Related Posts: NET, Program: Toy Play


A great program for teaching or increasing appropriate play skills would be: Play Stations.

I usually teach this during NET portions of the session, and the specific way it is implemented will vary according to client age, current play ability, and the setting. So what follows should really be considered a template that will need to be individualized to your specific client(s).

Teaching play stations would be ideal for a client with play deficits, to teach independence/leisure activities, or for pre-school age clients struggling in that setting.
Many of my young clients spend their time at pre-school/daycare wandering aimlessly around the room, or engaging in problem behavior. In that type of setting there's often less of a strict schedule of activities, and more "free play" time with multiple choices around the room. So the client would be at a disadvantage if they are unable/unwilling to interact with the play choices.

A play station is just an all-contained area for play with a related group of toys. For example: clay/Play Dough area, play kitchen area, water play area (I like to include sensory play as well), blocks/Lego area, etc. Think of a typical pre-school classroom. The room usually will have specific play areas sectioned off, in what teachers often call "centers". Toys stay in the specific designated area, and there are many choices available for the children to rotate through.
A play station could also include one themed toy, such as a carwash toy, a marble maze toy, or a railroad set. The options are endless.

I like to label the play areas, this can be done textually or visually, and also include teaching prompts for both the therapist team and the parents/caregivers. A huge benefit of this program for me, is that it's often so easy to generalize to the parents/outside of therapy sessions.

Teaching prompts for the therapist team could include current targets that can be embedded into the play. For example, at an art play station the therapist could embed color ID, tracing/writing, imitation, one step instruction, sharing or turntaking, and multiple fine motor targets ("open the ______","pick up the _______, "use the scissors to cut", etc.).  Mastered targets could also be embedded as a maintenance skill or to target generalization across stimuli.

Teaching prompts for the parents or family could include suggested ways to interact/engage the child with the play, as well as a handful of teaching examples (that have been modeled for the parent during therapy sessions). For example, at a water play station the parent could start an imitation game of pouring out water, implement manding trials to have the child request, or redirect the child to a play station activity when the parent needs to take a phone call, do laundry, etc.

For older clients or as appropriate, play scripts could also be used to teach this skill. For example, a play station with dress up clothing could be made with the following script used as a prompt:

Characters: Civilian (C), Firefighter (F)
Props: Firefighter's hat, empty spray bottle, crayon drawings of fire

1. C: "Oh no! There's a fire."
2. F: "Don't worry, I'm on the way to help."
   (Make fire engine sounds and drive a pretend fire truck over to client)
3. C: "Help, there's a fire"
   (points to crayon drawing of fire)
4. F: "I'll save you!"
   (squirts crayon drawing with empty squirt bottle)
5. C: "Help, there's another fire!"
   (points to another crayon drawing)
6. F: "I'll save you again"
   (squirts second crayon drawing)
   --Continue until all fires are out--
7. C: "Thank you Mr./Ms. Firefighter."
8. F: "You're welcome!"

Over time this script prompt can be faded, the acting roles can be alternated, and the language used can vary for spontaneity.  For example, the firefighter can pretend to be unable to put the fire out to see how the civilian will respond.

Keep in mind that this program is aimed at teaching play skills, meaning it should be FUN!
If the client isn't enjoying interacting with the play stations then reinforcement needs to be examined, perhaps the time interval is too high, perhaps the adult isn't all that fun to play with, or maybe the play choices available just aren't that interesting.
Does the client love straws? Iron Man? Beads? My Little Pony? Insert their interests/likes into the play stations, and remember to bring along lots of creativity when designing their play choices.

Below are some examples of varied play stations. All images found on www.pinterest.com:

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

Photo source: www.Sheknows.com, www.Parentmap.com

*Recommended post: Teaching children with autism to play


Play skills in general are often taught to clients across the age span (for older individuals, these programs may be called “leisure activities”) as well as functioning abilities. Play skills/Play interaction is an important social skill that shouldn’t be neglected as part of an ABA treatment plan. 
For professionals who typically work in home settings, you can sometimes be at a disadvantage when trying to teach play skills because you see your clients 1:1. Not every client has a sibling you can pull into the session, and sometimes even if they do the sibling isn’t an appropriate peer model. It’s also important to use a variety of peers, as this is a generalization issue. So bringing in the 5 year old sister each week isnt helping your client generalize.

