Autism sensory toys are a must for our son because they help his anxiety and relax his brain.
It has been seven long years to get where we are today with our son, and I hope our experience helps.
If you have a child with Autism, you know the daily struggles of some parents more than others.
The amount of work it takes to care for our child is difficult at times.
We don’t disclose his diagnosis to anyone other than who needs to know.
For those that do know, they have no idea what we’ve been going through.
I hear my wife crying nights because her son won’t say he loves her.
Often we would see other children doing what we wanted our son to do instead of hiding.
We’ve come to terms with it now and have met other parents which children on the spectrum.
The great news is as he gets older, he is getting 100x better with experience, support and his medications.
School Teacher Had Concerns
We thought our son was meeting all his milestones as we documented what we needed for our doctor.
It wasn’t until he started junior kindergarten and realized he was the same but different.
The kids in his class would come to chat with us in the morning and conversation.
Our son never had conversations with us, although he could string along a sentence.
It wasn’t until mid-year that we spoke with his teacher and evaluated him.
We were both emotional but willing to do whatever it took to help our son, but it never went away.
Autism is for life, although as one gets older, they adapt, and it gets easier due to repetition.
Buying toys for a child on the spectrum can be challenging, so we wanted to show you what we bought and what has worked.
They all make excellent Christmas and Birthday gifts or just because gifts.
For any parents with children with special needs such as our son, these might interest you.
At the time, we didn’t know that he had a mild form of ASD1, also known as Aspergers.
On top of Autism, he also has anxiety and Sensory Processing Disorder, where his entire body moves together.
We learned that he never lost his baby reflexes since he did not crawl. He just got up one morning and walked, and that was that.
He struggles with sensory processing information such as touch, movement, smell, taste, vision and hearing.
We had his vision and hearing checked to be safe, and it turned out he needed glasses.
Occasionally, I would notice that he would skip a line when reading a book.
Costs For Occupational Therapy
Over the past two years, he’s been going to occupational therapy (OT), and we’ve seen many improvements.
Although my work benefits cover $2000 a year for OT, which is not enough.
The cost is $125 an hour, although we could book parent sessions, which allowed me to use my $2000 worth of benefits.
Once a week, he would see a speech pathologist in school, but that’s over now.
A person with ASD level 1 usually is able to speak in full sentences and communicate, but has trouble engaging in back-and-forth conversation with others. They may try to make friends, but not be very successful.3
VeryWellHeath.com
We’re working on filling the online forms with the government to get him more services.
We are also in the process of updating his Individual Education Program (IEP) at school so he gets the services he needs to thrive at school.
The diagnosis process took two years from the Canadian Mental Health Association and specialists from Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.
Money We Spent For Toys He Hardly Used
We’ve been thinking about what autism sensory toys we could buy our son for Christmas.
I can’t even tell you how many toys we’ve purchased over the years that he didn’t use.
If he did play with something, it was forgotten about very quickly.
Over the years, we’ve successfully recouped the money by reselling the toys on Facebook.
In the garage, still in the original boxes, I have brand new rollerblades, skates he’s used three times, hockey nets and a skater learning aid to sell.
It turns out when you have sensory processing disorder, skating and even using a bike is difficult.
Video Games and Word Apps
When the novelty of cars and trucks wore off came video gaming, and he can talk up a storm with you.
Some parents don’t agree with video games, but they have helped our son so much.
He loves building with Roblox on his PS4 and has made spectacular designs.
When he was being schooled from home during the pandemic, his teacher introduced him to coding.
I was shocked when I realized how into it he was and how he sees things from different perspectives.
His hand-eye coordination is better; he’s learning new words and increased communication.
We have an app on both our phones and his tablet that helps a child develop words.
He absolutely loves it, as do the other kids in his class, because a few of them want to play with him.
- Word Connect App
- Word Crush App
- Word Stacks App
Instead of being quiet and shy, he’s breaking out of his shell, which has been very difficult for him.
Medications For Autism (ASD1)
Both Mrs. CBB and I chose to medicate our son to have a better quality of life.
When Mrs. CBB was a child, she was bullied in school to the point where it still hurts her deep inside.
There was no way we wanted to see our son bullied for something he couldn’t control.
We can’t save him from bullies, but we can teach him how to handle a situation.
Using the medication has changed our son into a kid who isn’t as shy as he used to be.
He’ll jump into a soccer game at school with boys in higher grades and enjoys having friends.
His reading skills are at the top of his class, although I work with him on math and spelling nightly.
Missing A Dose Of Medication
If we ever forget his medications, you can see a large difference in how he acts.
Some parents do not medicate their child on the weekend, but we’ve chosen to do it seven days a week.
This was no easy avenue for us to take, but we didn’t want him to grow up and ask us why we didn’t do more.
As parents, you’ll either win or lose, so go with your gut feeling to protect your child the way you want.
Some parents don’t wish to medicate, and that’s fine also because they know their child the best.
Popular Sensory Toys We Have Purchased
We’ve been thinking about what autism sensory toys we could buy our son for Christmas.
We avoided toys with bright lights or loud noises as he was petrified of the hand dryer.
After much discussion, we purchased him an XBOX with our PC Optimum points, Full OSMO kit, and Roblox gift cards.
We put in underwear, socks, a book, Dairy milk chocolate bars, orange pencils and erasers, and silly putty for stocking stuffers.
Sell or Donate What Your Child Did Not LIke or Use
I can’t even tell you how many toys we’ve purchased over the years that he didn’t use.
We tried to get back the money we spent by reselling the toys on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.
I think we did a great job selling what he didn’t use, many of which came with the boxes.
We have brand new rollerblades, skates he’s used three times, hockey nets and a skater learning aid to sell.
Sensory Toys Your Child Will Love
Below are some of the sensory toys we’ve purchased for our son over the past year.
We did not project these expenses because we didn’t know we’d end up at this point.
The Emergency Savings Fund was used for a few items, but the rest fell under miscellaneous.
We are now increasing our KIDS budget category for 2022 for any other items we need to use.
- Fidget Push Pop Bubbles
- Full Fidget Toy Set
- Manimo Weighted Stuffed Frog
- Kinetic Sand
- Playdoh
- My Feelings Game
- Lego
- Magnetic Blocks
- Playstation 4
- Switch Game Console
- Samsung Tablet and Case
- Osmo Genius Words
- Sensory Sox Stretchy Body Socks Full Body Relieve Stress
- Mini Little Tykes Trampoline
- Osmo Pizza Co builds Communication Skills and how to manage money
- Coding starter kit by Osmo
- Osmo Creative Starter Kit For Fire Tablet
- Osmo Math Wizard
- Base for the OSMO Hands on Learning Game
- Sensory Hanging Tent with Lighting for Indoors
- Weighted Blanket
- Soccer Ball and Net
- Autism I See Things Differently Book
- Kid Kraft Deluxe Chalkboard and White Board
Parents Helping Other Parents
I hope this gives you some ideas for Christmas gifts this season and that they help your child as much as it has for our son.
Mr.CBB
Please share any ideas you’ve built or purchased in the comment section below.
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