CHAPTER 5
Enrichment Mix-Ins
Here are additional enrichment exercises to build foundation skills for children with autism and special needs. The activities involve speech, emotional awareness, facial affect, verbal rhythm, motor rhythm and basic movement. These important skill areas are not covered in the Environmental Enrichment Protocol. The speech and emotion activities are designed to encourage expressive communication. They include reading books together, playing simple instruments and doing activities that make noise. The motor activities were selected to increase functional and novel movement, and to enhance the child’s sense of motor rhythm. Most of the mix-ins are fun and can be added into the Environmental Enrichment exercise sessions as an interlude or offered at the end as a reward for completing the activities. They do not replace the original set of exercises.
Speech and Language
Mix-in Enrichment 1
Toot a Whistle
Goals: To activate facial muscles for the purpose of producing facial expression and productive speech; to increase imitation skills.
Materials: Two simple whistles; optionally a mirror.
Instructions: Have the child blow into the whistle until he makes a sound. Focus on producing a clean sound. Each of you can blow a whistle together in the mirror so that he can see what you do.
Safety considerations: For a young child, avoid small whistles that can be choking hazards.
Sensory considerations: If the child is generally sensitive to sound, play softly and from a distance as you demonstrate the instrument or create a video of playing it, and play back the video with reduced sound. She will probably be able to tolerate the sound of her own tooting.
Therapeutic whistles are rated from beginner on up. But try any appropriate whistle you might have on hand, like this penny whistle.
Mix-in Enrichment 2
Blow a Horn, Toot a Whistle
Goals: To activate facial muscles as an aid to speaking, intonation and expressing emotions.
Materials: Kazoo, penny whistle, small horn, harmonica and other mouth instruments.
Instructions: Have the child blow into the whistle until he makes a sound. Focus on producing a clean sound. Once that is mastered, try to produce different tones and short sequences of tones. For the kazoo, instruct the child to make a sound as he blows into it. If you are using an instrument that requires finger placement, such as the penny whistle, cover a hole for the child as he blows, and then show him how to do it.
Safety considerations: None.
Sensory considerations: If the child is generally sensitive to sound, demonstrate the instrument softly from a distance. When it is her turn to play, she will probably find her own tooting less irritating. If she continues to experience sensitivity, create a video of you playing the instrument and then play it for her throughout the day with reduced sound.
Boy having fun humming into a kazoo.
Mix-in Enrichment 3
Make Animal Sounds
Use this for the child who has few verbal skills.
Goals: To learn to make animal sounds.
Materials: Optional: animal pictures or books; small animal toys.
Instructions: Do one or more of the following
1. Look at pictures of animals and make the appropriate sound. Have the child repeat it.
2. Sing “Old MacDonald” and have the child help with the animal sounds (or the entire song).
3. Together, make other animal sounds such as snorting, yipping and hissing.
Safety considerations: None.
Sensory considerations: None.
Easy Animal Sounds
Baa-aa
Moo-oo
Me-ow-w
Ruff-ruff
Nei-eigh
Quack, quack
Mix-in Enrichment 4
Practice B and P Words
“B” and “p” are early sounds and make a good starter exercise for the non-verbal child.
Goals: To learn to say “b” and “p” sounds.
Materials: Pictures in books or online of the words starting with “b” and “p”.
Instructions: In these exercises, the focus is on the initial “bah” and “pah” sounds rather than on saying the entire word. Feel free to add additional simple words to these lists.
B and P Words
Ball, bubbles, baby, ball, bull, bear, bug, blue, button, bag, big, backpack
Puppy, pig, peach, panda, paper, paw, pink, purple,hippo, apple,
pie, pot, pan, penguin
1. Show a picture of a “b” or “p” word from the list, and then say it, emphasizing the “bah” or “pah” sound. Ask the child to say it with you.
2. Once she can say the words with you, show her the picture and ask her what it is. Help her, if necessary, by slowly sounding the word and exaggerating your mouth movement.
3. Ask the child to say the initial “b” and “p” words in these simple sentences and phrases.
a. The baby plays.
b. The pig is pink.
c. The puppy likes bubbles.
d. The bear has a blue ball.
e. The boy watches a bug.
f. The bear has brown paws.
g. Beat on the pot.
h. I have a big, purple plum.
i. Peel the potato.
j. Pam is pretty.
k. Buddy baked a pie.
