My boy is only interested in food and snacks as reinforcement.
How can I train up his interests in toys and games instead of food?
One of the deficits of children with ASD is limited interests. It is a typical problem that many parents or teachers have asked for help. Here is the number 1 rule when expanding the child’s interests: don’t give up!!!
- PAIRING
introduce new or neutral toys /activities while the child is having his/her favorite toys/activities. For example, if your child is only interested in food, and you want your child enjoys watching video (i.e Mickey Mouse). When you do pairing you can prepare your child’s favorite snack while watching Mickey Mouse at the same time, so your child will link his favorite snack with Mickey Mouse. - Increase and provide intensive exposure opportunities for those new or neutral toys/activities
For example, if you want your child likes listening to songs, you may turn on the music whenever your child is at home no matter what he/she needs to do. Likewise, if you want your child likes to play remote car, you may play the remote car next to your child very often i.e 10 times per day, to increase exposure to those new toys that you’d like to sell. - TEACH PLAY SKILLS
Very often when children who are lacking of interests to a wide range of toys/activities, it is because they don’t know how to operate the toys, and therefore they don’t find the toys/activities fun to play with. Thus, we need to start teaching them step by step on how to play with different toys.
For example, if we want to teach playdoh, we may teach them rolling playdoh into a ball/sausage, press the playdoh to make it a plate, put the cutter/mold onto the playdoh to make a shape, using a knife to cut playdoh into smaller pieces, etc. Teach them various ways to play with the toys in fun and exciting ways! - MAKE IT FUN!!!
When you start introducing a neutral activity, make your toys FUN to play with. Your child will find it fun and interesting when you use a dramatic fun and happy tone. Try making sound effects or play in silly ways to attract your child to look at it and try playing with it. - CREATE ALL THE POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WHEN PLAYING WITH THE TOYS/ACTIVITIES
When you are introducing a new toy, your child might engage into some undesirable behaviors or might want to leave. If this is the case, you should focus on showing your child the fun ways to play with the toys instead of stopping those undesirable behaviors, unless your child is hurting himself/herself. If your child leaves, you can follow him and continue to show him the toys, thus no demand on your child to stay with you or to behave well. Let your child experience the happy, positive experiences when you are introducing the toys/activities.
Information provided by: Ms. Teri Mok (Autism Partnership Senior Case Supervisor)Ms. Teri Mok’s related event (Provide Simultaneous interpretation service with Ms. Christy Lai):
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[:zh]我的兒子只對食物和零食感興趣，我要怎樣培養他對食物以外的玩具和遊戲的興趣呢？
興趣狹隘是自閉症孩子的特徵之一，這是一個許多家長和老師都會向我們求助的常見問題。要擴展孩子興趣的首要守則是：不要放棄！
- 配對
當孩子在玩他最喜歡的玩具或活動時，介紹新的或中立的玩具或活動。舉例說，如果孩子只對食物感興趣，而你想讓他喜歡看卡通片（例如米奇老鼠的卡通片）。你可以在孩子看米奇老鼠卡通片的時候同時準備他最喜歡的零食，透過把這兩樣東西配對在一起，讓孩子把他最喜歡的零食和米奇老鼠聯繫起來。他就會慢慢的喜歡上中立的米奇老鼠卡通片。 - 增加和提供密集接觸這些新的或中立玩具的機會
如果你希望孩子喜歡聽音樂，你可以在孩子在家的時候播放音樂，不管他需要做什麼。同樣地，如果你希望孩子喜歡玩遙控車，你可以經常在他旁邊玩遙控車，例如每天十次。這樣便能在他日常生活裡把想推銷的活动提升曝光率,從而增加興趣。 - 教授遊戲技巧
很多時候，孩子對各種各樣的玩具或活動缺乏興趣的原因之一，是他們不知道如何操作這些玩具，因此他們不覺得玩這些玩具或活動有趣。因此，我們需要一步一步地教他們怎樣玩及操作不同的玩具。
舉例來說，如果我們想教孩子玩橡皮泥，我們可以教他們把橡皮泥揉成球/香腸、把橡皮泥壓成一个盤子、用模具把橡皮泥做成不同的形狀、用玩具刀把橡皮泥切成小塊等，教他們用各種各樣有趣和令人興奮的方法玩玩具！ - 充滿樂趣！
當你開始介紹一個中立的活動時，要讓你的玩具變得有趣。當你使用誇張及歡樂的語調時，孩子會覺得它很有趣。另外，試著做一些音效或者用幼稚的方法玩玩具，吸引孩子去看它及試著玩那件玩具。 - 在玩玩具/活動的時候創造正面的體驗
當你介紹新玩具時，孩子可能會進行一些自我刺激或逃避的行為，或者想要離開。這個時候，你應該專注於向孩子展示新玩具的有趣玩法，而不是阻止那些自我刺激或逃避的行為，除非孩子正在傷害自己。
如果孩子走開，你可以跟著他，繼續向他展示玩具，不需要要求孩子和你在一起參與，或者要求他表現良好。
當你介紹新玩具和活動時，應讓孩子體驗當中的樂趣。
資訊提供: 莫渼琳小姐 (Autism Partnership高級行為分析治療課程監督)莫顧問相關活動 (與賴靜顧問一起提供即場同聲傳譯服務):
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