For me, shopping for my kids puts me in the holiday spirit. I like to wait and do my shopping in December. Shopping for my daughter is easy. She likes everything. Shopping for my son is always difficult. I want to get him something he will like, but I am also looking at it from a therapy stand point. I tend to look at toys and ask myself "What can this teach him?" I see things that I would absolutely love to get him, but I have to stop and consider how my son would feel about it. There are a lot of toys that boys his age would love, but he could care less.
If you are buying for a special needs child, especially one that is autistic, you may feel like you are hitting your head against a brick wall. You need to think about the child you are buying for. Find out what skills the child's parents are concentrating on. This will give you an idea of what type of toys you should be zeroing in on. There is a book that might help you, too. It is called Smart Play Smart Toys by Stevanne Auerbach.
It offers a lot of great advice about what toys are good for specific areas of development and age. It has information about how to pick out toys at the store, and how to determine whether or not a toy will be a good fit for a child. The author sent me this book to look over, and I think it is a great book to read before you do any more shopping for toys. If you really want to make Christmas special for a child with autism, my best advice is to stop thinking about getting the perfect toy. With my son, the perfect present is not a toy. It is a deck of cards, a bag of Doritos, or a photo album with family pictures in it. My point is, you need to consider what the child likes before buying anything. If it is a toy, great. If it isn't, that's great too. When my son was little, the best part of Christmas was tearing off the wrapping paper. He didn't care about his gifts, he just liked tearing the wrapping paper. Finally, listen to the parents. If they tell you to stay away from certain things, DO NOT go out and buy it anyways. You might think it is adorable, but the child the gift is for won't. In the end, it is the child's opinion and reaction that counts.
3 comments:
Couldn't agree more! So many presents have been passed on to ashelter due to PP total lack of interest. He prefers experiences or gift cards for experiences (bowling, movies, McD), all things we already do, but he then has control of. Our family finally understands and he received a fist full of gift cards this past year. Couldn't have been happier! His favorite present was a series of 11envelopes I gave him, one for each month of the yr (Jan-Nov). They were marked Christmas in Jan, Feb, etc. and each contained a print out of a special mommy & me outing. June was strawberry picking & ice cream; you get the idea. He can't open the envelope until the 1st of the month and this has been an endless source of joy for both of us. Kids just really want special time (at least once they have a Wii). He has already requested them for next yr.
I think that is a wonderful and creative idea. A lot of toys my son has been given, sat for so long, not being used. We would hold on to them in hopes that one day he would show an interest in them. Now, our daughter claims whatever he doesn't like.
Christmas!!! I hate what it has become. Yeah, I always want to find things to do with the stuff MY kids don't need.
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