4. Nonsense phrases are fun for the older child. Say them slowly, then quickly, and repeat. Feel free to make up your own nonsense phrases.
a. Be bop bim
b. Bubba baby booboo
c. Peppy pepper pie
d. Potato popup patty
e. Bat paw pal pod
Safety considerations: None.
Sensory considerations: None.
Mix-in Enrichment 5
Teaching Gestures
It’s equally important for children to be able to sign or gesture back to their parents. Practical signing commands include “more,” “stop,” “all done,” “water,” “eat,” “pain” (or medicine), and “help.” Also include the toileting signs, “change” (diaper) or “bathroom”.
As you teach a sign, recite the word singly or in a short phrase: “stop,” or “I want water.”
Eat: Move the hand as if stuffing food into the mouth.
Drink
Bathroom: Shake the hand back and forth (or twist it) as you make the sign for “t”.
Hurt, pain: Twist the hands back and forth as you make the sign. Point to the place that hurts. Use facial expression, the more it hurts, the bigger the expression.
More: Move hands together and then let them bounce in place.
Stop
Finished, or all done
Signs can be found at www.lifeprint.com
Emotion
Mix-in Enrichment 6
Make Faces in the Mirror
Children with autism have difficulty both in expressing emotion and in recognizing it in others. Here is a simple set of exercises to engage the key facial muscles used for emotions. As you try each one in the mirror, compare your face to the child’s and help her with the subtleties of face muscle movement. Some people can feel emotion as it triggers the heart. By tapping on your heart as you say the emotion, you encourage the child to sense that internal sensation.
Goals: To activate facial muscles and to integrate that sensation with recognition of emotions.
Materials: A mirror.
Instructions: While standing with the child in front of a mirror, make simple faces using the techniques below. Before assuming each face, say the name of the emotion. Tap on your heart as you say the emotion and say “I see [emotion] on my face. I feel it in my heart. Look at this!”
1. Pencil between lips – happy
2. Pencil between teeth – mad
3. Teeth on inner curled lip – disgust
4. Cheek muscles up, lips out – sad
5. Eyebrows up, lips curled down – unhappy
6. Smile with “cheese” – very happy, excited
7. Lower lip curled – pout
Safety considerations: None.
Sensory considerations: None.
Mix-in Enrichment 7
Name an Emotion
Goals: To activate facial muscles and to integrate that sensation with recognition of emotions.
Materials: Your hand drawn faces; commercial products such as Kimochi™ Mixed Feelings; books illustrating emotions such as How Are You Peeling; pictures of emotional faces; and emoticon apps.
Instructions:
1. Display an exaggerated emotion on your face. Tell the child to look at your face. Ask him, “What am I feeling?” Give him clues and possible answers to choose from, “Am I tired or excited?”
2. Show pictures and drawings of faces from sources listed in the materials list. Ask him to name the emotion. Then ask him to put that emotion on his face.
3. Ask the older child to draw cartoon figures with emotional faces. If this is fun for him, use cartooning as a way of exploring facial emotions.
Rhythm
Mix-in Enrichment 8
Running in Place or Fast Marching to a Beat
Goals: To increase rhythm skills; to increase lower-body coordination skills.
Materials: None.
Instructions: Start with a rhythmic march-in-place movement and then increase the speed to a slow run (in-place). Do this for 20 seconds. With time, continue to increase the speed and have the child raise her knees higher.
Safety considerations: Be aware of child’s balance skills.
Sensory considerations: None.
Mix-in Enrichment 9
Beat a Drum
Learning to recognize and keep a beat helps our internal brain rhythms.
Goals: To learn rhythms; to provide rhythmic input to the brain’s processing circuitry for internal synchronization.
Materials: Table top, oatmeal box, small drum or bongo.
Instructions: Tap out simple rhythms such as those below and ask the child to do what you do.
1. Steady tapping on drum with one hand.
2. Steady tapping with both hands.
3. Steady tapping with alternating hands.
4. Two taps with left hand then two taps with right while keeping a steady beat.
Boy beating a makeshift drum.
Motor
Mix-in Enrichment 10
Basic Exercise Movements
These basic movements are a good foundation for learning to exercise and to play on play equipment. Young children should be able to do the simple movements. A school-aged child can typically do all of these, including jumping jacks.
Goals: To learn the basic movements needed for exercise and play.
Materials: None.
Instructions: Perform one or more of these steps for ten seconds each. Between steps, take a 5-10 second rest break.
1. Jump in place.
2. Jump up, then come down with legs apart (this is the legs portion of jumping jacks).
3. Downward dog
4. Superman
5. Roll up
6. Climbing onto stool
7. Shimmy
Safety considerations: If the child struggles with balance, position her near a wall.
