Bonus EP — 8 Gift Ideas for the Holidays
Show Notes for Embracing Autism Podcast — Season 2 Bonus EP

Introduction:
Lia: Join me in this bonus episode as I discuss eight different gift ideas for the holidays. From a little bit on the higher end to the lower end, I’ve got gift ideas across the entire spectrum.

Lia: Welcome to Embracing Autism, a podcast for parents of autistic children seeking advice and support while spreading awareness and acceptance of autism spectrum disorder. I’m Lia.

Matt: And I’m Matt.

Lia: Each week we’ll discuss our journey with autism and talk about how to embrace your child’s individuality while providing guidance, tips, resources and sharing our personal stories. This is-

Lia & Matt: Embracing Autism!

Discussion:
Lia: Hi everyone, surprise! It’s a bonus episode. This episode is not really part of the main Embracing Autism Podcast series. It’s just a bonus episode I decided to surprise you guys with and this one is mostly focused on a few items that I recommend or just you know, gift suggestions for the holidays.

Since the holidays are right around the corner. One of the questions that I’ve gotten fairly frequently is what do I get my kid? What do you get an autistic child for Christmas or for the holidays? And of course, this varies by the age of your child as well as your child’s specific needs. But these are a few things that I’m going to go over here that I have personally found very helpful.

The items that I’m going to mention, we either own that exact item, or we have something very similar to it. And all of these are my personal recommendation, I’m not getting any sort of kickback or anything. Although I may reference some Amazon affiliate links in the show notes. And so for those there might be like a small percentage of a kickback. But we will use all those funds specifically to help grant kids with wishes and gifts. And I’m not going to recommend anything that I haven’t personally used or think is a really great idea.

The first item that I’m going to recommend — and this is a bigger item — but for those of you who like to get your child like that one big special gift, one of my recommendations is the Trekassy Spider Web Tree Swing (paid link), not sure if I’m pronouncing that correctly. But that swing is a big kind of like circle swing that has roping across it that looks kind of like a spider web. And that’s why it’s called the spider web tree swing. This one I believe holds up to like 750 pounds. So if you have multiple kids, that’s why I think it’s good for me because I have two autistic kiddos. So it will hold both of their weights. And obviously, it will hold the weight of an adult too. So if you have a child who’s a little bit shyer about trying these motion swings out, maybe they have hypotonia like my child where they’re not as confident to try it, but you want them to try it because it can help them work on their core strength, which is the reason why we have hours, this one would be good because you can actually get on the swing with your child because it does hold up to 750 pounds. So it might be a good way to kind of transition your child into that. It’s also really great for older kids. So if you have even like an autistic 23-year-old or you know teenager, you don’t have to worry about the swing not being able to hold their weight. So that is again, the Trekassy Spider Web Tree Swing (paid link) 45 inch and again, I will put links to all of these items in the show notes for you guys.

The second item that I recommend is called Children’s Factory Neptune Double-Basin Table & Lid Set (paid link). It’s basically a big word or a big phrase for saying like a sensory table. So what I really like about this one, it’s a blue sensory table, and it’s got two compartments in it and it’s got one side of it that is basically — they both have these little drains on the bottom. And so you’ve got one side of it that you can put sand or kinetic sand or water beads or even water itself and it’s completely separate from the other half. So on the other half, you could put dry materials like you could put sand on one side and water on the other side and it won’t mix and mingle. Of course your kids might mix and mingle anyway and I feel like that just tends to happen particularly with younger kids. But this is one of their favorites because it’s, I believe it’s height adjustable. I’ll have to double-check. (Editor’s Note: It is not height-adjustable). But it’s on wheels and you can definitely reduce the height to fold it down. But my favorite feature of it is in fact that it is on wheels and that it has a lid. Those are things that are really important for me because you don’t want to get sand all over your carpet and we have carpeted floors. So I really appreciate that this one comes with a lid and wheel so that you can kind of tuck it away in the corner when you’re done with it.

