the child comes first according to me.
• Plan some Rhymes to train and interact with the child -Initially I chose some Rhymes which I planned to teach him as a first step. To be interactive and fun for Aakash, I chose some action oriented rhymes (e.g. Bye Bye Good Bye..), rhymes involving movement and body parts like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, Number rhymes like “1, 2 Buckle my shoe”. Please also decide and choose Rhymes which you think will excite and involve your child.
I used to teach it with stress and pause which is a technique to make the child get involved in rhymes, make it say some sounds or words and participate in rhymes. You can find more about this experience in my blog if you are interested:
http://autism-contacts-in-india.blogspot.in/…/extend-stress…
- Use Flash cards for Verbs (actions we do at home like brushing, bathing, cooking, sleeping etc)
————————————————————-
Tub with sand/rice/ragi and some small toys (Hide the objects in the sand/rice/ragi and ask the child to find the hidden objects)
Very Simple images for Colouring (say a big apple with a leaf/ square). The image should of so simple that needs maximum 2 colours. So that the kid may find it easy to colour the picture.
Black / white board and chalk/white board marker. Ask the kid to scribble, make straight lines, Slanting lines, put circles, Zigzag lines and draw lines to connect two dots.
Two bowls, tong and some cotton balls/small objects (Ask the child to transfer the objects from one bowl to other with tong)
4 to 6-piece jigsaw puzzle
Inset wooden board puzzle
Piggy bank and some coins-Aakash used to love the jingle that the coins used to make when dropping the coin in the piggy bank. This is one of the first activity we did to make him sit and co-operate with us.
Building blocks (give them some 10 blocks and ask them to fix two blocks together. After fixing, ask the child to detach).
Bowls, pulses/sand and a spoon (ask the child to transfer the sand/pulses from one bowl to another with spoon)
Beads to string. Ask the child to put the beads in a string(use a shoe lace like thick one)
For Break time/play time:
———————————-
I used to play games which involved interaction, child seeing our facial gesture and very importantly which were fun. This brought me and Aakash closer. This kind of games made him more co-operative to sit with me later for activities and some of these games like Trampoline were also used a relaxing game during activity break time.
Play Peek a boo
Play tickles
Have trampoline, gym ball, swing/hammock, tricycle.
Running activity (say 1,2,3 run and ask them to touch a door/fridge/table and ask them to come back to the starting point)
Crawl like baby (ask them crawl around sofa/dinning table/two or three chairs put together)
Bubbles (you blow bubbles and ask the child to pop it)
Ball and a basket (simply ask the child to throw the ball/ throw the ball into the basket which will be kept at some distance, put some 5 or 6 around and ask the child to pick the ball one by one to put it in the basket, ask the child to throw the ball against the wall)
For activity time with Aakash
—————————————-
1. I tell him that we are going to do Activity by say “ACTIVITY TIME START”.
2. Then an activity like drawing/singing rhymes/puzzles/motor/fine motor activity. I would give each activity a name, say Puzzle activity. To initiate the activity, I would say “START Puzzle activity”.
3. Once he finished off the activity, I would say name of the activity and then OVER. Ex. “Puzzle activity OVER”.
4. We should give directions and make the child to understand the START and END of an Activity so that it will not have anxiety or get confused by activities starting in quick succession.
5. Then a break time by saying “BREAK TIME”. And do break time activities like running/bubbles/ball game etc.
6. Then by announcing “BREAK TIME OVER”, take the child back to the work table.
7. Again, an activity-break time-activity- break time and finally windup the activity time by saying “ACTIVITY TIME OVER”.
There is no hard and fast rule to follow to teach our kids. If we understand our kids’ interest and strength, we could work with them effortlessly. If you think I have a pattern to teach Aakash, then it has come out after a lot of trial and error and better understanding about Aakash’s strength and weakness.
I want to share two other points also
1. If the child cries/ throw tantrum while doing activity, move the child out of the work table to a comfort place and be with the child for some time without a word. Sometimes I would gently massage his legs and hands. And in between I would say gently one or two times its “Activity time”.
Don’t pamper the child too much as well. Say gently that crying is not acceptable.
2. If the child runs out of the work table, don’t chase the child immediately or rise your voice and say come and sit down. First gently say in a soft tone “come and sit”. And give the child some time. If the child continues to roam around or busy with other activity, then repeat the instruction “come and sit”. Even after your second time communication still the child is busy with its own agenda then you go to the child and physically direct the child to the work table gently.
I want to conclude by saying the core of whatever you are doing should be based on your child’s interests and strengths. Before Aakash learnt “Bus”, he learnt the word “Pizza”. This approach helps me to take his lead and then gently guide him in the learning path. And it is not all the time about teaching the child. Our children like typical children are also “children”. They need to have their share of fun and we need to have good time with them as well. So don’t forget to play and laugh along with them.
All the best for all games and activities with your kids.
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