 If my client only ever plays Monopoly with me, or with me and their sister, can I truly say they have mastered the skill of Board Game Play? No, I cannot. I need to observe the client play a variety of board games, across a variety of people.

In situations where socio-emotional skills are lacking and I don’t consistently have peers available to incorporate in therapy, I will often add a Play Date program for my clients.
A Play Date is just bringing together your client with a peer to target specific skills in a structured/intentional manner. How structured will vary depending on the setting and the needs of the client. 

It’s important to consider a few things before introducing Play Dates, and to make sure the learner is truly ready for this skill. Here’s some helpful tips:

•    Is the learner ready for a Play Date? I see parents do this all the time----the ABA team tells the parents that the learner has social skill deficits, so the parent begins putting together Play Dates on their own. Just putting the client with other kids in a room, is not a Play Date. There should be specific goals, based on the treatment plan, and both the peers and setting need to be appropriate as well. Where will the Play Date be held? If at the client’s home, is the client okay with peers being in their space or touching their belongings? If not, the Play Date likely won’t go well. Does the client exhibit frequent aggression? If so, that may scare a peer off. These things need to be considered before introducing Play Dates.
• So what exactly is an appropriate peer model? An ideal peer is compliant, they do not themselves have lots of problem behaviors, they are patient, and they are neither bossy or timid. If the client gets upset and has a brief screaming fit, the type of peer you want is one who will happily play alone for a few minutes, not who will demand to go home.
•   When selecting Play Date goals, I recommend first observing the learner with peers, both in structured and non-structured settings. It can also be very helpful to speak to the parents/caregivers about the social and play issues they regularly see. Just because a learner can play appropriately with peers on a Play Place at Chick-fil-A, that doesn’t mean they can sit down and play a card game with a peer. Or vice versa. If you don’t have any specific goals you are targeting during Play Dates, then how exactly are you tracking progress?
•    Speaking of progress, someone should be collecting data during Play Dates, and this data needs to be regularly reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. This could be done by the ABA therapist, the BCBA, the parent, etc. It just depends on who is facilitating the Play Date. A common mistake I see parents make is to set up a Play Date, the peer(s) arrive, and the kids just go off and play. That doesn’t look very therapeutic to me….if the learner was capable of engaging in appropriate play independently then they wouldn’t need a Play Date program. So unsupervised Play Dates are a no-no. 
•    The level of adult facilitation will vary depending on the needs of the client. I have participated in Play Dates where I laid out ground rules at the start, and then faded into the background to observe from a distance and prompt if needed. I have also participated in Play Dates where my client needed much more intrusive assistance, I came up with the activities, I transitioned the children as necessary, and sat directly behind my client. It just depends on your client’s ability to play appropriately (with both objects and people).

Appropriate play skills include much more than just being able to share a toy, or to stay in the same room as the peer(s). Other skills I often target during Play Dates include:

-          Keeping your hands to yourself (not excessively touching, rubbing, or leaning on the peer), Greetings (both initiating and responding),  Asking spontaneous questions, Responding to spontaneous questions, Maintaining a conversation (includes staying on topic), Imitating the peer (following the peer’s lead), Displaying appropriate social manners (if peer is upset or crying, asking “whats wrong?”), Demonstrating assertiveness (speaking up if peer is being rude or mean), Resolving conflict or Problem solving with peers

Lastly, I often have the benefit of being able to combine clients (or to “borrow” siblings of clients) to use as peers during Play Dates. Many of the parents I serve don’t have this luxury, and it can be pretty difficult to locate kids that can be regularly incorporated into Play Dates, especially if the client is a teen or adult.

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

Recommended posts: Task Completion, Toy play

A few weeks ago, in my Top 10 post I discussed recommendations I make to families over and over again regarding common issues new clients present with.

A common concern I hear from parents is “my child just wanders the house all day long”, “he is constantly putting things in his mouth”, "I have to keep my eyes on him/her ALL day long", “she just sits in the living room and stares out the window”. What these issues are all describing is a lack of leisure skills.

Leisure skills are those skills, interests, and hobbies, most of us have that serve the function of unwinding, relaxation, socialization (if it involves others), or simple enjoyment. This is an important life skill. In an ABA program it can sometimes be easy to focus on skill acquisition and filling in gaps in development and miss the big picture. Why does a 3 year old need to know how to entertain themselves without adult involvement or engagement? Because one day he will be 19. What will he do then when he is bored, or mom and dad are busy? Spin in circles? Stand on the kitchen counter? Or, will he be able to go to the game closet, pull out the Scrabble game, and make sentences using the letter tiles?

