4 Occupational Therapy Activities for Kids With Autism
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Gross motor:
Crab Walk. Crab walking challenges one’s agility and balance. It also is a great way to strengthen all muscles in particular the core. In addition this is a great physical activity to work on motor planning. Start out with holding a bridge position and go from moving the arms and legs from there.
Fine/Visual Motor Skills: In hand manipulation skills are complex fine motor skills that allow one to manipulate items efficiently with one hand. Translation, shift, and rotation are three important components that compromise in hand manipulation skills. Translation is the movement of objects between the palm to the fingertips, bringing a coin to the tip of your fingers to put into a vending machine. Placing coins into the palm of your child’s hand so they have to bring it up to her fingertips to place in a piggy bank will help facilitate translation skills. Shift is when one moves objects between fingers such as moving fingers down or up on a remote control to reach certain buttons. Pulling an object attached to the end of a string is a great way to work on this skill. Have your child pull the entire string into the palm of his or her hand. Rotation is turning an object using our fingers which is needed when one needs to rotate a pencil to erase a mistake. Positioning tools in the child’s hand the opposite way so they have to rotate the object to use it such as a bingo dauber or paintbrush is a great way to work on rotation.
Self Care Skill: Shoe tying. Use an old shoe and replace the laces with two different colors. Start out by having them practice the steps on a table with the toe of the shoe orienting towards the table. Practice a few steps at a time and add on as they become successful with one or two steps.
Sensory: Sports. Participating in sports can be great way to naturally provide children with sensory experiences. Gymnastics, bowling, martial arts, and yoga are great activity for children seeking vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive input (input to the muscles and joints). These sports also have an individual component so they don’t have to focus so much on navigating the intense challenges a group sport may come with.