Scouts, dance, piano, sports...?My daughter is 5 and takes ballet. She isn't the most coordinated in the class, but she tries hard and imitates the 3 other girls. She LOVES ballet. We also hope to enroll her in daisy scouts next year. Remember that there are lots of NT kids that don't do well at sports, but when kids are 4 or 5..it doesn't really matter how well they play. In our city they have a special soccer league for special needs kids paired with peers. My daughter also took cooking from parks and rec. One of my friends has an ASD son who is 10. He enjoys art and is constantly taking art classes. He also takes swimming and gymnastics. Scouts are also a good way to interact with other kids, but this probably varies from pack to pack. I am an asst. den mother for my son's den and it is pretty relaxed how we do things (but we are in Hawaii).
My son tried soccer, baseball, and basketball. No to all three. He did just ok during the practices, but when it came to a game he would have major panic attacks. He also doesn't talk to other children, so that wasn't so good either. He just started art club after school and seems to like that, but doesn't interact with the other kids. Swimming has also been good because he doesn't have to talk to anyone but the teacher. Joe loves to paint things that are wood. Anything I can get my hands on at a crafts store or a yard sale that is unpainted, he's game to decorate with junk and paint it. Especially birdhouses, for some reason, which he also likes building simple ones with his Grampa. Luckily this is a cheap hobby. He's also into digging outside to find bugs, and putting them into a bug observing box I found at a teacher's store. I'm interested to see how he does in Boy Scouts when it starts again in the fall. Connor did scouts for one year, and liked it well enough, though he wasn't overly enthused, and didn't care for most of the kids in his pack (typical-he only seems to like other Asperger's-like kids. Gee, I wonder why? ) Activities that have been successful for us are golf, baseball, bowling and chess. This summer, he has agreed to give springboard diving a try, and I may sign him up for gymnastics, as well. As far as what didn't work, soccer was a disaster. He needs sports that are very linear in how they are played. We never tried basketball, because I knew it would be very similar to soccer in that there is not much linear progression. Overall, he does not care for sports that require a lot of running and exertion, so you can see why golf and bowling are big favorites Ooh, CHESS! Someone told me chess is extremely helpful in a social-skills
way... with the "social rules" each piece must follow. Chess is excellent both intellectually and socially. Connor has been playing with a new friend at school recently. He learned to play at an after school chess club that I enrolled him in in the 3rd and 4th grade, and has always enjoyed it.More about chess. We have a "teaching set," with arrows/moves printed on each piece. Highly recommended for beginners! We've tried it all and the most successful has been swimming. It's a personal best sort of sport. You do not have to strategize with teammates or even talk to them. And swimming is EXCELLENT sensory therapy. DS competes regularly at swim meets (he's 15 and has competed since age 9) Our son liked Cub Scouts the 2 years he participated, but the ADULTS were mean to him (he didn't get that they were being mean). DH and I were told repeatedly that he didn't "belong" in a typical pack and we should investigate a special needs pack. Well, there ARE NO SPECIAL NEEDS PACKS around here. DS was well-behaved and was totally capable of doing all the projects, and did them. BUt he didn't speak normally, so the adults thought he shouldn't be near their kids. I thought the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were organizations that taught kids good values. I guess that they don't only reject homosexuals, but anyone who doesn't fit their idea of what's normal. =o( phooey on mean scouts! I was lucky to grow up with an awesome GirlScout troop, and always looked forward to being a leader myself someday. But now I'm struggling with a few of the organization's values. Still, I know every individual troop is different, depending on the leaders. I mean, aside from the values emphasized, some troops are nicer, cheaper, snobbier, more fun, bigger, smaller, etc. ;o) Another scouting alternative is AWANA, but unfortunately they aren't so outdoorsy anymore - depends on where you live. Ooh, SWIMMING. Definitely. Required! At the Little Gym you could pay monthly which was much better for us rather than paying for the whole semester. They also have free play times that you can bring all the kids to and they just run wild. I highly reccommend it, worth every penny and got me out of the house. Holly, I can't remember where you live but Liam and I go to My Gym. They work on gross and fine motor skills, socialization, and confidence. It is a lot of fun. They have sibling classes so you could bring both Jair and Lia at the same time. I have been taking Liam since he was 6 months old. The instructors there are very understanding about Liam and you really get a chance to compare your kids to others their age. I was told by my EI coordinator that these types of programs are great for ASD kids. It's never too early!! If there is no My Gyms in your area you could try Gymboree or Little Gym. We have a few different gyms like that. I should do that! The only thing is the money, but it's only fair to do something for him as well as Briana. I'm thinking about babysitting, actually... I think I'll make this a new post... =o) I do like the Gym Idea! I know all ASD kids are different, but I am curious to know what kind of activities yours might enjoy. The big basketball story started me wondering! Jair doesn't have any particular interests yet... that I can see... but if nothing else, I'd like him to be in a scouts program, and/or learn to play a musical instrument. 