For me, my main “go -to” leisure skills are cooking, video games, or chatting with friends. If I am alone, bored, frustrated, agitated, or finish an activity, I don’t need someone to give me something to do or pull me out of my funk. I have the ability to think of an activity, engage in that activity, and independently complete the activity.

So question time: Can you say the same for your child with Autism? When your child is bored, what do they do? When you are not able to give your child attention, can they entertain themselves? When your child finishes one activity, can they independently start another?

Another reason I often recommend teaching leisure skills is for children who spend their time engaging in disruptive or intrusive behaviors all day long, such as pacing, running up and down the stairs, spinning in chairs, throwing toys against walls, etc. I recently completed an observation of a new client who spent my entire 2 hour observation completing laps around the family dining room table. She would circle the table on her tiptoes, stop and look at me, jump a few times, and repeat. Her parents stated if left unattended she would engage in this circuit all day long. This is a scenario where everyone involved would likely agree that the child is bored, seeking stimulation, and the time would be better spent playing games or engaging in a structured activity.

So before we jump into exactly how to teach leisure skills, allow me to clear up a few misconceptions. Firstly, just because you think a game/activity/toy will be enjoyable for your child does not mean they will agree. Understand that leisure skills will likely need to be intensively taught before you see your child begin to spontaneously and independently select a game or toy to interact with. 

Secondly, you must select replacement behaviors. Do not try to compete with repetitive behaviors and get your child to play Monopoly with you—you will lose. Instead, reinforce what you want them to do (sit down and play the game), redirect as needed, and help them be successful with the activity.

Lastly, systematic prompting is your friend. Start at a level of expectation where your child can experience some success. Perhaps bring out the board game, and then play for 20-30 seconds. Prompt the child to play the game with you and when the timer goes off, they are all done. Gradually increase the amount of time spent engaging with the game, and gradually reduce the prompts you provide.

Here are some strategies to teach appropriate leisure skills to replace inappropriate problem behaviors:

—        -Begin teaching this concept by using simple Work Boxes, or “Busy Boxes” consisting of easy or mastered targets. For example, have a busy box filled with crayons and cut outs of shapes. Set a timer and prompt the child to color the shapes. When the timer goes off, put the busy box away. Gradually increase the length of time, and introduce new or unknown tasks. Eventually it will be helpful to set up an area in your home where your child can sit and engage with leisure activities, such as books, puzzles, bubbles, board games, card games, etc.

—       - Use a First/Then visual to help the child understand that they must complete the non-preferred task to access the preferred item/ task. Or, “First you sit down and  color, then you can go play”. Once the child understands the concept of first/ then, create a visual schedule of preferred and non -preferred activities. For example: “Eat snack. Leisure Time, 2 minutes. Play Outside. Leisure Time, 4 minutes. Play on Ipad.”

—       - Teach independence with this skill from the very start. Reduce your prompting and involvement as soon as you can. Try to prompt through silent gestures only, or prompt standing behind the child. Remember that eventually you want the child to complete these leisure activities independently.

—     -   Use a visual choice board to allow the child to select what activity they want to complete. Particularly for non compliant children, embedding choice into leisure time activities will make the process go much smoother.

—       - Provide reinforcement for engagement in appropriate leisure skill activities, such as looking at a book or completing a puzzle. Praise what you want to see continue!

—    -    Provide multiple opportunities per hour for the child to select a leisure activity, and modify the environment if you need to. If your child's favorite activity is the Ipad, then now access to the Ipad is contingent upon completing 2 leisure activities. 

*Tip- Resources for creating visual schedules:

Visual Schedule

Activity Schedule

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

Play skills for individuals with Autism can be difficult to teach. Before just jumping in, it's important to look at the why of intervention. 
Why are play skills being targeted? Is this a necessary skill for intervention? Is the lack of appropriate play skills a true deficit, is it causing issues at school or with peers, or are toys/play items being used for challenging behaviors (such as chewing on the doll's clothing, instead of playing with the doll)?

If this skill is selected for intervention, there are many resources and strategies available to help strengthen play behavior, which will help strengthen socialization behaviors.