The other recommendation is — I’ve mentioned this in some of our live stream events, and I believe I mentioned it in some of the podcast episodes — but I’m a big fan of the inflatable sensory pea pods. I call them a canoe because they look like a canoe and the child sits in it like a canoe. So one of the ones that I recommend is the Harkla Hug 60-inch Inflatable Sensory Peapod (paid link) and that is a really nice thick, tough material. So it’s not going to easily break, it’s not going to easily pop or anything like that, like you get with some cheaper inflatable bouncy house materials. It’s got a thicker kind of cloth or fabric to it, so you can blow it up. And like I’ve mentioned in the podcast, this is one of my youngest child’s favorite things, because she’s the one that’s really sensory seeking and likes to crash into things. And she’s the one who really likes tight hugs and squeezes. So whenever she’s getting overwhelmed, this was actually one of the things that helped us with her self-injurious behavior, because we would basically pull her out of that and put her into the canoe and kind of rock her because it’s got handles that you can hold on to. And so we would kind of like rock her gently in there. And she would self soothe with it, because eventually, she was able to figure out that, ‘hey, I can hold on to the handles and rock myself too’. So that was really helpful because it helped us cut down on that self-injurious behavior. And it also helped cut down on her hyperactivity, because she was the one doing all the spinning and climbing and jumping. So I recommend a Harkla hug canoe inflatable canoe for any of those super sensory-seeking autistic kiddos. And they do have different sizes. So the one that I mentioned here, it’s the 60 inch, which is for like one child, one smaller child. But there are some that are bigger that will even fit children or an adult any of those would work, it just depends on the needs of your child.

The last kind of like higher-end item that I would mention — I say higher end, because all of these items that I mentioned right now, these are items that are I guess, on the pricier side of things — So all of the items that I’ve mentioned so far are around the $100 to $200 range. But that’s for those of you who are looking for that one big gift. The biggest one on this list — but this is also something that we have used — is called LA SIESTA Romano Steel Stand. And this is for hammock chairs. So I just call it a Romano frame. And some websites will also call it a Romano frame, all of these items that I mentioned are available on Amazon. So if you just type in the names that I gave you, it should show up on amazon.com. The Romano frame, I will say it’s rather large, but it does hold up to 300 pounds. And so that earlier swing that I mentioned, you could connect it to that, and then you have access to that indoors. And that’s what we’ve done with our child, we have the Romano frame, and we have the spiderweb swing, and we have it attached indoors. And then you can also swap out swings. So there’s like that inflatable teardrop swing (paid link), that tent swing (paid link), there’s a bunch of different kinds, just depending on what your child needs. But the cool thing is, you can basically just swap them out on this frame. So you have an unlimited amount of options. And then as your child gets older, you can use this frame yourself. And you can get those adult nice hammock chairs (paid link) or swings for yourself in the future and just recycle the frame. So even though it’s a higher dollar item, it’s something that will last basically forever, and you can always repurpose it. The other thing that I like about this frame is because it is large, you will likely need high ceilings for it. But because it is large, what we also did is we hung this canopy drapery all over it and it makes it turn into a kind of like sensory space because you got the swing on the inside and then we put the canopy (paid link) over it. And then you can even add fairy lights, we put some pillows on the floor so you can turn it into a little bit of a sensory note or sensory space. And then you have multiple things that you’re hitting at once you’ve got the swing the motion, and then you’ve got the safe space, the sensory the light, so it’s really cool and versatile. And that’s why we thought it was worth it for us. But that’s just something to consider for, again, bigger items for the holidays.

Now if you’re looking for smaller items, there’s a bunch of different things that you can use. It depends if you’re looking for more fine motor things. So if your child has fine motor delays like my children did, you can do things like the Learning Resources Fine Motor Hedgehog (paid link), that’s something that my child practiced with when her fine motor skills were pretty bad. And it’s basically a hedgehog with these little pegs that they have to work to align into the hole in the back of the hedgehog. And then you can store the pegs in its back. I thought that was really helpful for them. And they really learned a lot with that. So that’s something that to this day they still enjoy playing with even though they’ve already mastered the skill.

