101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger's and Sensory Processing Disorders

by Tara Delaney

Learning through play One of the best ways for children with autism, Asperger's, and sensory processing disorders to learn is through play. Children improve their motor skills, language skills, and social skills by moving their bodies and interacting with their environment. Yet the biggest challenges parents, teachers, and loved ones face with children on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing disorders is how to successfully engage them in play. Pediatric occupational therapist Tara Delaney provides the answer. In 101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger's, and Sensory Processing Disorders, she shows you how to teach your children by moving their bodies through play. These interactive games are quick to learn but will provide hours of fun and learning for your child. And many of the games can be played indoors or outdoors, so your child can enjoy them at home, outside, or on field trips. More than one hundred games that help your

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Education, Psychology, Parenting, Research, Disability

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Justin Tapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

101 Games and Activities for Children With Autism, Asperger’s and Sensory Processing Disorders was very helpful not just in giving ideas for activities, but in explaining why those activities are therapeutic and exactly which areas of a child's development they are focused on. Delaney gives first-hand experience as a therapist on many of the activities. She has had exposure to a wide range of children on the spectrum, and this is helpful to any parent who would read this book.
I marked about 1/3 of the activities to try out with my son, some of which he already really enjoys. Others of which have helped us see things he struggles with and we need to work on.The book includes practical things, like ways to involve your child in helping with household chores and how to modify popular board games into sensory and social thinking exercises. I highly recommend this book to any parent of an autistic child looking for ideas.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since my husband is going to be teaching a special needs class next year, I was looking for ideas he could use in the classroom. I really just perused the different games, and saw a lot of wonderful and excellent games, however, none which were really adaptable to use in a classroom. There are some really great ideas here for anyone who works with these special and wonderful children!

[Mimi Lala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensory is something that autistic children have difficulty with. This book contains many sensory activities that can be done with your child to help them improve with their sensory overload. Great book!

[Alyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some good ideas in this book. It also had some good information. They could have improved the quality of this book if they had more activities for a larger age range.

[Heidi Swallow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read! Not only does the book list some very helpful games and activities to explore with children on the ASD spectrum but it also explains the therapeutic benefit of the suggested activities and the areas of the child’s development they are targeting eg- speech, gross motor skills, visual skills etc

As a mum of a boy with Autism, this book has helped me to further deepen my understanding of why our occupational therapist and speech therapists play particular “games” with my son. This book would definitely aid a parents perspective in understanding the importance of play in therapy.

I highly recommend this book to every parent (even if your child is not on the spectrum), kinder and primary school educators and early childhood caregivers. The book gives invaluable insight into neo diverse children; how they think, feel and experience the world differently from neo typical children and helpful tips to include them in play. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book had a lot of game ideas and gave background information from the perspective of an Occupational Therapist. As an educator, I found the activities in the communication section to be the most beneficial for the setting I work in and the population I work with currently. I shared one of the games from the home section with a parent. Quite a few of the games are geared towards younger children and I work with students in grades 4-6 so some of the ideas I will not be able to use at this point but there are a lot I can use. I see this book as a great resource to have and one I will refer back to.

[Linda Yan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was hoping to find some ideas as a behaviour therapist, but this book is more tailored to the day-to-day activities children can do with their parents. Overall the book did a nice job categorising of different activities, and offering good explanation of the theories behind and the skills to build for each activity.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some great ideas to get started and jumpstart your own ideas on how to encourage learning through play. Some of these are good ideas for young children, with or without special needs.
However, these activities are not suitable for young children who are extremely dependent and struggle to follow even one step directions.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good ideas here, but a lot of them require special equipment or supplies. I was hoping to find some activities to incorporate into a sensory story time, but there were only one or two that are usable for me.

[Karolina Liszewska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Słaba.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapters on the following types of games: Sensory Development; Communication; Gross and Fine Motor; School Readiness; and others. The introduction did a wonderful job of explaining the specifics of different senses and how the brain works, as well as specific ways that make certain tasks more difficult for some people. Each game is listed in a very easy-to-read format that worked well for my purposes!
--If it is indoor or outdoor
--Equipment needed
--How to do it (including various levels of increasing or decreasing difficulty, if applicable)
--Purpose (what skills it focuses on)
--Why
I found several games that I will use for play-based library programs. They will be easy to create and work well for our space and audience. This book is so helpful too because it includes the language I will use to show parents what type of play it is and why the activity is beneficial for child development.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like there is a lot of helpful information in this book about how to work with children that have autism, Asperger's, or sensory processing disorders. There were some elements about the developmental needs of children with these diagnoses that would be helpful to incorporate, or at least know about, when working with children. I would also suggest this to parents with children that have one or more of these diagnoses, as the games are ones that would be incredibly useful for their child's development.

[Marilu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from my son's Occupational Therapist. There are quite a few great ideas in there. A lot of them are simple things I wouldn't have thought would be something that would "help" my son. All activities could be used with any child. I think this would be a great addition to my book collection, because it is something I could keep referring to to get ideas, or even just to refresh my memory!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource for gathering ideas for sensory storytime with children. I like how the book is categorized and there is just enough information about why the activity is good or what it resolves without being dull and dry.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource. Games you can actually do without a ton of prep. Calls for household items. Makes home sensory-integration therapy seem more doable than other stuff I've seen.

[Melissa Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful in figuring out what games to use with my child, the purpose of the games, and how to implement them.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas and good reasoning/examples of developing skills addressed

[Sandi McHenry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for myself because it has so many great tasks/activities!

[Jessica Nekuda]

already play lots of these with my kiddo so it wasnt as useful as I was thinking