#autism aba

[autism-activities-blog]

for joint attention and sensory

Life should be fun and that includes learning.

101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger's, and Sensory Processing Disorder by Tara Delaney is an excellent resource for fun and effective activities to teach a variety of skills from communication to fine motor.

The first chapter, titled The How of Engagement provides an excellent explanation of the importance of joint attention and how to master it while infusing language skills and coping with sensory sensitivities.

[autism-activities-blog]

for joint attention skill building

Fruit Snack Treasure Hunts are a great way to teach children to follow an adult point.  First, hide a few pieces around the room.  Then, tell the child to 'look' and point to where one is hidden.  If necessary, to begin, bring the child close to a hidden snack and actually touch the fruit snack with a proximal point.  Work up to being able to make that proximal point more and more distal.  Once child has mastered this, move to using coordinated eye contact to show the location of the snacks.  Of course, this activity assumes the child likes fruit snacks.  If not, pick something that they will love to find.

[autism-activities-blog]

for joint attention skill building

Ball Popper Toys are great for building joint attention skills.  Children enjoy the novelty of the toy/experience, including the waiting in anticipation.  

Responding to their name can be difficult for children with ASD.  Part of this is because many times that we use names are when we want a child to do something or want them to stop doing something.  Saying a child's name and rewarding their look with a fun and novel experience helps to increase response rates.  

You can also use the ball popper to teach children to follow a point.  If the ball ends up behind something or out of sight, you can point to show the child it's location (note:  I would recommend hiding all but one ball to keep the child interacting with you by bringing it back for more).

You can also practice following directions for giving the ball back to you ('can I have the ball', or 'can you put the ball back').

Also look for any opportunities to share a smile or other emotional affect with the child!

[autism-activities-blog]

The Melissa and Doug Magnetic Tow Truck Puzzle is great to practice following simple directives in a fun way (give me car number 2 - awesome - now give me car number 7 - thank you - tickle, tickle).

There is also a fishing version and a bug catching version.