Sensory considerations: None.
Jumping
Practice jumping in a variety of ways: a simple jump up; a jump high in the air with arms swinging up to help achieve the height; and a long jump.
A simple jump
A high jump
Long jump
Simple Half-Jumping Jacks
Children with special needs may struggle to perform the coordinated movements of jumping jacks. You can help the child learn the parts by breaking down the complex jumping jack moves into simpler steps. Try these alternate methods. Here are three easy exercises to help the child learn the individual arm and leg movements. Practice all three with the child, and then try a few “real” jumping jacks to see how she is progressing.
Arms up in a clap, then down to the side
The easiest portion of jumping jacks is the arm movement. Tell the child to clap his arms above the head and then bring them back down to the side. Do several in a row. Work with the chid to achieve a clean symmetric movement with arms straight out and moving together.
Arms out, legs apart in a star
Have the child place his arms to the side, and his legs apart (in a star position). Then move back to standing position. Once he can do that successfully, practice jumping into the star position and back: jump and land with legs apart and arms out to the side, and then jump back. Practice this until his movements are smooth.
Right side, back to center, left side
In this variation, the child swings one arm and leg up, then returns to arms down and legs together. Do each side separately, and then alternate.
Extension and Flexion
It is important for our extension and flexion muscles to be strong because they support each other in movement. Here are simple exercises that help the child stretch and strengthen those muscle sets.
Downward dog
A very young child can do downward dog. As the child matures, help her learn to extend her muscles completely and form her body into a perfect inverted “V” position. An older child should be able to hold the pose for eight seconds with ease.
Superman
Superman is a good exercise for strengthening the core muscles. Encourage the child to hold the position for 20-30 seconds. If that is difficult, practice the stretch until he can.
Flexion (Roll-up)
A five-year-old can easily do this, but you may need to remind a four-year-old to tuck her head in. Hold the flexed position for eight seconds, and then over time slowly increase it to 25-30 seconds.
Step Up
Climbing skills are essential play skills for children. If the child with autism is unable to climb, a visit to an occupational or physical therapist is in order. This next exercise builds on climbing skills as we literally take the child to the next step in climbing movement by having the child safely step up onto a stool or chair and then back down.
Big step up
Select a chair that is knee height or shorter for the child to step on. Place it on a non-slip surface next to a wall. Step up five times with the right foot. Encourage the child to place his hand on the wall for support. Repeat this exercise with the left foot. When the child is able to step up and down smoothly, alternate the starting foot with each step up. Do 10 step-ups and step-downs, alternating feet.
Cross Midline
The challenge in this next exercise is to cross midline—a skill that develops around age three or four, but is quite difficult for many children with special needs. We start with a shimmy. We’ll continue with an almost-touch opposite toes exercise at the end of this section.
Shimmy side-to-side
The shimmy can be broken into two parts: 1) twisting from side to side, and 2) wiggling while moving up and down. Practice each of these separately and then perform the whole shimmy.
Shimmy: simultaneously twist from side-to-side and move up and down while keeping the neck and head faced forward. The arms should move across midline. Help the child move his hands across midline until he is able to motor-plan that action on his own. Do this for 10 seconds.
More Exercises
Finally, we get to the pre-cursors of pushups, toe touches, windmills and step-ups. Here are easier versions of those exercises.
Knee push-ups
Push-ups help a child to maintain good core strength. While an older child with typical motor skills should be able to do full push-ups, a 5-6 year-old will find it easier to do knee push-ups. Knee push-ups are a good place to start with children with autism. Do a few and try to increase the number each time. You may need to help position the child for this exercise. You may also need to help him pull up his body weight by pulling up on his shoulders or chest as he pushes up. Slowly let him assume the full job, with time.
Almost-touch toes
Touching toes is a good way to stretch. The exercise helps to pull energy out of wiggly muscles. In this easier version, we want the child to focus on stretching as far as she can—to almost touch her toes. Do five toe-touches, slowly. Encourage the child to reach just a little further each time.
Almost-touch opposite toes (half-windmills)
This exercise is a precursor to learning windmills: “almost touch” the opposite toe.
Help the child move her hands and twist her body across midline until she is able to motor-plan that action on her own. As with touching toes, it is more important, when doing the exercise, to get the stretch than to force the reach to the toes. Do 10 touches, alternating each side. See if the child can reach just a little further with each alternation.
