Hey everyone,

We often laugh in our home as we rehash events that took place in the playroom, but today I couldn't stop laughing enough to tell the story. I had brought in a game I had made, including a book titled with stickers that said "SUPER SPELLS". However when I first walked in, the beautiful boy was holding himself and wiggling. I offered him the toilet, when he looked at me I again reminded him that he could put his pee in the toilet (pee being an American word, English folk might say wee). He said "P?" I said yes, let's go put our pee in the toilet. He then proceeded to take the letter P off of my spell book and put it in the toilet! I had to giggle, it was so sweet.

My friends with autism has been so literal this week that it has been a challenge for him to stretch his imagination to symbolic play. I was often told today that objects were not what I was saying they were. "That is not a fire hose, it's a drum stick", "that is not a map, its paper", "that is not a screw driver its a bubble wand". Every time I would agree with him, and suggest we could pretend it was the new object. Most of the time that idea was shot down. This did not mean I could not try again. What I love about the playroom is that the child always has full control, but I can always try again later! And even if it doesn't happen today, there is always tomorrow!

Wishing you all a fun and persistently challenging day!
love,
Katrina

Hi Everyone,  this is my good friend Connor, he LOVES angry birds!  Here is a game that I created for him that can be used in so many ways.  An easy place to start is to use it as an attention span game (or physical participation) in which whatever you hit when you throw the ball you get that payoff (in this case angry bird tickles.)
         I created this board by drawing a bullseye and putting velcro in the white areas and on the opposite side of a few light balls. (You can play without the velcro, you will just need to pay attention to where the ball hits the board.)  Then I drew some Angry Birds and put them around the board (angry birds are Connor's motivation, use whatever motivates your child - songs titles, words like tickles, squeezes, or maybe types of dancing (experiment with words and pictures to see what your child likes best - I find pictures more fun myself).  If you want to elongate the game and if your child is willing, have them help in some way (choosing the motivations, or coloring the pictures - Connor told me how to color each bird, so we worked on language skills too!)
     Tape the bullseye to the wall. Then model the game a few times by throwing the ball and wherever it hits on the board give your child that motivation.  After you've done it a few times ask your child to throw the ball to pick the motivation.  It's that simple, and fun!

ways to vary the game:

• Wear a velcro headband over your eyes to keep the balls on when not in use, to encourage your child to look more
  
• Use one motivation such as tickles or squeeze and have body parts (places to tickle) taped to the board
• For children in higher stages, have numbers on the board and throw 3 balls, add the numbers up that all 3 balls hit and have a correlating sheet that has motivations for different numbers (e.g. 3 = singing "in the jungle", 5 = making up your own handshake, 7= doing silly faces, etc.

Have fun, let me know how it goes, and if you have a creative way you varied the game, please share!
love,
Katrina