With Christmas coming up I wanted to write a little bit about autism and gift giving. I think the number one thing I wanted to say is don’t feel like your gift needs to “help” the child overcome their autism. Gifts can just be gifts, it doesn’t have to be “hmmm what will help them expand their vocabulary or what will help them socialize better” because after all kids with autism are still kids and like the stuff that all other kids like too.
Find out what their “thing” is, a lot of kids with autism have their favorites and their favorites can be VERY favorite compared to other kids. One of Adrian’s favorites has always been Spiderman and all our family always new that and at this point I think we’ve had most Spiderman things that are out there.
If the parent requests things that can be helpful in expanding vocabulary I recommend books. Lincoln is really into the Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See books, there is a few different ones and he’s getting all of them for Christmas. Rhyming or sing-song books are great. I’ve talked about Signing Time videos on my blog many a time but this would be a great gift too. All of my kids love Signing Time.
Don’t be afraid to ask the parents about age level for the toys. Some kids with autism put things in their mouths past the standard 3 years of age that’s usually on boxes and that could be a choking hazard for kids with autism. Adrian still puts things in his mouth occasionally and Lincoln is 3 1/2 and is really bad about putting things in his mouth still.
Don’t be offended if the child with autism isn’t into opening gifts. Many years Adrian either didn’t open without help or he opened the first one and was so interested in it that he didn’t want to concentrate on opening the other gifts.
If you are looking to give a gift to parents who are raising a child with autism, consider offering to babysit!