Play challenges for many of my clients can include inability to play meaningfully with any toy items (which impacts ability to keep self appropriately on task during the day), mouthing behaviors (which can be dangerous), toy hoarding (which can lead to aggression if a peer tries to join the play), and rigidity with structured games (which can impact being able to play rule based games with other kids). 
Especially for many of my older clients who do want to interact with peers, and do seek to join peer play scenarios, it is essential to first work on play skills and interacting with toys in order for true socialization to occur.

Play skills affect a variety of learning situations, particularly at school. A child who cannot play appropriately might have a hard time making social connections with other kids. This is because for children, much of their communication and interaction occurs through play. This is where bonds of friendship often emerge, and are strengthened over time. 
In a home setting, the same is true for sibling interaction. When I have clients who have poor relationships with siblings, at the heart of the issue there's usually challenges around play skills.

See, play can be pretty important!

Here is a basic hierarchy of play skills, based on typical developmental (*translation: general outline, not iron-clad rules):

• Solitary play- Carrie will play or engage with a toy, as long as no one sits next to her or tries to interact with her. If someone tries to sit down with Carrie, she turns her back to the person or scoots away. If the person tries to touch her toy, she gets up and walks away.
• Parallel play- Carrie will play or engage with a toy while in close proximity to other children or adults, and sometimes she will look at how the other child is engaging with their own toy. Mainly, Carrie focuses on her own toy and does not interact with the peer or adult.
• Interactive play- Carrie will share a toy with a peer or adult, and will take turns appropriately. This could include passing a toy back and forth, or imitating each others play. Carrie may still play silently, or avoid eye contact with the other person.
• Cooperative play- Carrie will play and engage with another person, while playing with separate toys or sharing one toy. Carrie will look at the other person and make eye contact. This could include building a block tower together, or working together to solve a puzzle.
• Pretend play- Carrie will engage in imaginative play (either alone or with others) that involves elements of pretend. This could include cuddling a doll and pretending the doll is crying, cooking a pretend meal using Play-Dough, or playing dress up (Dress up play should include an understanding of the character. Such as putting on a fireman hat and pretending to be a fireman).
• Rule based play- Carrie will play highly social and competitive games with other persons, such as sports, board games, card games, and video games. Carrie can also play games that other children make up on the spot and can easily adhere to rules of the game that constantly change.

You can likely view these basic definitions and already see where your child or client is in their play skill development. 

Depending on the specific individual, some children may progress through levels out of order, in order, or remain at one particular level as they age. Is this an issue?
Again, it depends on what specifically is happening with the individual child and what problems are being caused socially due to play skill impairments.

The most important takeaway is to help support your child or client based on their specific ability to meaningfully form friendships, and interact with peers.

See below for some general (again, NOT iron-clad rules) guidelines for teaching play skills. The thing about play is.... it's play :-)

If teaching it isn't all that fun, then the child probably isn't having much fun. Be creative, go off-script, and also don't forget about mud, water, slime, glue, glitter, etc. Play shouldn't always be nice and neat.

• It is typically easier to teach play skills with an adult first, before bringing in peers. Adults are more predictable and less demanding than children, and for this reason children with social impairments may easily play or interact with adults but avoid, hit, or refuse to play with peers.
• It is best to start teaching play skills with simple cause-and-effect toys, such as a Jack- in- The- Box or a keyboard. Avoid imaginative, work -based, or abstract toys, such as puzzles, figurines, dolls, or Play Dough. If you hand a child with limited play skills a lump of Play Dough, they may have no idea what to do with it.
• Many people don’t realize it, but strong imitation skills can be a pre-requisite of pretend play. A child who cooks a pretend meal, or comforts a “crying” baby doll, is a child who has observed someone else perform these actions and is now acting like so-and-so during their play.
• In order to teach play skills, you should be fun to play with. That may sound obvious, but if the roles were reversed would YOU want to play with you? 
• It is so important to minimize problem behaviors during play. Challenging behaviors impede skill acquisition. Conduct a FBA to determine the function of the problem behavior and create a behavior plan. Work on these behaviors before introducing peers into the play sessions.
• Talk and make sounds during play. Children typically talk or babble while they are playing (even if they play alone) so be sure to model this.

Recommended Resources: 

“Teaching Playskills to Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder” By Melinda Smith 

(blog) How to Play Effectively with Children with Autism

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

Natural Environment Training, or NET, is a branch on the ABA tree. NET is all about naturalistic “learning through play” or learning in the natural setting. Natural setting means that teaching isn't just occurring at a desk or table located in a therapy room, but in a variety of environments and locations.

