Individuals with autism tend to be diverse. Therefore, it is difficult to use words such as all or none when describing this group.
ABA Little Tots
Our ABA Little Tots therapists have begun a “Toy Picks” Series. Each therapist has chosen their favorite toy that they like to use during their sessions and have listed the ways you can use the toy and what skills can be taught while playing with the toy. Here are some of their picks:
Sarah’s Pick
My favourite toy to use with clients is the marble tower! Building towers is a great way to foster engineering skills and spatial awareness. The different pieces can be an awesome way to teach colours and sorting skills. Dropping the marbles through the tower helps kids to use fine motor skills and visual tracking. It is an excellent way to demonstrate cause and effect. Kids can get creative with pretend play and use the tower as a slide or jungle gym for character and animal figurines. The toy can be a really fun way to encourage cooperative play and turn taking. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a pretty fun toy for us “big kids” too! |
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Tori’s Pick
My pick is paper. I, personally, love art. It’s fun to draw different characters. Also, drawing is a great way to create landscapes for figurines. Paper is super versatile. You can fold it into all sorts of shapes – ie: paper planes. You can crumple it up and create “boulders.” You can make dress up dolls. You could roll it up into tunnels. I once helped “bake a cake” using different coloured papers. Paper can help teach a number of things: manding/ requesting (draw a blank), tacting/ labelling (that’s a minion), gross motor imitation, fine motor imitation, writing, counting, patterns and sorting, memorization, and it’s a great way to express yourself.
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Cassandra’s Pick
One of my favourite toys to use in session is the Splat Bat! I love bringing the bat into sessions because it encourages a lot of physical play and is a toy that is a lot more fun when you play with it together! It is also super easy for clients to ask for using manding/requesting. There are a lot of different games that I play with clients that include the bat from playing hockey/golf and hitting a ball on the ground with the bat at a target, knocking down bowling pins with the bat, and using it as an obstacle for a car or train track.
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