The other thing that they like to play with, it’s called a stacking pegboard (paid link). And this is another thing that’s great for fine motor skills. You basically have these little pegs that look kind of like screws, they’re plastic, and they have a little hole on that top. And the goal is that the child is supposed to align the toys into the hole and kind of clip them together or snap them together. And then they can stack them up and they’ll stay stacked because they’re clipped in place. So the goal of that is to practice that fine motor skill, being able to align that peg into that hole and push it in. And so that’s something that my children also worked with and eventually were able to get you can also use it for bilateral work. So my children struggle with bilateral arm use so they tend to favor using one hand over the other, for example, so what they do in occupational therapy is you get these little peg toys, you put them together, and then they practice pulling them apart using both hands. So it forces your child to have to use both hands. And so they can no longer favor one because you simply can’t pull them apart unless you use both hands. So that’s another way to use that toy in a way, that’s fun. But it’s also very therapeutic for your child.

Another one that my kids like, and again, they are toddlers so this is a little bit of a younger toy, but for fine motor purposes, it would help anybody with a fine motor delay — the Coogam matching eggs 12 piece-set (paid link) and is great for learning shapes, because they’re like these little toy plastic eggs, you crack them open, and then there’s a shape in there. And so what you have to do is you have to be able to put them back together and you have to be able to align the shape with the hole and the other half of the egg. So again, it’s practicing that fine motor, it’s kind of like the shape sorter game, except they’re plastic eggs, and you’re trying to align the shapes. And that’s been something that my kids have been absolutely obsessed with forever, they are still using those. And I think that that is probably really great for anyone practicing that you can also practice shapes and colors with it. So again, it’s versatile. And you can also do pretend play because it comes in like this egg carton, so you can use it for playing pretend and kitchen and stuff like that, which again, is something that autistic kids struggle with. So it’s a versatile toy like I mentioned.

The last two items that I’m going to mention here are — the biggest one here is the bubble tube floor lamp. And I mean biggest because I think it’s physically the biggest toy. And that is a 3.9-foot bubble floor lamp (paid link), it’s got multiple changes of colors, it’s got toy fish in it, it makes up kind of a bubbling sound as well. So if your child is really into the visual LED lights like mine is this one’s kind of cool, because you can change the settings of the lights, you can cycle through them, or you can put a static light and the little fishes will swim around it. So that was pretty cool. I would just recommend if you get that to make sure that you get an anchor (paid link) too so you can anchor it to your wall just for safety purposes. But that’s definitely something that my kids have enjoyed.

And the final one that I’m going to mention here is called fat brain toys spin again, stacking toy (paid link). This is basically like a stacking toy where you stack the rings. But what’s really cool about this one is when you put the ring on it, it spins all the way down. So for those kiddos who really like that spinning where they like to spin wheels of little tricycles or things like that, this one’s a great one because they get that visual feedback of the spinning, but they also still have to work on the fine motor skill of aligning it onto the peg. And on top of that they can work on bilateral skills because they can work on using both hands to put them on. This one is one that’s been a great hit with my kids and we even had this toy in our occupational therapy sessions. This was a big one at our Autism Center pretty much everywhere we went they had this one. So again, this is something that I would recommend for that fine motor skill development. So that’s it for me. I hope that you guys enjoyed these tips. Again, I will put all the links in the show notes for this just so you guys are able to access that I will also likely put it in social media. We’re on Facebook @AutismWish and Instagram at @AutismWish. We may throw out another bonus episode out there just not sure depending on how the holidays go and how busy we get. I will try to give you guys content whenever I can. But I thought that I would just share with you a little bit of information to help you guys out this shopping season. Thanks for listening guys, and I can’t wait to see you again in the new year
Happy Holidays! Bye!

Outro:
In summary, today I discussed eight different gift ideas for the holidays. These included a swing, a water table, and inflatable canoe, the Romano frame, the fine motor hedgehog, the fine motor pegboard, as well as the bubble tube and the spinning stacking toy. If you find yourself craving more Embracing Autism over the holiday break, please follow us on our social media at AutismWish to tune in to our live streaming broadcasts as well as announcements, events, and our monthly parenting group.

I also encourage you to leave us messages on speakpipe.com/EmbracingAutism as well as by navigating to the podcast section on our website at www.autismwish.org. You can also now tag your questions at #AskEmbracingAutism. We’ll be looking through them and may select a few to answer during our next recording of the podcast episode. This is Embracing Autism.

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References:
Note: This article references amazon affiliate links. If you purchase items through these provided links, we will receive a portion of the funds. 100% of our share will go towards supporting AutismWish’s mission to grant wishes to children on the spectrum and provide parent resources.

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