It’s not all about fancy therapies and learning to help your autistic child to “interact” and “engage”. Sometimes just having some good old fashioned fun with your autistic youngster is in order. If they happen to be developing critical skills while you’re doing it, so much the better.
According to an article by Elizabeth Scott on suite101.com:
Many of the classical board games found in retail stores can be used as aids to help children with autism learn or further develop various skills.
Children with autism often need extra help learning certain skills. Parents will find that playing board games with their kids can become a creative and fun way for them to learn. Children with autism like following rules, so they usually respond well to playing board games. Board games can be used as aids for developing social, language, problem solving, motor and math skills.
So what are you waiting for? Go grab that dusty old Chutes and Ladders box out of the closet and spend a little quality time with your kid. You both just might learn something in the process.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yup. All those skills like sharing, taking turns, encouraging others, fair play, magnanimous when you win…….what a whole heap of social skills the humble board game can be.
Cheers
Maddy,
I’ll second that! Lil’ B. isn’t quite old enough for board games yet, but a lot of his breakthroughs have come because of play-time.