At the bottom of this blog post we list recommended books to read with toddlers who have ASD
Reading to our children is a time-honored parenting tradition. Experts in education and child development are continuously touting the benefits.
These research based benefits include*:
increased communication skills,
a larger vocabulary
stronger child-parent bonds
enhanced imagination
Although they are eager to share this bonding experience, parents of children with autism can often be at a loss when it comes time to engaging their children during story-time. Here are a few of the techniques we have found to be successful with many or our earliest learners and most resistant little readers:
Begin by:
Limiting distractions
Sitting face to face
Reading while your child is seated in a confined space such as a high chair or child-sized desk
Read developmentally appropriate picture books – Children with ASD tend to be very visual and vibrant pictures may be needed to capture their attention
Touch and feel books are great for making reading a multi-sensory experience
Make sound effects when narrating the story – Remember we all learn best when we are having fun!
Additional Tips:
Pull-tabs and books with flaps can be a great way to keep a little one engaged with a story while working on fine motor skills
If you are working on eye contact and your child is highly engaged in the story, pause when it’s time to turn the page and wait to see if they will make eye contact as a request for you to continue
This is a great time to work on following a point as you gesture to interesting images on the pages
Recommended Children’s Books with Toddlers with ASD:
Summer days can be sunny and magical, but they can also leave parents wondering how to keep their kids from climbing the walls.
That’s why having a few go-to warm weather activities can make an otherwise stir crazy stay-at-home afternoon a little more enjoyable. We have found that using daily visual schedules helps ease our kids’ anxiety.
This type of home schedule can help maintain routine and predictability for your child.
There are endless possibilities for at home activities, but these are some of our household favorites!
1. At Home Obstacle Course
There are endless options when creating your own obstacle course. Consider activities you already have, that your child finds exciting, and add a few new items to keep it entertaining.
Components of an at home course:
Take advantage of any stable trees in your backyard and add a few pieces of 4×4 or wall climbing pieces to make climbing steps along the trunk of it, or attach a rope to a branch that can be used to climb up the base as well!
You can make a tree climb as complex or simple as you want! Kiddos will still enjoy conquering a mammoth tree 🙂
Take a portable slide that you might already have and add it to the “course.” Considering it’s summer weather, putting the slide into a kiddie pool makes a fun splash!
Consider the toys you already have around the house, write out the sequence of events in the course, and get racing!
2. Sensory Sandbox
Creating a sensory box can be an indoor or outdoor experience! If you are interested in a traditional sandbox outdoors, here are some fun additions to keep it exciting:
Create a summer recipe book with your child’s favorite meals or baked goods, consisting of at least 5 items that include pictures of the dish and the ingredients!
Have your child brain storm the meals and help with compiling the images into the recipe book/scrap book with you. That way, when you need an interactive activity together, they can pick out their favorite summer snacks/meals and help make them with you!
Fellow blogger Thirty Hand Made Days has some great images and details of ones she has created!
This activity helps teach valuable skills such as following multiple step instructions and team work!
5. Make A Home Garden
The wonders of new life mystify all of us, and it is especially exciting to witness it in the eyes of children!
There are many ways to begin a home garden with your kiddos. Some fun and mostly fool proof items to plant in a garden are herbs and potted plants! Some go-to favorites of ours are the following:
Tomato plants- they are exorbitantly fruitful and often produce en masse! So you won’t have to worry about “nothing showing up”! Make it a weekly outing to the garden to pick a basket full for the week’s meals!
Basil- A generally easy plant to maintain in the home or outside! The magnificent smell provides a sensory experience your child won’t want to miss! They also produce quicker the more they are plucked, so don’t hesitate to have your child pick a few leaves off each week!
Bromelaide Plant- the Bromelaide plant has many varieties, and is a simple indoor plant that can survive even unattended conditions (even though we don’t recommend that! We just know it might be easy to forget them 😉 ). Usually only needing watering about twice per week, this can be a source of beauty, nurturing, and responsibility for your child.
There are limitless options with plants and herbs for your young one to water and nurture, both indoor and outdoor! Learning about nature and adoring its resilience and beauty is fun usually for kids aged pre-school and up! Feel free to comment below with any plants your youngster loves to care for, or other go-to summer activities!
This month we are spotlighting a wonderful team member at Spectrum Autism Services!
Emily Taylor has always had a passion for working with children and helping them reach their potential. In 2016, she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from James Madison University. She then began her career in the field of Autism in the school setting by providing both classroom-based and one-on-one services at a Special Education, Applied Behavior Analysis based school in Maryland.
In 2018, she moved to Fredericksburg where she became a part of the Spectrum family as a Registered Behavior Technician.
It wasn’t until joining Spectrum that Emily truly realized her calling for working in the field of ABA. She is currently enrolled at The University of Southern Maine in pursuit of a Master’s in Educational Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis.
Emily is extremely excited to continue her education and to inspire others to find passion in working in the field of Autism! We are so lucky to have her on our staff.
Pairing is an ongoing process during which behavior technicians familiarize themselves with your child and discover what he or she enjoys. Just as you or I would not want to follow instructions from a stranger, your child is not likely to respond to demands placed by a technician without a positive relationship first being established.
The First Month of ABA Therapy
Behavior technicians will be collecting baseline data for problem behaviors, language, skills, and most importantly– pairing!
The Pairing Process
The process of pairing is important because it allows the technician to become associated with fun activities and highlight preferred items. In this way, your child will be motivated to build a relationship with the technician. This relationship will be the foundation for building “instructional control.” Instructional control simply means that when the technician instructs your child to do something, he or she will do it. Pairing also helps the technician learn about your child’s preferences and gives the worker an idea of what may motivate your child when work tasks begin.
It Looks Like Playing– Is this Useful?
Playing with your child is exactly what pairing should look like! Technicians should be engaging with your child and letting him or her direct the play entirely for the first few sessions. This helps teach your child that the technician is fun and allows the presence of the technician to become reinforcing. Building the relationship between your child and the technician as a fun person (with fun stuff!) before the technician will be able to successfully place demands.
How You Can Tell That Pairing is Working
Pairing is working when your child looks forward to his or her technician coming to your home. While the technician is there, the child enjoys and seeks out engagement with him or her. When they have to leave, the child may become disappointed or ask when he or she will return.
One of the goals of pairing is that your child engages in more “coming toward” behaviors with the technician, rather than “running away” behaviors.
Does Pairing End After the First Month of Therapy?
Nope, pairing is a continual process! Behavior technicians will continue to pair with your child at the beginning of session and during breaks. Continued pairing helps maintain the relationship your child has with his or her technician and strengthen the instructional control the technician has established.
We hope you find this information on ABA therapy and pairing insightful. Feel free to comment with any additional questions!
If you aren’t sure about the signs of Autism in children, you can watch our video from our Youtube channel above. We hope you find this informative.
The M-CHAT mentioned towards the end of our video stands for The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. It is a psychological questionnaire that evaluates risk for autism spectrum disorder in children ages 16–30 months.
Spectrum Autism Services LLC 