1. iPad. I had been reading about the benefits of the iPad with persons with autism and I really wanted to get one for Bobby. However, that is a big $$ investment for someone when you have no idea if they will have any interest in it at all. Bobby hadn't had any interest in video games or electronics. My biggest concern was how rough that he is with things and how long was this thing going to last once he got his hands on it. Long story short...Bobby got an iPad. Bigger than that, he GOT, I mean understood, the iPad!! This thing makes sense to him. All he has to do it touch the picture of what he wants, he doesn't have to read or go through multiple steps to get to where he wants to get in iPad land. We downloaded some movies and some of his favorite tv shows and he can watch what he wants whenever he wants and there are no more DVDs to break, scratch, or cry over because they skip. I would not have believed anyone if they told me that he would sit down independently and get on apps that teach letter recognition, sight words and action words for extended periods of time, after all there are Elmo videos on that thing!! One of his favorite things to look at on the iPad are our family pictures that I loaded on there. He has apps, pictures, movies all on one thing with a long battery life. It is easy to bring the iPad along with us when we need. Bobby has also learned to maneuver Netflix and can watch more shows that he wants to watch. He actually watches the iPad better than he does a television screen and I now know that the iPad doesn't flicker the same way that televisions and computers do. The iPad has been amazing in Bobby's life!!!!
2. Swimming Pool. I know what you are thinking...could you pick any more expensive things??!!! Yes, we are extremely fortunate to have a pool at home. Daddy ordered it online and it showed up in a pallet of big boxes. Daddy put it all together mostly by himself. Because of Bobby's issues, we don't go on vacations and because it is extremely hard to take Bobby to a public pool during regular operating hours, we decided to get a pool and have our vacations at home. The pool makes Bobby so extremely happy!!!
3. Trampoline. Especially the indoor trampoline that we used to have in our living room. Bobby spent so many hours jumping on this trampoline that he broke the springs. We actually went through two of these before he broke all of the springs. He jumped for 2-3 hours a day. Not only was he breaking springs, but he was getting too tall and his head was ready to start hitting the ceiling. Boy were we all sad when the indoor trampoline had to go.
4. Magna-Tiles. Bobby was introduced to these building tiles in occupational therapy. These tiles have magnets built into them on each side, so they are super easy to build with because the stick together. Bobby got a set for Christmas a couple of years ago and they are a toy that actually get played with instead of just set on the shelf in his room.
5. Road Signs. If Bobby had never gone to Pre-K, we may never have known that he would love these little wooden road signs. He walked into the classroom on the first day, went over to where these road signs were sitting on the shelf, sat himself on the floor, pulled them off of the shelf and has been playing with them ever since.
Bobby's first day of Pre-K (age 3), ahhhh!
6. Riding toys. When Bobby was a little guy, he rode foot powered riding toys around our house all of the time. I loved seeing this little guy riding his little 4-wheelers and motorcycles.
7. The Laurie Berkner Band and Mommy and Me Playgroup Favorites DVDs. Bobby has never been much for sitting a watching tv, but there have been a couple of exceptions over the years. The thing that these two DVDs have in common is that they are both music videos of children's music featuring real children. He hasn't been able to verbally tell us much of anything, but he can belt out lyrics to the songs in these videos. He now has the Laurie Berkner app on his iPad and can listen to and watch her music without our assistance. He went through multiple copies of the Mommy and Me videos and they are no longer on the market and I haven't been able to find them in a digital form. They still have used copies available.
8. Playskool Palm pilot. This was one of his favorite toys when he was a baby, toddler, pre-schooler and he still picks it up every once in a while and plays with it again. We have gone through several of these alphabet and number leaning toys. The previous ones met with some unfortunate, untimely death. Again, this is going to shock you, but I can't find any pictures of him with this beloved toy. He could get all of the way through the alphabet with this toy while I had trouble getting past D, not sure what my problem was.
Funny enough, when he saw the picture of the palm pilot he had to get it out and play with it...
9. Slinky. Metal please! Bobby will play with the plastic ones, but he will immediately put it down to play with the original one made out of metal if one is available. Bobby always gets a new Slinky in his Easter Basket, Christmas stocking and for a birthday gift and we know that the Slinky is a very temporary toy in this house and if it lasts for 3 days, well that is a huge accomplishment!!
Bobby doesn't have the love of material items that many of us have. He doesn't pick up toys off of the shelf in the store and demand to have them, he is too busy looking at the lines of the shelves to notice what is on them. So, when we find something that he really likes, he generally uses it until it is worn out or lost. Now I'm not saying that this is a good list of things for people with autism, this is a list of the things that Bobby loves.
