Sensory Exercise

I came across this blog post that had sensory exercises for children with autism--exercises that help with sensory integration, kind of like "a warm up for your fingers" is how I explained it to Isabelle (she now likes to do this activity before practicing her handwriting, something that she dreads doing). I went through the house and found all sorts of small trinkets and placed them in a container filled with beans and rice. I told both girls the object was to find the trinkets and place them in their bowl but leave the beans and rice in the original container. To my surprise, Melina follows this rule better than Isabelle does.

Another exercise the above blog post mentions, is to hide beads in silly putty and them have the child find the beads as a way to strengthen their hands (I haven't been this brave yet, as I don't know how it will work with Melina, unless I do it during her nap time).