Autism Support Group

Hi everyone. I have a 5 year old son with PDD-NOS. He currently has ABA, OT, and PT. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas I can use at home to help his muscles and fine motor skills? He has trouble writing and coloring. Any help is appreciated, Ed.

I would suggest talking to a occupational and physical therapist who can give you exercises to do at home.

Here are a few things we have done at home to help core muscles:

Trampoline

Swimming

Ball to sit and bounce on

Ball with a handle to bounce around inside or outside

Swinging

I started bringing my son to the Little Gym, and he LOVES it. There is a lot of tumbling and fun stuff involved. We are also starting swimming soon. There is a book I just got for SPD called "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun". I don't know if he has SPD but it has a lot of great activities in it.

I agree with metalynn - a good OT or PT should be more than willing to give you things to do a home to keep the progress going. Many of those same things worked for my kids. For gross motor, my kids liked swimming and the bouncy ball with the handle, and they also liked the sit-n-spin. Play-doh, clay, and legos are good for fine motor strength and coordination. You can "hide" objects in some play-doh, stiff putty, or clay (depending on what strength you need) and have your son find them.