Gift ideas for 6 y.o. boy with autism

Nick,

PM Darth550. He has GREAT experience in areas related to your question.

I'm sure he'd help.

Mark

 

Is it possible to set him up with a proper home fish aquarium?

 

How about a 'Bubble Tube'? You can get them in various sizes with different colour lights

 

I've heard that children with Autism tend to like toy trains actually, like Thomas the Tank. Obviously, every kid is different so this could be hit or miss, but as far something that has had success with other children in the past this may be worth a shot. \

FWIW I had a conversation with a friends mom who is a school teacher and has had children with Autism in her class. She said this is a thing that she's used in the past to relate with them. I googled it and came up with decent seach results...

 

My son loves Thomas the Tank Engine to the point that I had to have a behavioral program put in place to ween him off of it due to over stimulation. Things like toy cars and army men just make him stim as well.



Eric now reads a book every day so I find myself at Barnes and Noble all the time. He has a Nintendo DS and a Leapster and loves them but didn't like the Wii. Oh, he also loves Silly putty and Mr. Potato Head. Everything he does has to be some sort of a lesson to do any good. Legos, Lincoln Logs and games like Trouble and Chutes and Ladders are useful to the behaviorists. You might wanna try asking his mother to ask them what they are using these days.

This is a good place to look as well: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/home/home.jsp

 

future generation of car enthusiasts, good to see

 

agreed, my son is 6 and has aspergers, high functioning autism. but his obsession with trains and thomas was such that we have every single train, track and table. now he's really into military vehicles and loves Jets/rockets. the one thing to keep in mind with children with any form of autism is that they are very literal and technical or detail orientated so games or toys that would require non-lateral thinking or imgination is lost on them, they simply do not understand the concept as to them their world is absolute and concrete. ask an autistic child what color they are wearing and they will answer with a list of every color on them at that moment, and consider it a normal response.

right now I'm working on a behvioral program for video games, he's into the army men games, the plastic guys.

so in short talk to the parents to find what he's into and don't be worried if the toy is advanced for their age, one thing they love is detail so i have found the toys that are geared for adolescents and adults to work better.

 

Scareletrix. There is no kid who does not like Scarelectrix.

 

If you're in Chicago you can check out this place--we've been in there a few times and it has a pretty great concept

http://www.icanflourish.com/