Play To Grow! Book Review and Giveaway Closed

I hear the same question over and over again from parents that have just received a diagnosis of autism for their child. It is the same question that I had when I first knew there was something going on and is still a question that I continue to ask. The question is “What can I do at home to help my child.” This is not an easy question to answer. Each child is different. Their strengths and weaknesses are different. What works for one child may not work for another.

So what do you do? You can start with the book Play To Grow! by Tali Field Berman and Abby Rappaport. They are both Son-Rise Program teachers and have put together this book of activities that you can do with your child in our home. These activities target different areas that autistic children tend to struggle with. These include, fine motor skills, communication, eye contact and socialization. Most of the items that are needed for these activities can be found around your home or easily purchased.

This book is not a manual that has to be followed to the letter for results. Some activities will not be appropriate for your child. An activity might center around a skill your child has already mastered. It might be an activity that your child or even you may not like. In those cases, skip the activity and do another one. You need to be able to adapt some of these activities to meet the needs of your child.

The activity for Find the Hidden Treasure would be perfect for my son. It involves placing one bag into another one with an item hidden in the smallest. The bag should be closed with with either a zipper, button, or snap. It depends on what your child is able to do and is not able to do. For my son, getting the bags open to get something he wants would be a strong motivator.

An activity that my son would not like would be I Can Dress Up All by Myself! This activity involves dressing up in the clothes of a family member. My son wouldn’t enjoy this. Although he likes to wear my husband’s t-shirt’s, his desire to dress up as dad would not be a strong enough motivator for him to be bothered with buttoning up a shirt that belongs to daddy.

I love this book. I wish that I could have Tali or Abby work with my son. My son is so stubborn and there are not a lot of things that will motivate him enough to get him to accomplish a task. He is very intelligent, but does not want to demonstrate his intelligence. I lucked out in finally being able to potty train him. After two months of having his favorite things taken away from him and only getting them back after demonstrating independent toileting, he decided it was time to be potty trained. It was always easier for him to just wet his pull-up. He knew when he needed to go to the bathroom, but had no motivation to do so. We always had to tell him, and it would be hit and miss when we guessed. Now we don’t tell him or remind him. He is out of pull-ups completely. His school struggles with trying to establish motivators for him, too.

This book has inspired me to try to work harder on coming up with a practical list of motivators. It is the core of accomplishing success with the activities in it. It won’t be easy, but I think I can make some of these activities really work for us. I also know that it will take time. Progress tends to come to us slowly and in spurts.

Now, for the giveaway. Yippee! One winner will get a copy of Play To Grow! To read and use with their child. This Giveaway will run from June 28, 2009 to July 11, 2009. The winner will be announced on July 12, 2009. This giveaway is for USA and Int'l. Below are rules for entering this giveaway. Good luck.

• MAIN RULE – Leave a comment telling me why you want this book. (remember if this rule is not followed then no others will count) This gives you one entry. Make sure you leave your email for me to contact you.

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