Looking for the Christmas gift for autistic nephew (games, activity, sensory)
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It's so difficult to buy for F - you never know what will appeal to him and what won't. He is 9 - he speaks to some degree, although he has a hearing loss and doesn't speak plainly...but he does have some language skills. He loves computers and is very good at games...has a memory like the proverbial elephant. Loves things that go 'round and 'round...a coin sorter last year was very popular since he could watch the coins roll and fall, but it turned into a moderately severe obsession for a long while. Loves to write and can read simpler books. As far as outside activities, he's a swimmer and a bike rider and that's about it. Videos and music - he loves 70's music and musicals and dances up a storm, which is pretty funny, actually....Grease has turned into the ongoing 24 hour programming at their house!
I have no idea of what is popular with this age group and really don't care - I want to get him something that he will find interesting and perhaps that will be educational as well. If it's popular with other 9-year-olds, that's just an added bonus. He obviously is in special schooling, so it's not like we're trying to impress the Hannah Montana group.
Does ANYONE have a clue on what to do? All suggestions are appreciated more than you can ever know. Their mom will take care of the big things that Santa must bring, but I'd like to find something he can really identify with. Help?
ideas, maybe leap pad stuff that is fun, anything that is multisensory
visual and makes noise and teaches
those sets where the marbles go down chutes
do you know what that is
do a search on sensory integration
i think there is a catalog and web site called integrations? . . .
has lots of cool stuff
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
It's so difficult to buy for F - you never know what will appeal to him and what won't. He is 9 - he speaks to some degree, although he has a hearing loss and doesn't speak plainly...but he does have some language skills. He loves computers and is very good at games...has a memory like the proverbial elephant. Loves things that go 'round and 'round...a coin sorter last year was very popular since he could watch the coins roll and fall, but it turned into a moderately severe obsession for a long while. Loves to write and can read simpler books. As far as outside activities, he's a swimmer and a bike rider and that's about it. Videos and music - he loves 70's music and musicals and dances up a storm, which is pretty funny, actually....Grease has turned into the ongoing 24 hour programming at their house!
I have no idea of what is popular with this age group and really don't care - I want to get him something that he will find interesting and perhaps that will be educational as well. If it's popular with other 9-year-olds, that's just an added bonus. He obviously is in special schooling, so it's not like we're trying to impress the Hannah Montana group.
Does ANYONE have a clue on what to do? All suggestions are appreciated more than you can ever know. Their mom will take care of the big things that Santa must bring, but I'd like to find something he can really identify with. Help?
I was just reading an article about this. I wish I could remember where it is, I'd link to it. It was interesting, because I was wondering what toys to get my daughter who has autism (she's 2 1/2) and this article stated that so many parents focus on what would be educational to the child that they forget neurologically typical toys, and emphasized how truly important they are. So we decided we're going to get her just what we would get her if she didn't have autism. She's not huge on pretend play the way most little girls are, but she still loves to play with her tea set (oh sure, she stacks the cups mostly, LOL, but every once in a while she puts a cup to my mouth to "drink"). So we're getting her more dolls, Little People, and a play kitchen on top of some of the more "educational" things she'd like to play with.
So, I'd say don't be afraid to give him something that you'd give any 9-year old. Obviously you don't want to get him something potentially dangerous (we know how crafty these kids can be, LOL). I don't know if that helps or not, but I totally understand where you're coming from.
My nephew loved his game boy as well as his Nintendo & play station. I wish I could remember the name of the games we got him for the play station, there were 3 games total with this character. I also bought him the cheat books so that if he ran into problems he could reference it. I think it was a mouse type character, that rode around in space. My nephew was excellent playing this game.
Another popular toy for him was train related. He loved Thomas, and for Christmas one year I gave him a mini tree with the train ornaments.
My nephew was also organised. He had carrying cases for his game boy. When it was time for him to go somewhere, he just grabbed the case & went.
My son loves videogames and computer games but I think for these kids, minimal contact with these 'audio visual things' is a good idea. He's also 9.
Here's an idea we discovered this afternoon with our son (with Asberger's). My husband and I took him out to fly a kite and he LOVED it. He loved having control over it, letting it dip and glide. He said "This is as cool as a videogame!"
My son also likes his action figures & animals for pretend play. He can play nature center for hours.
He recently saved up his allowance for "Carnivorous" plant seeds (Venus fly trap sort of stuff). He can't wait to see them grow.
I'll look into all of the above, and thank you! He is t.v. oriented, which is part of the problem - he needs to get out and DO something. He's happiest if he's swimming, so I'm helping pay for their membership to an indoor pool for the winter...but his mom isn't so great about keeping him stimulated. The t.v. is a great babysitter - interestingly, that's how we figured out something was wrong. He was TOO good as an infant and would watch the t.v. intently for hours at 4 months old. I'd like to do something for gross motor since his fine motor seems exceptional, but trampolines scare my sister so I'll have to respect that. I wanted to get him into pottery with me or into painting or something, but the texture of either creeps him out. He's a great kid but all too often anything I get him ends up being shared by the other two - guess I'll have to live with that one too!
I was thinking about a rocking gaming chair with the speakers in the headrest since he wants everything at mega decibels with his partial hearing loss, which makes the rest of the family insane and he will not wear headphones...I thought maybe the rocking might be soothing to him too. Anyone with any experience with these? I got him an aquarium last year, which went over like a lead balloon - he liked it, but I think the fish blew up from too much food! Maybe just a handheld Gameboy and pray his little brother doesn't destroy it...
Neither of these are big items, but he might (or might not!) enjoy them. The first is one is a "Skip-It". Sort of like a one-man jump rope. You slip the plastic ring over your ankle and the plastic ball at the other end slings around in circles while you jump over it. (Wow - this is very difficult to describe if you have never seen a Skip-it!). It is an outdoor activity that goes round and round. The other item is a big bag of multi-colored pipecleaners. He can twist them into all sorts of silly things, mess them up and start over without frustration, they are absolutely silent so make great church or car distrations and are cheap.
Perfection is a great game.It's great for turn taking hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.Start him off with five pieces and work your way up and prepare him for the buzzer.
Ya'll have had some super ideas...now to get them all in motion before the Christmas frenzy! Thank you so much...and anyone else who has an idea, keep posting...this is always the toughest part of Christmas since I'm never sure what will melt his butter....one year it was a simple notepad that was erasable...he slept with it, ate with it, took it to school - best friend...Blue's Clues, that's what it was! I went broke for a year replacing it every time he lost or wore out the old one!
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maybe leap pad stuff that is fun
