AUTISM SOLUTIONS
pick a game piece and insert it in the board. Getting
four in a row was not the focus; it was more about tak-
ing turns and engaging in sustained cooperative play.
I shared with the parent that we were working on this
activity and outlined the exact way we were teaching
the student to play the game. Around the holidays,
the parent wrote me a note to tell me that this stu-
dent received this game as a gift and was able to play
it with his sister. Hooray—success! • Modified Musical Chairs
My students love this game! I set up the
same amount of chairs that I have students.
So, if we have three students, we have three
chairs. We never take a chair away. I tell the
students the rules: when the music is on,
we walk, and when the music is off, we sit
down. I play music that my students enjoy,
and we play for 5-10 minutes. So fun!
The following steps may help to embed these
activities into your family routines: • Modified Simon Says
This game is great for those bursts of 5-10
minutes where you have unstructured time.
Let’s say you are in the airport waiting for
your plane, or you are at the pharmacy and
it is taking forever. Try this to fill up that
space. The modification for this game is that
it is always Simon says. “Simon says touch
your toes,” “Simon says jump,” “Simon says
run in place,” “Simon says shout hooray,” “Si-
mon says march,” etc.…
• Modified Uno
Most students love to play Uno but can
be confused by the special cards that are
included in the deck. There are two ways
to modify this game based on the level of
your students. You could take out all of the
1. Collaborate with the school team
Is your student working on increasing play or
leisure skills in the school environment? If so,
this is a good place to start. Ask the speech
language pathologist, Board Certified Behav-
ior Analyst (BCBA), or the intervention special-
ist about which games they are working on at
school. If they are teaching something specif-
ic, ask them how they are working on the skill.
Get the specifics and try to play it at home.
2. Modified leisure activities to try at home
If the school team is not addressing these skills,
look through the examples listed below and
try a few with your child:
32 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 65