Editing (again!) to add - How could I have forgotten? Jair loves FOOD. He likes to watch me cook, label food, bring me the can opener, and put food in people's mouths. He's going to be a Chef! I think that if you can find a good scout program that your child enjoys then sign them up for it. I was in scouts from the age of 5-17 and made it from the lowest rank all the way to the highest rank (eagle scout). I really learned alot about social interactions and leadership. We take Michael (3 1/2) to a gymnastics class geared to children with ASD. He does AWESOME! There is a lot of repetition which helps him, and he LOVES the trampolines, balance beams, rope swings, etc. He's really gross-motor oriented. In fact, the assistant asked me the other day if he'd ever taken gymnastics before (he hasn't - he's only 3!! He also LOVES to swim, but he didn't do very well in the class he was enrolled in last summer. The kids were a lot older, they had to sit on the wall and wait their turn, etc. - NOT for him!! I think that he could probably learn on his own, but being that we're in Florida where there are pools and canals everywhere, I'd feel better if someone actually taught him. I heard about a woman who does private lessons and works with kids with disabilities - she's reasonably priced, too, so I think we are going to look into that this summer. Ryan is almost 5 and nowhere ready to play any kind of sports...just doesn't have the attention span or interest in it yet I would love to see him in karate or soccer in the future. Only time will tell. Somehow I get the feeling he would rather take a class in music instead, and thats fine whatever makes him happy. I love scouts and am a webelo's leader. A disability child can do loan scouting as well. This means a scout not part of a den or troop. I feel though it has helped our son a lot and he loves this group rather than the boys at school. Little gym's worked great for him also. They also allowed to move up when he was ready. Both these have helped his motor skills get better. Look for Special olympics lots of big towns offer sports a league just for SE kids. Baseball is the big one and the just play each other. Our 4 year old son goes to Little Gym (loves it but has trouble at times staying with the group - he has an AWESOME instructor that helps him out), takes swimming at the Y (loves it too), and he belongs to a music therapy class that is geared towards kids with different kinds of challenges - ASD, Down's, etc...(the therapists have degrees in special education and music therapy). He really likes to help me in the kitchen and I have been debating on whether or not to let him take a kids cooking class (and have a therpaist or myself go with him to make sure he doesn't crawl into an oven or juggle knives).My son loves any type of gym class, as long as there is not too much structure. (He is good at physical stuff, so that is why he enjoys it.) He was in a music class. I think he enjoyed the music, but it was too structured for him. Our next class will probably be swimming. I'm sure with the scouting, it's like anything else and just depends on if you get a good troop or not. They recently had "scout day" at our church and the scout leader of the troop was a 14 year old boy who was blind. He stood in front of the church and gave a speech reading from Braille notes. It was awesome to see how the other scouts treated him - they helped him up the stairs and to the lecturn and treated him with dignity and respect. It made me cry just seeing how they all interacted - it was so sweet. I think under the right leadership, a scout troop (boy or girl) would be a great place for special kids to form "normal" peer relationships. My oldest is in a girl scout troop and I think the girls in her troop would be very accepting and friendly toward a ASD or mentally challenges girl. I hope Ansley can do fun activities or have hobbies one day too. At this point, she's no where near even comprehending anything like that. I hope with time her mental age will "catch up" enough to be able to at least participate in some kind of activity. Places like the Little Gym didn't work out for us after she got to a certain age (around 2.5) b/c the other kids were just SO far beyond her in capabilities - but I couldn't put her in a "baby" class b/c she was too big. |
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net |
