Greetings are an activity that are an essential part of daily life skills that we all take for granted. Being able to say hello or goodbye is a social skill many children with Autism struggle with.
My oldest son Conor is almost 9 and remains essentially non-verbal. Just before Christmas 2018 he said his first words, one of which was “Hi”. (You can watch the video of him saying his first words here.) I have been encouraging him at every opportunity to speak and use his voice. He has spent his whole life until Christmas believing he did not have to try to speak so now it is a battle to remind him without using too much “verbal prompting”.
One way that is great to encourage his interaction is through visual supports. I created these Greetings Visuals Supports for Conor and his little brother Jack.
I wanted to make it a fun activity that they can both carry out along side their big sister Hailey. I placed the Greetings Visuals just inside the front door of our house and the entrance to our Kitchen.
We use these every day now, and Jack’s favorite Greeting is to choose “Fist Bump”, Conor’s favorite is “Thumbs Up” and Hailey’s favorite is “High Five”.
It really is lovely to see them interact with each other and it has become like a game as they enter the Kitchen in particular.
I think these are a great activity for the Classroom as well as the home. I would love to see photos of how you use them so feel free to send them to me by email thelittlepuddinsblog@gmail.com or over on my FACEBOOK page or INSTAGRAM.
You can DOWNLOAD your Free Printable here.
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