Contents:
- Medical Video: Improving your child's fine motor and gross motor skills
- Choice of games for children with autism
- Which must be considered before buying children's toys
Medical Video: Improving your child's fine motor and gross motor skills
Playing is not only fun for children, but also can support growth and development. Experts believe that the right game can help children with special needs to develop their abilities to the maximum. However, choosing a game for children with autism or with special needs can indeed be said to be easy and difficult. This certainly will be a challenge for parents.
Even so, you don't worry. Find out various games for autistic children and those with special needs in this article.
Choice of games for children with autism
When choosing toys for autistic children, adjust to their developmental abilities rather than their age. For example, if a child experiences delays in speaking or other social skills, then look for toys that can encourage their development in this regard.
This is done to encourage children to explore and reduce the risk of frustration or tantrums while playing. The reason is, children with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty in focusing attention, understanding abstract concepts, and learning like other children.
Here are some choices of games for children with autism that you can offer to your child.
- Puzzle. Playing puzzles is an easy and fun way to train children's cognitive functions. Not only that, this game can also help your child's brain to think harder in solving a problem and not give up easily.
- Building blocks. This is a basic game that is widely known to stimulate children's growth, especially creativity, the ability to think in a coherent manner, and the flexibility of socializing.
- Drawing and coloring. Both of these games are a powerful way to introduce color differences to children and practice their fine motor skills. Not only that, through drawing they can also pour a variety of imagination, creativity, even their hearts.
- Picture card (flash card). This game has the benefit of stimulating children's memory to recognize numbers, letters, animals, flowers, body parts or other things.
- Toy / plasticine candles. This game includes educational toys that help children's motor movements to develop well and stimulate children's imagination and creativity. Diverse and attractive color choices make many kids love this game.
- Lego. Playing lego will teach children to be creative to build a building and shape. Not only that, Lego also helps train coordination between eyes and hands and increases the concentration of children.
- Soft doll or pillow. Children with autism may have to struggle to calm down when they feel uncomfortable. Therefore, soft dolls with very soft fur can accompany and help control your child's emotions during tantrums. The reason is, children with autism usually have a sense of touch that is very sensitive. Dolls or pillows with attractive shapes such as dinosaurs, elephants, or bears can also train children to imagine.
Which must be considered before buying children's toys
At present there are many toy manufacturers that market their products with high educational toy jargon and the like. At first glance, that does sound promising. Especially as parents, of course, want to give the best things for children.
However, you must be vigilant. The reason is, a 2005 report from the Kaiser Foundation found that many of the claim procedures for children's toys were mere lies to gain profit in the market. Most of the toys offered actually use gadgets with technology that actually kill children's creativity.
So, before you buy toys for children, you have to make sure if these toys are toys that are recommended for children with autism so it is safe to play with them.