Christmas ideas for children who have autism: Part 1

The teacher decided to venture out Christmas shopping earlier than normal this year. It was a few weeks before black Friday and Kmart had a special on children’s games. The teacher was not interested in any of the typical computer games that many children might have had on their Christmas list this season. Instead, she was looking for interactive board games to play with family members and friends.

As she wandered down one of the many toy aisles at the store, the teacher spotted a stack of games along the shelf including "Don’t Break the Ice, Candyland, A Toy Story Memory Game, Don’t Spill the Beans, Chutes and Ladders and Hi Ho Cherry-O." The price for most of the games was a tempting $3.95 for each of them. It was too enticing not to put them into her shopping cart. Plus, many of the children had played several of the games in the classroom during Friday’s math and language arts interactive time. The games were great for social skills and for working on pragmatics.

The teacher knew that one boy in particular had difficulty losing when playing games with the others. He was unpredictable and sometime would pick up the game and throw it when he lost. She knew that Luke needed social stories like "Oops I made a Mistake" in the online story section of http://www.plattscsd.org/oak/smartboard/Smartboard.htm. The classroom had lots of pictures showing how to be a good sport when playing games. The computer program Writing with Symbols and Google Images provide wonderful visuals to help the children practice good sportsmanship whether they are winning or losing.

After picking up several different games for the students, the teacher went over to the Kohl’s to see if there might be any new books with stuffed animals for sale. That store had a wonderful tradition of providing low cost books and stuffed animals to help educate children in reading. To her delight, the author Nancy Tillman was selected for this year’s Christmas season. Kohl’s had four books offered by the author: Wherever You Are with a dolphin, The Spirit of Christmas with a lion, It’s Time to Sleep, My Love with a panda and On the Night You Were Born with a polar bear. The teacher had two students that loved sea creatures and jungle animals. Staring up at her by the cash register were a lion and dolphin that went with Ms Tillman’s books.

Computer games loomed in the background in many of the stores she visited. These included several of the games that her students with high functioning autism enjoyed. Yet she knew that interactive play, not computer games, was critical to help the kids move forward in their developmental growth. The teacher was looking for popular action figures. She found several of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters along with Wimpy the Kid in the Barnes and Nobles Store. The children had been encouraged to play with similar toys in the classroom. The creative play effort had been successful with several of the children.

There was another challenge, Lorenzo. His interests changed almost daily. The boy would become disappointed if Santa failed to bring his "favorite" toy of the day during the upcoming school Christmas party. Lots of social stories and role playing needed to be done prior to the holidays. All of the students needed help to adjust to the unexpected which is usually a part of the Christmas season. Even with practice, sometimes the unpredictable would still bring lots of tears and frustration as with any child.

With Christmas fast approaching, sensory gifts also make wonderful gifts for children with ASD. You don’t need to spend a lot. For example, Walgreens always has several toys that light up, spin and make noises. Look for squishy toys including a variety of animals like snakes and frogs. WalMart and Academy both have lots of possibilities too. Think about buying one or two large balls in the exercise department. The children love balls to be partially inflated and fully inflated. The partially inflated balls are wonderful for calming. The fully inflated ones help get rid of that extra energy. Target always has great interactive games including farm animal ones that make noises. They also have lots of Eric Carle books that are great Christmas gifts for children with ASD. Both Michaels and The Dollar Store have plenty of tiny little animal figures. I am sure you can think of many other places including the Internet. Remember, think sensory. Of course, make sure whatever you buy is safe and ideally age appropriate.

Pamela Gross Downing, a special education teacher, can be contacted at downpamg@aol.com.