Leisure skills for kids with autism.

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Leisure skills are very important for all kids to occupy themselves when they have some free time. They are extremely important for our kids on the spectrum as most of our kids need constant adult engagement at all times

. We have now been amid the pandemic for over four months and parent exhaustion is a real thing we all are experiencing now. The children have been home for a few months and to keep them occupied every minute of the day is tiring and stressful.

We are living in a world full of technology. Our children with autism naturally gravitate towards it. Some of them get very addicted to screen time.

 It is our responsibility as parents to teach them to develop some leisure skills which are screen-free. Most of the children on the spectrum tend to fixate on certain things. We can use these interests to our advantage and teach them important skills.

I have personally experienced the stress over the years as my son needed constant attention when he was growing up. If we left him alone even for a few minutes he would wander aimlessly from some room to another

. He has come a long way since then. Today he is a teenager, he no longer needs my attention constantly. He can occupy himself for a few minutes, this is huge. I want to assure you things will get better as time flies and kids grow up.

My son loves playing board games. This is a skill that did not come very easily to him. These are very important as they work on social skills piece as well as it is one of the core deficits in autism. 

There are different games like Bingo., Candyland, snakes, and ladders. These games work on turn-taking which our kids struggle with.

It is very hard for kids with autism to spend their free time. It is a great idea for them to work on independent activities which I have described in my previous blog post. These activities can be interspersed throughout the day for a short duration to keep them busy.

Children with autism love going out for walks. It is a great exercise for their body which in turn can build on their strength and endurance. 

It is a great idea to take them on walks provided it is safe due to the current pandemic we are in. It will be a great idea to not take them to crowded places concerning social distancing.

We had enrolled our son in an inclusive gym program wherein he was included with typical kids. He went to the program for 8 years. It helped him a lot in his overall growth and development.

 He also learned a lot of social skills in the program as this was not something he learned in his school as there was not much inclusion at all. 

It is a great idea to enroll your child in some kind of program whether it is swimming or gym program. Aarian started the gym program at the age of 4 when he was not able to even sit in one place for more than a minute and he needed assistance in all the activities.



Aarian was able to participate in games, follow directions by the end of 8 years. His strength and endurance also built up. I was there on the floor by his side for all 8 years. The changes in him were monumental and testimony on how hard he had worked over the years.

It is not an easy thing for kids with autism to learn leisure skills due to social deficits. It is our job as parents to help them develop these skills. 

It will require a lot of trial and error and patience on our behalf to help our kids. I hope this blog post has given you a few ideas to help your kids. Do you have any other ideas which can help our kids do comment and let me know?

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