Having Fun with the Kids

The holidays are over and all the presents have been unwrapped.

Did your child receive any books? Books are wonderful tools for working on improving social thinking. Instead of reading the words – read the pictures. Discuss what the characters are doing. What are they looking at? What facial expression do the characters have? Do they look happy, sad, surprised, mad? Why do they look that way? What happened to cause that look? What do you think will happen next?

Is the character trying to solve a problem? Discuss the size of the problem – is it a little problem, Big Problem or a CATASTROPHE? Come up with some strategies for fixing the problem. How did the character solve the problem – did he do what you suggested or something different?

Those DVD’s they received can also be used to work on predicting and inferring. Watch the movie with your child. Pause the movie and talk about what’s happening. Did you see the look on his face? Wow, how do you think he’s feeling? Oh my, what do you think will happen next? What just happened – what was that about? What do you think he will do about it?

When the movie is over, you can increase their social memory and social curiosity. Ask your child what they liked about the movie? Who were the favorite characters? What were their favorite scenes? Do you think any of your friends have seen this movie? What do you think they would like about the movie? Hey, I bet your friends have seen this movie now you can talk to them about it. 

They can have fun and improve their social thinking at the same time – don’t tell them!

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