Taking Multi-Vitamins

Autism Community Connection=

Autismcc Yahoo Group Responds!

Our group is comprised of parents, educators and professionals in the autism community.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We welcome parents to ask question= s so that together we may share our wealth of collected knowledge and insight.

www.autismcommunityconnec= tion.com - http://health.= groups.yahoo.com/group/autismcc/

Topic: Ideas to Make the Holidays Fun for= Kids on the Autism Spectrum

Holidays= in General

Melissa said,

We have always found it helpful to = have a room our son can go to when he needs to get away from everyone - his room here at home or the guest room or basement at my parents house, for example= . We don't require him to sit down and eat with everyone because it is just too = loud and distracting for him. Everybody understands now, but it wasn't always ea= sy. I think you just have to

learn to say "this is what wor= ks for us" gently but firmly and then change the subject. People who have= a problem with it will just have to deal with it, you know?=

Valentine’s Day

Does your child have difficul= ty paying attention when making fancy valentine's or doing valentine crafts? You can still have fun and get some homemade cards for grandmas and grandpas. You can cut out construction paper or buy the paper la= ce hearts at the craft store. Now buy stickers that interest your child. My son chose cowboys and trains. Buy some generic heart sticker= s. Have your child put stickers on each paper or heart along with at lea= st one heart sticker. If your child is adverse to the "stickiness&q= uot; of the sticker, he or she can tell you where to place it. Now you hav= e a no fuss, personalized valentine.

Valentine Mini Unit - from Tin Snips, includes Valentine craft communication board, Valentine themed math pages and much more.

Valentine Crafts - great Valentine crafts, recipes and more at DLTK, <= span style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:ArialMT;mso-hansi-font-famil= y: ArialMT;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>KidsDomain and FamilyFun

History of Valentine's Day - the His= tory Channel offers a history of this holiday along with video clips about Valentine's Day and love letters from the President.

<= span style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";text-deco= ration: none;text-underline:none'>Hurt Feelings on Valentine's Day - Valentine's Day Reconsidered - Dealing with Valentine Rejection - Dealing with tough Valentine issues from Family Education

Easter

Easter Survival Guide - Terri Mauro, y= our guide to Parenting Special Needs, gives you the dos and don'ts to make East= er an enjoyable experience.

Gluten Free Candy - This is a link to lists provided by manufacturers and parents on safe glu= ten free candy for your child. Also from Terri Mauro

TinSnips Easter - Different Easter activities and links to more activities from TinSnips. Includes an Ea= ster communication board when doing an Easter egg dying activity.

Everything Easter - Family Fun has it all including recipes, egg decorating ideas, baskets and crafts, printables, games and how to videos.

Alternatives to Using Egg Dye= - If your child does not like dipping eggs or getting messy, try some of these ideas:

Cool Color Crayons - While your egg is still warm you can take a crayon and melt swirls on your egg. That really is cool!

Sponge Stamped Eggs - You can hold the egg and your child can use sponge stamps with tempera pa= ints to make a decoration.

Stamped Eggs - Once your egg is completely cool, bring out your stamps and stamp pad. Let your child gently stamp the = egg. Try and find small stamps so the entire picture can make it on the surface of the egg.

The No-Stress Easter Egg Hunt - Tired of going = to Easter egg hunts where your child is lucky to get even one egg before the faster kids snatch them all up? You can do your own Easter egg hunt w= ith just your own children or as many neighborhood children as you like and everyone is guaranteed a fun time! How you ask? It's simple. Have your neighbors give you 12 filled eggs for every child attending your Easter egg hunt. On the day of the hunt, each child is instructe= d to pick up only 12 eggs. To make it easier, suggest to parents that their child come with an empty egg carton (they can decorate it if they want). When their carton is filled they are done.

We have a large field in the = back of our home. Last year we did this with about 20 neighborhood kids. Parents also donated a bag of individual wrapped candy that we scatte= red along with the eggs. To make it interesting, 30 eggs had a number in = it to correspond to a small prize. We had extras on hand to make sure ev= ery child won something. The neighborhood kids had a lot of fun and my son could pick his eggs at his own leisurely pace.

Halloween

Back when my family was in the LADSE school district area, my son's ECE class

went out into the neighborhood and practiced trick or treating along with the teacher's and aides. They gave m= e a key ring with two-inch boardmaker pics that outlined the process for him. D= ress up, knock on door, say trick or treat, get candy, say thank you. The key ri= ng really helped because he loved to flip through the pictures and remember the sequence. And then it was cool to him to actually do the sequence for real.= We went from no trick or treating, to a couple houses to now full blown trick = or treating and picking out his costume by age 7.

