Special Needs Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Meraki Lane

Whether you’re looking for sensory activities for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, or school-aged kids, we’ve got you covered. Perfect for at home or in the classroom, we’ve collected 101 sensory activities for kids with autism and special needs to help them calm down, stimulate their senses, develop their social skills, language skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and self-control skills, as well as increase their attention span and help them learn!

Sensory Play! 101 Sensory Activities for Kids With Autism

Looking for fun empathy activities for kids to teach children about kindness and compassion, and help them understand the feelings of others? We’ve rounded up 19 empathy activities for children to help teachers with their lessons plans in the classroom and parents and caregivers at home. We’ve even included 100 random acts of kindness, which includes some pretty fun and impressive ideas!

Empathy Activities For Kids: 19 Fun Ways To Teach Kids About Kindness

How to Prevent Bullying of Kids | Looking for ways to stop bullying? Whether you’re the parent or teacher of special needs kids, elementary school kids, teens in middle school, or high school students, we’re sharing 9 tips to teach you how to prevent bullying of kids with autism and other developmental disorders as well as 15 inclusive, team building anti-bullying activities to help educate, protect, and empower our youth!

How to Prevent Bullying of Kids with Autism: 9 Ways to Stop Bullying

20 Super Fun Core Exercises for Kids | Whether you’re looking for classroom activities for students who struggle to sit still and focus, or need occupational therapy activities for kids to help strengthen weak core muscles and develop fine and gross motor skills, we’ve got 20 ideas that will make learning feel like fun! Ideal for kindergarteners, first graders, and beyond, these activities are perfect for kids with autism, ADHD, and SPD!

Strength and Balance: 20 Super Fun Core Exercises for Kids

How to help a speech delayed child | Whether you’re the parent of a child with nonverbal autism, a teacher looking for speech therapy ideas to help with letter sounds & articulation, in need of PECS communication resources, or need help developing your little one’s WH questions, we’ve rounded up 32 tips & activities to get you started. From speech therapy activities to free PECS communication boards for kids with autism to other fun activities for nonverbal children, this is a great resource!

Will my autistic child ever talk? How to help a speech delayed child

Autism and Behavioral Problems: 6 Anger Managements Tips for Kids | Autism and anger can be all-consuming. From explosive meltdowns to self-injurious behavior, it’s essential for parents to equip their children with the coping skills they need in the classroom and beyond. We’re sharing our best self-discipline and self-control activities as well as other tips and tools you can use to calm an angry child.

Autism and Behavioral Problems: 8 Tips to Cope with Aggression in Kids

Vestibular System Exercises for Kids | If you’re looking for fun and easy sensory integration activities for autism, we’ve got you covered. We have 16 occupational therapy approved ideas to help improve your little one’s motor skills both at home and in the classroom. Perfect for kids of any age, these core strengthening activities offer a fun way to help develop your child’s vestibular system!

Sensory Integration Activities For Autism: Vestibular System Exercises

How to Potty Train a Child with Special Needs | Potty training a child with autism and other special needs like sensory processing disorder and speech delay can be extremely challenging. From visual schedules and sticker charts to sensory safe products and ideas, we’ve got 11 tips to help parents and special needs kids overcome the challenge of toilet training.

How To Potty Train a Child with Special Needs: 11 Tips That Help

Autism and parenting: 8 Tips to Cope with Caregiver Fatigue | If you’re the parent of a special needs child and you want to find ways to cope with mom burnout, we’re sharing 8 simple tips you can start implementing today to teach you how to be happier and how to be a good mom to your child with ASD. Whether you’re a stay-at-home or working mom, these ideas will help you deal with parental fatigue so you can find the joy in motherhood, even on your toughest days.

Autism and Parenting: 8 Tips to Cope with Caregiver Fatigue

16 Visual Schedules for Kids with Autism! If you have a visual learner and you’re looking for the perfect visual routine chart for kids with autism, we’ve found 16 ideas you’ll love. From free printable morning routines for home to more complex daily schedules with pictures to use at school in the classroom, these portable visual schedules are perfect for preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, and beyond.

Visual Routine Chart For Kids With Autism: 16 Ideas for Visual Learners

Need tips to get a picky eater with autism, sensory issues and/or other special needs to try new foods? Autism and eating can be extremely challenging and frustrating for parents, and we’ve got 8 helpful ideas for mom (and dad!) to try to help their kids overcome their rigid autism eating habits and embrace a healthier diet. Whether your child has gastrointestinal discomfort, food texture issues, or other eating challenges as a result of autism and sensory processing disorder, these tips are for you!

