Play time for who?

[mrsjones]

:rolleyes: Hi. I am the stepmother to a wonderful set of 4 year old twin boys. One is autistic. I have visited with them on occation (their real mother is very protective-understandably) She is also very tired. I also have two sets of twin daughters. The boys have come to stay with us for a while, maybe longer for the one who is autistic. It has been a learning experience these last couple of weeks. We already have him feeding himself, keeping his shoes on for a little longer than usual, and peeing on the potty. I am also working at a daycare, and he can get overwhelmed (I guess would be the word) with so many things going on at one time. Are there any suggestions or websites that could give ways to "play" with him. He runs back and forth and hits everyone in his path and sometimes himself. We try to stop him every time and shake hands, but he does it so much, so fast that it is hard to keep up. Once we are home, he is a little more settled but I still need ideas to continue on the right track and to keep my own sanity. He is so sweet and I can tell he knows what to do and not to do. He seems to look around at times to see if I am looking. He is a sneaky fellow, I'm falling in love with him. I'll listen to any advise offered on how to love and nurture him in the best way. :p

[Bethintx]

Sounds like he needs a quiet place to go. Try singing softly. Usually autistic kids like the alphabet. Sing the ABC song, then stop and see if he'll continue with the next letter. Learn the ASL alphabet and sign the letters as you sing. My Ryan loved playing this game! Then we would count. I used to count to three for my older son to warn him to settle down. I tried that with Ryan and he would say,"four, five, six!"

I hope this helps!
Bethintx

[Tyler's dad]

Some things that have worked with my son...
-Counting - we will count to 10 , 20 , even 70 whatever it takes to relax him and get him back to a calmer state.
- alphabet- same as counting.
- hugs- when my son get's too worked up, holding him tightly in an embrassing hug will bring him back.

These are just a couple of things we use. I hope this helps. I do wish you the best of luck. Though trying at time, the joy of raising a special needs child and watching the progression of a child is truly amazing.

[mrsjones]

Thank you for the suggestions, I'll let you know how it goes.