Great ideas for Christmas, birthday,
and other gifts for those with
Asperger's Syndrome / ASD's

Below are some great ideas for Christmas, birthday, and other gifts for children and adults with Asperger's Syndrome.

For anyone with an ASD, ANYTHING that is related to their special interest(s) can be the perfect gift for the child.

For example, our son LOVES 3-ring binders, and "cool" ink pens, and mechanical and Ticonderoga pencils.

For many years, nothing brought him more joy than a case of 3-ring binders! His eyes lit up just like a child who finds a bicycle under the Christmas tree or the latest video game in his birthday gifts. :o)

Next best was going to the office supply store.

Invariably, if he was upset about something or other, I could suggest a trip to the office supply store and he was ready to go.

In all honesty, I had a very hard time with the thought of giving him binders. I felt like I wasn't giving him a good gift. But when his eyes lit up then I knew that although to me it didn't seem like a good gift, he loved it, it was perfect for him!

And when I gave him a basket of all kinds of different pens, he was in heaven!

Ticonderoga pencils are hard to find here for some reason, so when my girlfriend mentioned it to a coworker, she actually found a box of Ticonderoga pencils, gave them to my girlfriend who then gave them to my son. He was beyond overjoyed!

Now he loves loves loves Yugioh cards. Everywhere we go he wants to look for Yu-Gi-Oh cards. One day we hit three stores here and couldn't find them anywhere. So then we ended up at Blockbuster where he got a card to play a particular online game (another recent obsession).

To come up with great ideas for Christmas, birthday, and other gifts for children with Asperger's Syndrome just take a look at what their special interests are. Stick with that and your gift will be a hit! :o)

If your child's, or recipient's, interests lie in lego blocks (this is a very common interest for kids with Asperger's Syndrome) then get him legos. Just forewarn others to watch where they walk because man do those things hurt when you step on 'em barefoot ... ouch! ;o)

Does he or she like trains? That's another common interest. Find him or her a train set that he or she can play with. A train set that will stand up to a LOT of play.

Maybe it's bugs (did you know that Pokemon's founder has Asperger's Syndrome and the first round of Pokemon cards were based on bugs?). There are all kinds of bug related goodies that can be had.

Maybe it's roller coasters! There are books, and video games that help design roller coasters, and more.

What about baseball statistics? This type of information can hold the interest of a child (and even adults) with Asperger's Syndrome for hours and hours. Baseball cards are excellent for this.

Beads! At our support group meeting on Dec. 14 one of the young men (this is mostly a support group for families with young-adult "children" with an ASD) received a container of beads. His mom said it was perfect because he has a tall bin chock full of all different types and colors of beads.

And costumes! I haven't met a kid, or young adult, with Asperger's Syndrome that doesn't like costumes in one way or another. It might be just the hat, or just the cape, or just the tail, or just the ears, or the entire costume but they love costumes! Here are some top costumes for boys and some top costumes for girls.

Here's my son in his cape ... this is a somewhat recent picture (maybe a year old or so):

Isn't he the coolest Capeman-Man (that's his name for who he is when he's wearing his cape) you ever did see? ;o)

One thing that might not be tied in with your child's specific interests, but is making headlines for helping children and adults with Autism is the Apple iPad, and more specifically certain iPad Apps that are designed with Asperger's Syndrome/ASD's, and it's accompanying traits, in mind.

Just pay attention to what your child/young-adult child/grandchild/nephew/niece/friend's child/etc. focuses on and talks about a lot. Pick up something that fits his interests and you'll have a winner on your hands and a bright-eyed happy kid doing cart wheels around the room! :o)

And speaking of cartwheels in the house...

My son couldn't just walk through a room, he "flew" through the room ... jumping, cartwheeling, somersaulting, you name it!

Many of our kids have boundless energy but it's not always practical to let them go outside to run around.

Cue the indoor action toys!

If there's room in the house, there are some pretty cool action toys that will keep your youngster engaged for some time and help to burn off some of that energy, all while having a blast.

Check out these scooter boards. I read the reviews on this and they look like a lot of fun. My son of course is too big for these now but if you have a "littler" kid, this would be a kick!

Just have fun with it and let your inhibitions go in regards to what you would normally think might (or might not) be a good gift. Remember I cringed when I bought binders yet it turned out to be the most popular gift for him, even better than the cardboard boxes! ;o)

Happy Gift Hunting!!
Diane