Harder structured Tasks?? | Autism PDD

I remeber my son'e SLP saying that activities in a 30 minute session should be 80% tasks he can accomplish , 20% more difficult. Anyway, there is a book called The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun. Some really neat activities in there!thanks guys, bumping

One of the best ways to teach turn taking is to play a game she enjoys that REQUIRES turn taking. A great example is playing ball games. Perhaps she can sit on the floor opposite her little sister and they can roll a ball back and forth. You can help your littler one and at the same time direct the play, saying "Allergra's turn!" when it's her turn to roll and "Baby's turn" when it's your little one's turn to roll. When it dawned on my son that someone ELSE has to have a turn in order for him to have a turn, he finally "got" that turn-taking is GOOD. If she resists playing with her sister, perhaps she'd like "catch." Using a beach ball for playing catch is good if she has trouble catching. It's bigger and it flies more slowly, so it gives her motor planning a chance to kick in. Or you can try rope pulling. This is a good sensory exercise, too. Pulling back and forth. Or just to get her to enjoy hearing "Allegra's turn," put her and her baby sister in swings next to one another. Push them alternately, saying "Allegra's turn" when you push her and "Baby's turn" when you push the baby. This will give her the idea that just because it's baby's turn now doesn't mean it won't be Allegra's turn soon. Keep using the word "turn" and she may eventually get that turn-taking is fun!

Lots of great ideas! When I read your second post about the she only understands when she performs line I couldn't help but think of bopeeps RDI video where they were making a cake. Sequencing, measuring, pouring, stirring, interacting, some type of turn taking, and a yummy treat at the end. Also have you introduced the alphabet or numbers yet? That opens up a whole new door, puzzles that make words, addressing fine motor while teaching words, number puzzles, beading with letters and making her name (melissa and doug and leapfrog makes great toys along those lines). And being a visual learner, it might help increase her vocab too. I know it did wonders for the boys.

Hi guys,

I'm sure we are all familiar with the types of tasks I mean, such as hand
made sorting, matching, posting or threading and other fine motor skills
tasks etc...

Well, I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas for some I can make. I
have been unable to challenge Sharlet with these kinds of tasks for a long
time, I'm looking for things with a higher difficulty level. Any ideas at all are
appreciated.

Thanks all

How about jigsaw puzzles, Allegra? I bought some for the girls and Abigail, especially, quite enjoys them and you can see that she's getting more skillful in putting them together with practice.

so far we can't seem to introduce the concept of any sort of turn taking
games. She only understands the "she performs" idea, which limits what I
can do. She is a master of simple puzzles, but her perfectionism and high
frustration/anxiety have made it a big issue moving her on from single
pieces into holes typed puzzles or maximum of 8 piece interlocking
puzzles.

Already some good ideas, the memory one could work but again it's
showing her what I want her to do that will take a lot of time to teach. She
has amazing skill with recognition and memory so sorting and matching are
so easy for her, but teaching her the concept of any "game" is near
impossible... Have her use tongs/tweezers to pick up macaroni&beans mixed together and sort them one by one:) We got at crafts store a kit with yarn and giant plastic needle to sew on plastic grids shaped like hearts, butterflies..ect.. They also had a container of 1,000"s of tiny rubber cyclinder beads that you put on hard plastic shapes with hundreds of raised points to make any design you want..then when finished with filling in shape you iron them with a special paper that comes with container to make coasters:) Good luck:)Have you tried some file folder games? I got all mine off eBay. Just search "Autism file folder" there are all different levels and kinds of games. Only thing is you have to animate the folder and pieces then Velcro the backs...they are worth it though!How about Memory Games (the "pairing" card games)? I also buy the preschool workbooks, especially the "which one is different" ones, and cut the pictures out of them instead of having him circle the correct picture. I actually try to have him match the 2 identical pictures (he hasn't done it yet). It is a higher skill. Maybe Sharlet is ready for that...

nakama

Some of these might be helpfu. Lauri toys. I believe if you google it, you will come up with something. They are educational toys, shape sorters, lace-n-shape, alphabet puzzles, pegs and boards, etc. all made of that nice, flexible, soft plastic. We do a lot of these with ds. We work on sorting by color, shape, sequencing, etc. You could probably make your own version of these by cutting out certain shapes from cardboard or heavy cardstock and then punch holes and work on lacing yarn or shoe-laces thru the holes. Cut shapes from cardstock or card board and paint them different colors and make a model on large poster board and allow the child to match up the cut-up shapes to the model.

Also, because my ds is tactile defensive, we've worked on: canisters of beans, rice, bird seed, etc. hide things in there, see if the child can find it, then let them hide it and see if you can find it (a simple way to introduce/work on turn taking too); memory games (you can even make your own); fill a small, spray water bottle and let the child spray the tub or sink or spray outside on the pavement or colored construction paper. Any kind of play-dough for pressing fingers into. Sticker play, work on sequence or shapes or size. Putting the correct sticker in the right sized place. Cutting with age appropriate sissors, with you there of course. Make a simple shape on paper and work on cutting it out.

Magna doodles, white boards and chalk boards can be good for working on patterns, numbers, etc. refridgerator letter magnets. Match sox together, lay them out and see if child can match them up, all different kinds; dressing dolls or teddy bears.

I don't know if she likes picture books or being read to. An author by the name of Jan Brett has some neat books that tell a story, and then usually on the boarder of each page, there's another situation going on. Her art is great and kids can pick up many things just by looking at the boarder of each page. Jan Brett has a web-site too of easily printable pages of some of the characters that are in her stories. You can usually get her books at the library in the picture book section. On her web-site there is also an animal safari (the last time I was there) and you may be able to print the animals off twice and allow your child to color them and then do match up games with that too.