Pet Pals - NISRA

This class was an opportunity for kids to have fun interacting with certified therapy dogs by doing guided activities that help develop social skills, confidence, and self-esteem.  I think this was actually the first NISRA class that Aiden ever took.  It was a small class, around 7 kids and 3 dogs.  He has always loved all animals but has also always been afraid of them, so this class seemed perfect to me.  He always participated in all the activities that they would do and was always excited to go back each week.  I don’t know if they still have this class at NISRA so I’m glad he was able to do it when he did.

Gymnastics - NISRA

Aiden used to attend a gymnastics class at Spring Hill Gymnastics in Elgin but the program was actually run by NISRA.  The purpose of the class was to develop eye-hand coordination, balance, flexibility and strength.  For Aiden, I think it was just lots of fun.  His group was small and each child was on their own level but they were all suppose to accomplish the same activities.  Aiden did very well in this class because he is so active and always excited to move.  We didn’t continue this class because I wanted him to try out some other ones.  He always had a good time here and maybe someday he will return.

Chicago Children's Museum - Navy Pier

The Chicago Children’s Museum is inside Navy Pier, you enter on the 2nd floor.  There are 3 levels you can visit/play on.  They have some permanent and some changing exhibits.  Some of their more popular exhibits are the Dinosaur Expedition where kids dig for dinosaur bones, an interactive Water Ways exhibit with pulleys, pumps, etc., Kids Town with a CTA bus and mini grocery store, and more. When we took Aiden here he was much younger.  We visited every exhibit they had and he really enjoyed it.  I have to say though, out of all the cool things they had there the most memorable for me was when he played in the grocery store/restaurant.  I had no idea he would be so into it but he really was! He grabbed a shopping cart and filled it with food and paid for it, then went to the kitchen area, put on an apron and started chopping vegetables and baking bread! LOL! It was so cute. He would take the big fake plastic bread and stick it in the big fake brick oven and he would repeat all this over and over in a big hurry like he was an actual chef in a big busy restaurant.  Aiden was pretty verbally limited at this time so this really caught me by surprise.  I will never forget this :)

Music Therapy

We put Aiden in a music therapy class probably around age 3.  He loved music and I had read about how many people on the spectrum tend to show a heightened interest and response to music so it could be used a therapeutic tool for working with them.  It’s basically using music to address behavioral, social, sensory, etc. issues because kids enjoy it and it seems non-threatening.  That sounds so simple or unimpressive as I write it but when you have a small child on the spectrum and you’re able to find something that they find non-threatening and enjoyable, that’s a really big deal!  I don’t remember how long we had Aiden in this program but I do remember that towards the end it seemed we were having more bad days than good.  We parents didn’t get to see what was going on in the room but we could hear the music, the singing, the instruments, the crying, whatever was going on.  It probably could have been a great thing for Aiden but just not at that time.  This early part of his life was really very difficult for us.  We were learning about autism as we were dealing with it and being that he was non-verbal just made everything so much harder.  But we were trying everything that we would learn of and I’m very glad we did because whether or not each program or activity we tried was successful, there was always something to learn from the experience.

Brunswick Zone - Algonquin, IL

We’ve been to this Brunswick Zone bowling alley in Algonquin a few times.  It’s nice and big and also has an arcade.  Aiden picked up on the purpose of the game fairly quickly but still needs to gain some patience while waiting for his ball to finally get down to the pins.  He also really liked the arcade area. He doesn’t really know how to play the games, he mostly just enjoys the ones you can ride or have to be physically active with. Update: This Algonquin Brunswick Zone has now changed to Bowlero.

Spring Hill Mall Train - West Dundee, IL

Spring Hill Mall has a little train that rides around the inside of the mall. It has 1 pick up and drop off stop near the center of the mall.  As it drives around the length of the mall it plays different train songs.  Aiden used to really love taking this train so we used to take him a lot because it was always a struggle to find things that he really loved.  Although the train cars are small, adults do fit in there as well. Some of the train songs they play were familiar to him from the tv shows he’d watch so it was so cute to see his eyes light up when he recognized the music.  I’m sure he’d still enjoy riding it.

Mall Play Area

We used to go to the mall play areas a lot after Aiden learned to walk.  This was really my “go to” place because I didn’t feel like I had a whole lot of choices on places to take him. Plus it was free. This was a good opportunity for him to practice a little independence as well as for me to be able to sit back and observe him interact with, or around, other children.  It helped me to get some idea of where he was on a social level.  He really enjoyed all the climbing all over things and more and more became interested in the other children as well.