 Unlike more structured ABA teaching methods such as Discrete Trial Training (DTT), NET focuses on: 

*        Intrinsically motivating items and materials- Reinforcement is embedded into the task: The child learns to say "juice" and gets a sip of juice.

*        Teaching in natural contexts/settings- Teaching occurs in the grocery store, at the bank, during breakfast…the setting is directly related to the skill.

*        The child’s immediate interests- Look for “teachable moments” when the child displays interest and excitement about a particular person, item, or object.

From the child’s perspective NET isn’t teaching at all…it’s just playing or interacting with the environment. 

One common critique against ABA is that the children don’t generalize the information they have learned, or they don’t “use” the skill. That would look something like a child who can make and hold appropriate eye contact during therapy, but on the playground at school he stares down at his shoes when speaking to peers. Parents will sometimes ask me questions about generalization such as, “When will he/she be able to perform this skill outside of the therapy room?” The simple answer to that question is that ABA cannot occur in a vacuum. If the child is only asked their telephone number while sitting at a table across from a therapist, that skill wont just magically pop-up in other places (response or stimuli generalization does sometimes occur without intentional training, but not often). 
Parents have a large responsibility to encourage generalization of what their child is learning during ABA therapy, as the therapists cannot be with your child 24/7. Any quality therapist should include maintenance and generalization during their therapy sessions, but are you as a parent reinforcing what your child is learning?
For example:

1.    If your child can throw a ball underhand, do you practice tossing dirty clothes into the laundry basket?

2.    If your child knows how to return greetings, do you ask visitors to your home to walk up to your child and say Hello?

3.    If your child can identify the color red, do you stop at stoplights and ask “What color is that?”

4.    If your child can count objects, do you have them count leaves at the park?

A great thing I like about NET is that its so easy for parents to implement with their own children. Many parents whose children receive ABA therapy are curious about how to get involved with therapy, and how to continue teaching their children when the therapists leave. Since NET is less structured and intensive than a typical ABA session, its easy for parents to grab moments throughout the day to reinforce skills with their child. 

NET sessions should be noisy, boisterous, full of language, with movement all over the home/outside the home. I train so many therapists who think if they are not at the therapy table, then they must be doing NET. Simply changing location does not mean you are doing NET.
The NET activity should fit the skill you are targeting, capture the child’s interest and motivation, and be full of language….either language from the child or from the therapist/parent/teacher. If you are working with a nonverbal child, then the therapist should be doing something I call “Narrating”. Narrate everything the child does, even if they don't respond. This waterfall of language that you surround the child with can eventually lead to vocal imitation, receptive language skills, or the child responding to your language with words or even full sentences. Narration would sound something like this:

“Let’s go outside and swing! Okay, go get your coat. (Child gets coat and then drops it) Oops!  Uh-oh, you dropped it. Pick it up, please. (Child picks it up) Thank you. Put your coat on. (Child doesn’t comply) Put your coat on like this (therapist uses modeling to show the child what to do. Child begins putting coat on). You got it! Put in this arm, and then that arm…all done! You put your coat on, good job. Should we bring the bubbles outside? (Child doesn’t respond. Therapist places bubbles right in front of child’s face) Bubbles outside? (Child pushes bubbles away) Oh okay, that’s a no. (Therapist prompts child to shake head no) That’s how we say no. Okay, let’s go outside!”

See how the therapist had a full conversation with the child, even though it was one sided? That’s what NET should sound like. As the child becomes more verbal, the exchanges will become fun and lively as the child joins the conversation.
NET should have a loose structure, and be driven by what the child wants to do. The therapist should prepare for an NET session but also be open to changing that plan if need be. The therapist may set up a board game in the living room to work on turn-taking during NET, but while walking to the living room the child might decide to veer into the kitchen and mand for “cookie”. Instead of forcing the child to go play the board game they clearly have no interest in at that moment, take advantage of this teachable moment.

If your scheduled NET session changes before or during the activity, that’s okay! Remember, it’s about what the child wants to do. Stay flexible and think on your feet, and you'll be fine.

**Quick Note: NET does require some planning and preparation, even though you are following the child's motivation. The reason why is because if the child goes into the kitchen and wants to play with spoons, do you know how to turn that into a teachable moment? What can you teach using those spoons? 

