The best activities for autism kids without any toys!

My kid has sensory issues, but we never really understood what this all meant until we went to some counseling and therapy sessions. I knew he had something going on and I heard others talk about it but I didn’t understand it through my son. People told me about it but I was like what does this even mean? How do I change it and the truth is you can’t really change it especially over night. You have to continue to work and allow him to get the sensory input he needs.

One of the biggest things that I hated was that my son would hold my ear all the time especially when drinking milk or cuddling at night. It drove me nuts, but it was part of his sensory that he needed; it gave him calm feelings that he needed. I couldn’t stop it and. I learned that I shouldn’t ever try to stop it, he needed it and this shall pass someday.

The other big sensory item was that he was always climbing on me, he wanted cuddles and kisses, etc. Believe me I was okay with this too, but I hated it sometimes when I wanted to just chill. I learned that this too is also sensory. He LOVES pressure.. we learned this and I needed to keep fulfilling that in order to make him happy and move forward, otherwise it would end in a tantrum.

So let’s first talk about what sensory really is. It is the difficult processing everyday sensory such as any of our senses; they can be over or under-sensitive at anytime. They love to explore all their senses.. They see things differently than all of us and they love getting simulated with certain senses.

How can we help with sensory issues/ It really depends on the sensory items that they might need, so you need to adjust accordingly, here are some items that work for my son who loves movement, music and the pressure. So we had to incorporate all of these ideas in our daily life and activities:

Ring around the Rosie – He would start spinning whenever he wanted it and we would sing the song. He loves it and it caught his attention and would keep doing it several times.

Patty cake – This is another one where we would sing and exaggerate the “roll” and he would love it! He would giggle everyday we said roll AND did it with our arms! He would start to roll on his own in his brain whenever to get his fulfillment.

Lots of climbing and jumping on momma – We love “rough playing” we throw him on the couch (gently) or cover him with pillow and blankets playing peek a boo, and he loves it. This is one of the best things we can do, he can’t ever seem to get enough of it!

How can you tell if they like it? Well … they really giggle and give you the eye contact that they want! They ask for more in non verbal communication by showing eye contact, or giggles. They will grow out of these and will want something else as time goes on, but for now these have all worked so well with us!