Celebrating the Holidays with RDI
When it comes to the holidays, we have a lot to think about. Decorating, baking, traveling, planning and attending parties, and, of course, gift giving. How can we use the holiday season to our advantage and create opportunities for learning?
Using Creativity to Celebrate
Decorating is a creative activity that lends itself well to the RDI® program. You and your child can work together, discussing which decorations to use and where to put them. By discussing and deciding together how to decorate, you can help your child to be more flexible, and more open to new experiences.
- Making crafts, like ornaments or small gifts for others
- Baking Christmas cookies together
- Working together as a family to create larger gifts over time (like a quilt or a blanket)
- Wrapping gifts together!
Family Games
Family games, especially ones that can be played without the element of winning or losing, are a great RDI activity. A few board games that might be good choices are Don’t Break the Ice, Story Cubes, Zeus on the Looe, and Yamodo.
Reading Aloud Around the Tree
Or the fireplace, or wherever your family gets together! As long as you’re reading together as a family. You can read books, articles, or even smaller items like poetry (“A Visit from St. Nicholas” more commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas” is a popular choice for many families) or joke anthologies.
Family Outings
Family outings to movies, museums, live music or magic shows can be a wonderful opportunity for learning! Just make sure you are aware of your child’s sensory and emotional triggers and are prepared to help them in the event of a meltdown.
Gift Giving
Of course, for many families, gift giving is an integral part of the holiday season. If you’re unsure of what kinds of gifts are appropriate for your child on the spectrum, we have compiled some suggestions from Dr. Sheely!
Marble and Block Building Set
This toy is a favorite of Dr. Rachelle Sheely’s. It is amazing for Joint play.
The point of the set is to make a sort of Rube Goldberg device where you can place one marble at the top of the structure and it will eventually go through a series of small marble sized holes and planks of wood to reach the end. It can be as intricate or as simple as you wish.
Zoom Ball
The Zoom Ball is a soft football placed in between two different sets of handles, each person holds one side of the handles and opens their hands wide to send the zoom ball to the other side.
One objective you can practice with your child is speed matching, if you send it one speed, they match the same speed, you send it slow, they send it slow and so on. Once the activity is going, the child can start to do some of the regulation as turn taking is applied. To use it together, take turns placing the planks of wood and testing the marble fluidity.
Puzzles
Puzzles are really versatile. They can incorporate turn taking and shared experience.
One example of a simple activity is taking turns working on the puzzle. You can also decide to do a custom photo puzzle of a happy experience with your family, and have a memory sharing encounter.
Legos
You can pretty much use legos in the same concept as the marbles and blocks game. You can also build together and create shared experiences through creating and then playing with your creations.
A Lava Lamp
A little unexpected, but some children on the spectrum find it very calming.
Construction Plate and Utensils
If you have a picky eater, you might want to try this awesome set. Playing with a new food is a way to build familiarity and decrease mealtime anxiety. Try your hand and play too! Show your child that you are enjoying the food and the experience.
Coloring Books
Adult coloring books are all the rage and very therapeutic especially for older children and adults. They can be a source of relaxation and pattern inducing meditation. If you are feeling creative you can even put together your own book by printing out free Mandala coloring pages.
0 Comments