 When I was a newbie ABA Therapist, what worked really well for me was creating a NET ideas box. Get a small index-card sized file box, some index cards, and a few colored highlighters. You can also get some small section dividers, but it’s not necessary. On one side of the cards write:

1. Skill

2. Date Mastered

3. Description

Write the name of the skill, such as “large peg puzzle”. Put the original date that the child mastered the skill. For the description, describe the skill in plain language so that anyone could read the card and know what to do, such as “Janice can independently complete a large peg puzzle with no more than 5 pieces”. On the back of the card, write a few brief ideas for how to teach the skill in a natural setting. The highlighters are used to color code the cards, according to domain. Puzzles are in the Visual Performance domain. So all the cards where the skill is highlighted in green are visual performance tasks. Place the cards in the box in random order, which the highlighting will help you to do quickly. When you are ready to do a NET session with the child, grab a few cards randomly, being sure to grab cards with different highlighter colors. When you finish NET and are putting the cards away, place them in the back of the file box to ensure that you are rotating through all of the cards.

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

Sensory boxes, tables, or bins, are a fun tool you can use as a reinforcer/reward, during naturalistic teaching, or for calming/transitioning purposes.

Sensory boxes and bins can also be taught as a leisure skill activity or a play choice. Sensory boxes can be as diverse and varied as they need to be, based on what the client likes. 

Get a container with a lid that can be securely closed and fill it with various items such as pieces of fabric, beads, beans, rice, clay, sand, flour, water and ice, water and bubbles, glitter, confetti, pieces of string, lace, etc.

A word of caution: before creating a sensory box check with the family first and make sure the client has no allergies. If you are working with a client who has mouthing behavior be sure to supervise them closely when they are manipulating a sensory box. I would also avoid very small items like beads, with a client who mouths as these could easily be a potential chocking hazard if placed in the mouth. Look for larger items like pieces of fabric, OR things that are fine to eat such as dry cereal. Placing/cutting holes into a closed and see-through box can also be a way to manage mouthing behaviors while manipulating the sensory box/bin.

I typically use sensory boxes/bins with clients who need a calming, structured activity to engage in during transitions or down-time. It's also just a fun activity to engage with together during therapy sessions. 

For example, when I arrive to a session I might place a sensory box on the table as I prepare my materials so the client has something to engage with, and isn't just sitting and waiting for me to be ready. Then I slowly add myself into the play, and we transition away from the sensory box.

Sensory activities should not be used in a way that will reinforce inappropriate behaviors, or to allow an escape from instructional tasks. Be sure to avoid using sensory tools, toys, or items in ways that will strengthen problem behaviors over time.

Sensory boxes are simple and cheap to make. I am always a fan of free/ low cost ideas that can be incorporated into therapy. ABA does not need to break your wallet.

All of the containers below can be purchased at any craft supply store for a few bucks,  and the items inside can be purchased, made, or may already be present in the client home.

This is a sensory box filled with sand. I use purchased sand rather than sand from a beach or park so I know it is clean and not filled with dirt, bacteria, or wood splinters. Place a few items inside the box  such as multicolored rings (I got this from a toddler ring stacker toy). This way you can embed learning tasks by saying things like "Give me the red ring" or "Pour sand on the orange ring".

These boxes are filled with varying pebbles/marbles and stones. Again, I purchase these rather than collect them from outside. I put in different textures, colors, and sizes so they are more interesting to manipulate, if the client enjoys cool items just store the box/bin the fridge between uses (the stones will be very cool to the touch!).

This is a pasta box. You can use any type or color pasta you would like. Some parents don't like to use sensory boxes with food items inside (flour, pasta, etc.), because the client may try and eat the items. 

This box has beans inside. Another way to incorporate language into this activity is to gently close the box by placing the lid on, and then prompt communication using the client's communication method. Once a request is made to open the box/remove the lid, provide immediate access.

This box is filled with rice. The rainbow effect on the rice can be obtained by adding a few drops of food coloring to the rice, stirring the rice, and then letting it sit and dry. Another language tip is to use the sensory boxes to teach choices. To do this I will place a highly preferred sensory box on the table, and something that is very non- preferred, like a book. The client can then vocally or non-vocally indicate which item they want, by making a choice. So this combines fun and language instruction, all in the same activity.



For parents, if you have difficulty in public situations such as waiting at the doctors office try bringing a small sensory box or bin along so your child has something to do while they are waiting. Waiting can be made easier if little hands can be kept busy and engaged.


*Resource: A parent told me about this GREAT website called Small Potatoes that has some of the most creative and imaginative sensory boxes I have ever seen!

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author