Autism and Eating: 8 Tips to Help a Picky Eater with Autism

How to Get a Child with Autism to Sleep | Autism and sleep is a hot topic in the special needs community. From abnormalities in melatonin levels, anxiety, ADHD, and sensory issues, finding ways to get a child with ASD to sleep through the night can feel impossible, but these sleep tips will help. From essential oils to weighted blankets to other ideas and products, check out 9 sleep strategies to make falling asleep – and staying asleep – easier for kids with autism.

9 Tips About Autism and Sleep: How to Get a Child with Autism to Sleep

Fidget toys – more specifically, fidget spinners – are all the rage these days, inspiring kids and adults everywhere to figure out how to make a fidget toy themselves. Whether you’re looking for DIY ideas for kids or for teens, big hands or small hands, to help with stress, ADHD, anxiety, autism, or sensory processing disorder, or just to get creative juices flowing with students in the classroom, this collection of DIY fidget toys will NOT disappoint!

How to make a fidget toy: 17 DIY fidget toys for kids

Best Apps For Autism: 9 Apps For Special Needs Kids to Download Today

Looking for the best books about autism for kids with ASD and/or to help explain autism to parents, siblings, teachers, students, and caregivers? We’ve got you covered! We’ve pulled together 31 fabulous recommendations to help explain the world of autism to people of all ages. From fiction books and social stories to fun learning activities and in-depth guides geared towards helping your child with autism spectrum disorder, these books are a must-read for anyone who has been touched by special needs kids.

Helping Your Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder: 31 Books About Autism

A calm down jar offers a fabulous way for kids (and for adults!) with special needs like autism, sensory processing disorder, OCD, and anxiety to learn the art of self-regulation. We’re teaching you what calm down jars are, and how and why they work, and we’re also sharing 17 DIY calm down jar recipes you can make at home for cheap. We’ve even included some glitter-free calm down jars to inspire you to be creative!

How to make a calm down jar: 17 DIY calm down jar recipes we love

Looking for the best fidget toys for kids with special needs like autism, ADD, ADHD, SPD, OCD, and/or anxiety? Look no further! We’ve rounded up 11 of the best fidgets for children to help keep little hands busy while promoting a sense of calm and improving focus and concentration. Perfect for strengthening the muscles in the hands for motor skills like handwriting, these fun fidget toys will help children, teachers, and parents both in the classroom and at home.

11 of the Best Fidget Toys For Kids with ASD, ADHD, and SPD

Looking for fine motor activities for kids? Look no further! Whether you’re the parent of toddlers or kids in preschool, kindergarten, or grade 1 and beyond, the teacher of a child with autism or other special needs, or need some occupational therapy inspired activities to help develop handwriting skills and self-care tasks like buttoning buttons and zipping up zippers, we’ve got 18 fun and effective ideas to help strength the muscles in the hands, fingers, and wrists!

Activities that develop fine motor skills: 18 ways to have fun at home!

Looking for social development activities to help aid with early childhood development? We’ve got you covered. With 18 fun learning activities to choose from, this collection of ideas will help improve social skills for preschool, kindergarten, and school-aged kids both at home and in the classroom. Whether you’re a parent or teacher, have children with special needs, or need social emotional development ideas, these social development activities are a great place to start!

How to Improve Social Skills: 18 Social Development Activities for Kids

Looking for EASY gluten free and dairy free recipes for kids? Look no further! We’ve rounded up 24 allergy-friendly breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and healthy snack recipes your little ones will love. From Zucchini Banana Oatmeal Pancakes to Paleo Pizza Crust, cooking and baking allergy friendly recipes for kids has never been more enjoyable or rewarding. Make sure to try the Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal – it’s to die for!

24 Simple Gluten Free and Dairy Free Recipes for Kids

Are your kids picky eaters? Are you tired of feeding your toddler chicken fingers and pizza for dinner every night? Do your teens turn their nose up when you offer to pack healthy food options for them each day? Then you've come to the right place. We've got 10 simple and effective tips for dealing with picky eaters - even the most extreme ones! - to help take the stress out of meals both at home and while on the go.

10 effective tips for dealing with a picky eater