If you have a gluten free child you might convince him/her to donate the candy.

I think some scout organizations do that and I remember Dist. 204 Indian Prairie pre-k having a drop off for ca= ndy. For those kids that don't want to venture out I would also suggest that the= y be the official candy giver. We buy trinkets from Oriental Trading company to = hand out and I'm always on the look out for "close out" toys--you can still be gluten free and have fun on either side of the door.

Gluten Free Candy - This is a link to lists provided by manufacturers and parents on safe glu= ten free candy for your child. Also from Terri Mauro

Christma= s

Kristin responded,

I think I am just beginning to get comfortable with the holidays again. This year I didn't buy any toys I want= ed the kids to like – I bought toys I thought they'd want. Small shift of words, big shift of emphasis.

For the first time since the diagno= sis 5 (!!!!) years ago, we made Christmas cookies this year. But they don't loo= k a thing like Christmas cookies - they look exactly like chocolate chip cookies made from ready-made dough. My kids love to scoop the dough out of the tub = and, more importantly, it's the only kind of cookie my son eats and he loves the= m. Better to do something together than have a plate of beautiful cookies that= no one cares about.

Dawn offered,

Our issue is always the food because both of our kids are REAL picky eaters. We

ran into all sorts of comments from well meaning relatives concerned over nutrition or that we would let them l= eave the table while barely touching their food. Or worse yet, relatives asking = what they could make my kids and my suggestions limited to chicken nuggets, PB&a= mp;J or KFC mashed potatoes! I was tired of the kids getting by on a dinner roll, and glass of milk all evening so now I just pack my own meals for them. I t= ell the relatives not to worry about the kids. I offer them the food that is th= ere and if they don't want to eat it then they have their alternative.

We started a new tradition this yea= r. I made a checklist of our family members

for each kid. Then we headed to the Dollar Store= where they got to pick out their own presents for everyone. Thinking about what someone would like was difficult for my son so I would give him a couple choices for each person and he would pick from there. He enjoyed looking at= his gifts when we got home. Although he was a little distracted during the wrap= ping phase (boring!) he was very excited when it was done that these were all his gifts to give to relatives. They just can't wait to hand these out to every= one.

Laurie suggested,

Here is our secret to a happy Chris= tmas morning. We buy replacement items of toys, books, or videos that our child already has and know she loves. Anything 'new' is too scary or of no interest to her. She used= to run away, literally, and hide in her room when we tried to force her to open gifts and participate with the rest of us. Now, she opens quite enthusiastically with the rest of us, and greets each gift as if it's an old friend she hasn't seen in awhile.

Another strategy we've employed is = the 'joy in numbers' trick. When flashlights were her 'thing', that year = she got a huge box filled with about a dozen flashlights. You should have seen the grin. Last year, she got a complete replacement set of = the Disney Singalong videos from various vendors on Ebay (all used so they were cheap). She's also gotten entire boxes full of small rubber/plas= tic Sesame Street characters -- again, you can buy in 'lots' from Ebay for a song. This year, she is getting a box full of the cheapest CD players= we can find, about $9.99 each, which I'm betting she's going to enjoy, too.&nb= sp; For some reason, when one is good, a LOT of the same thing can be even bett= er.

That's it for my happy holiday memories. Now that I do so much holiday shopping on Ebay, I make lots of interesting new acquaintances from around the world, too.

Susie said,

I suggest that you have them open t= heir presents a little later in the celebration, and in private. Perhaps they can play with the toys (assuming that's what they receive) alone for a bit, and then either thank = the giver themselves, if they are able to, or you can tell "Aunt Jean"= ; or whoever, that "Johnny's having such a great time playing with (fill in= the blank). Thank you so much". It seems to me that all children (and most adults) would need some downtime in such a large gathering, I don't believe= you should have to make apologies or feel guilty about that.

Melissa answered,=

As for the holidays, we have always found it helpful to have a room where our son can go to when he needs to get away from everyone - his room here at home or the guest room or basement at= my parent’s house. We don't require him to sit down and eat with everyone because it is just too loud and distracting for him. Everybody understands = now, but it wasn't always easy. I think you just have to learn to say, "Thi= s is what works for us" gently but firmly and then change the subject. Peop= le who have a problem with it will just have to deal with it, you know?=