Games for Autists: Developing with Joy
Fencing off from the world, the child gradually loses the ability to perceive information by ear and loses the ability to learn. Restoring communication with the outside world through the ear is of enormous importance. Sound games with an autistic child will help in this.
The independent play of an autistic child is significantly different from what and how his peers usually play. Therefore, games for autists are designed to solve not only the problem of pleasant leisure, but also to carry the elements of learning, to be developmental.
To find the most interesting games for children with early childhood autism, let's figure out what skills your toddler is lacking in developing.
Sound games for autistic children
The reasons for the development of autism, revealed in the System-Vector Psychology of Yuri Burlan, indicate that the ear is the most sensitive zone of autistic children. It is through the stressful impact on this zone that the small owner of the sound vector receives the mental trauma that provokes early childhood autism.
Fencing off from the world, the child gradually loses the ability to perceive information by ear and loses the ability to learn. Restoring communication with the outside world through the ear is of enormous importance. Sound games with an autistic child will help in this.
Examples of sound games with an autistic child:
- "What's the noise?" Select a few objects that are making soft sounds (too loud can hurt your baby). It can be a rustling brown paper, a quiet bell, a quiet maraca. Let your child study objects, listen to how they sound, remember their names. Then turn away and "make some noise" with one of them. The child's task is to guess what exactly sounded. This game for autistic children sets the stage for focusing on sounds.
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"High Low". This play exercise with your autistic child requires a toy or real piano. As you press the top keys, tell your child that it is raining like this. Help the child raise their hands up by commenting, "This is a high-pitched sound." Then, by pressing the lower keys, tell the baby that the bear is stomping this way, commenting: "This is a low sound." When the child learns the difference, play the sounds and encourage the child to perform the desired movements. In the future, you can ask him to independently find low and high sounds on the instrument.
- "Therapeutic classics". This game with autistic children will undoubtedly become one of the favorites. Especially for those kids who, in addition to the sound vector, also have a visual one. Prepare some classic audio based on children's fairy tales. This could be Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (from the ballet The Nutcracker), an excerpt from The Sleeping Beauty, etc. Also prepare the appropriate pictures.
While listening to the recording, show the child the picture describing it. If the child wants, you can dance to the music together. When you have mastered three or more recordings (fragments may not be long), turn on the sections one by one and ask the child to guess which picture fits the music. If your child likes to draw, you can encourage him to draw another picture himself.
Remember that the most important rule of any exercise or play with an autistic child is sound ecology. Speak in low tones. Choose quiet instruments, turn on the recording quietly so that the child listens.
Sensory play with an autistic child
The sound vector is dominant in the human psyche. The sound trauma received by a child provokes distortions in the development of all other vectors given to him from birth. Often such children experience a sensory deficit of precisely those sensitive zones that correspond to its vectors. Sensory play in autism will help fill the child's shortage.
For example, a dermal baby with childhood autism tends to get tactile sensations, restless behavior is characteristic of him (Motor stereotypes and excessive tactile sensitivity in a child with autism: reasons and recommendations for parents).
Can be used:
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Outdoor games for an autistic skin child, especially with tactile elements. You can make "snowballs" out of cotton wool or soft fabric and play with them. With the help of a large piece of blue fabric, arrange a "sea", teach a child to make "waves" holding the edges. If there are two adults, they can swing the baby on the fabric, like in a hammock.
- Developing finger games, finger paints, modeling from plasticine or salt dough are also suitable for a skin child with childhood autism. Just be ready to alternate sedentary activities with outdoor games.
- Playing with water will help to significantly compensate for the tactile shortage of such a child with autism. For example, throw a foam party in the bathroom. You can build palaces from foam or make a funny hat on your head - everything is at the mercy of your imagination. When out-of-town, use sand and other unstructured materials to provide tactile play for your autistic child.
For a visual child, the eyes are a sensitive sensor, so the following games are suitable for a visual child with autism:
- Bright didactic manuals. The eye of such a child must be taught as early as possible to perceive form and color. It can be “geometrics” or sorters, the game “add a square” and other bright didactic material (Life is illusory and real: special symptoms in children with autism).
- Drawing, coloring and applique work is vital for such a kid.
- The natural emotionality of such a child can be realized through playing a puppet theater (purchase dolls that dress on a hand or finger). Variants with dressing up in different costumes, "reincarnation" in different images are also perfect.
Each vector will have its own set of sensory games for an autistic child (Practical application of Yuri Burlan's system-vector psychology for sensory integration of children with autism spectrum disorders).
Contact development and speech games for autists
Man is a sensual and conscious form of life. Fencing off from the world even in preschool age, a child with childhood autism loses not only a conscious, but in many respects also a sensual connection with other people. Games to develop emotional contact will help restore it. Speech and speech therapy components can also be easily added to them.
- "Into the hole - boo." You can start with simple, well-known nursery rhymes. The main task is to achieve the formation of the child's emotional response. Later, you can pause and let the child voice the climax by himself: "Boo!" Such "dialogue" play in autism largely contributes to the formation of the child's future verbal communication skills.
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"We went by car." You can also teach a child with childhood autism to imitate movements through play:
Adult: We drove by car (turns the steering wheel)
Child: BBC (turns the wheel)
Adult: We were driving a steam locomotive (movements of the arms back and forth)
Child: Chukh-chukh-chukh (similar movements).
Here, the child is required not only to maintain a dialogue, but also to repeat the movements. Use the help of a second adult if necessary. The ability to imitate is the key to the formation of future skills in social orientation and the ability to learn in general.
- "My cheerful, sonorous ball." It is equally important for a child with childhood autism to learn the skill of passing turns in play. Passing the ball in a circle, the children each say one word of the rhyme. When the verse is over, you can draw the group's attention: “Who has the ball? Who is it? What is your name? " (the rest of the children call). Or: “Who are you? What's your name?" (the one who has the ball answers).
Communication game for autistic children is a vital necessity. As for speech therapy games, if the child's speech apparatus is impaired, the speech therapist should conduct classes.
Mom is the main person
The influence of play on speech and development of an autistic child cannot be overestimated. However, the key factor that affects the development and behavior of the baby, especially in preschool age, is the condition of the mother.
The results of the child's withdrawal from the diagnosis of autism are associated with the fact that the mother:
- By accurately defining the child by vectors, he chooses the optimal model of upbringing.
- Get rid of any negative states and stress of your own.
Give your child a chance for rehabilitation at the free online training on systemic vector psychology by Yuri Burlan. Register using the link.
