Your child’s BCBA or OT may keep mentioning “home practice” or “generalization,” and there’s a reason for that. However, without clear guidelines, reasons, or explanations, parents or caregivers may not understand what those terms mean or how strongly current research shows that at-home practice is where skills learned in therapy must function to be useful.
Clinicians use the term “generalization” to describe the environment in which newly learned and practiced skills are most helpful. For children with autism and their families, daily home life is where these skills need to be consistently nourished and developed. The skills your child is learning in the clinic will not automatically translate to the home, community, or school front without reinforcement.
While Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) may originate in the clinic, at-home activities extend ABA therapy goals into the generalization environment. Current research demonstrated a strong correlation between parent-guided exercises, play, and skills practice at home or “therapy that happens in everyday routines” and positive outcomes for social communication, language, and play.
In the bigger context, at-home skill practice through child-led play and daily routines isn’t a supplement to therapy but a natural continuation and completion of what children learn in our clinic. Rest assured, these activities are simple, and just a handful of minutes each day is enough to support your child’s development.
For skills practice and child-led play to be successful at home, parents should read their child’s emotional state first and let it lead the way. In any available moment, your child will be regulated, underaroused, or overaroused. While we can provide general guidelines, your BCBA or OT is the best resource for learning which activities or sensory-supportive techniques to use based on your child’s state of emotional regulation or dysregulation.
A regulated child is calm and alert. They are the most open for practicing new skills or working on communication. From this state, your child may be interested in communicating about their day, telling you a story, or asking questions using their PECS cards or other communication tools. They may want to play a game, or you could try playdate role-playing activities if they’re interested in making new friends.
Is your child looking sluggish or unfocused? If they’re at a table or on the couch, they may be dripping out of their seat like a floppy rag doll. In this state, action-oriented activities are a good way to start in order to energize their body. Together, you can do things like hop up and down, jump on a trampoline, or get them outside climbing on a jungle gym. Once they seem more energized or alert, you can begin working on skill building or ask them how they’d like to play with you next.
If your child is already overstimulated or your offer catalyzed a meltdown, we know the child is overaroused. This is the time to use calming and soothing strategies, which can range from using a weighted vest or blanket in the lap to applying deep pressure or using slow, intentional body movements.
We often talk to parents about utilizing a “sensory diet” as a framework. This “diet” is a personalized plan of specific physical activities and sensory inputs scheduled for your child throughout the day. A child-specific sensory diet goes a long way toward supporting emotional regulation throughout the day. The BCBAs here at ART identify which activities fit a child’s individual profile, which parents/caregivers can use for home practice, and that can also be shared with educators for more successful classroom outcomes.
⭐ Quick Reference: Match the Activity to the State
Regulated
Calm and alert. Best window for new skills, communication practice, or a game together.
Underaroused
Sluggish or unfocused. Start with action, like jumping or climbing, to energize the body first.
Overaroused
Overstimulated or heading toward a meltdown. Reach for calming strategies: weighted items, deep pressure, slow movement.
In our post on Sensory Issues in Autism, we discussed how children with autism almost always have some degree of sensory processing issues that affect the neurological processes of receiving, organizing, and responding to input from multiple senses. Two systems affected by autism are the vestibular and proprioceptive systems, both of which can be supported with specific movement and “heavy work” activities.
The vestibular system is responsible for coordinated balance and movement and is located in the inner ear. The proprioceptive system is responsible for the brain’s ability to sense body position through connections (and communication) between muscles and joints. These two systems have the broadest regulatory effect, which is why processing disorders in these systems exacerbate emotional dysregulation because they can create a sense of disembodiment, which is very confusing and disorienting.
When we introduce at-home activities or sensory play using “heavy work,” the physical resistance, pulling, pushing, or lifting provides the brain with feedback from the joints and musculoskeletal system. To use the vernacular, these activities help children feel “back inside their bodies,” which is grounding and calming and supports improved emotional regulation.
⚠️ Safety Note
If you try a weighted backpack walk, keep the load to no more than 10% to 15% of your child's body weight. That's enough resistance to be grounding without straining their body.
The activities we recommend trying at home are easy to implement without professional certification or training and without specialized equipment.
In addition to helping to calm children, we recommend using movement and heavy work activities as part of a sensory diet, placing them before demanding tasks or transitions that are known to be tricky or triggering.
As a result of the aforementioned sensory processing disorders, children with ASD have a range of responses to touch. Some avoid touch while others seek constant input. When using touch, texture, and sensory bin play time, we want to honor where the child is and work from there. So, for example, if your child is touch averse or highly sensitive to specific textures, we might create a sensory table or sensory bins that include soothing textures (dry rice, dried pasta) as well as textures they aren’t as fond of (water beads, sand, etc.). However, we’ll start with scoops, funnels, and spoons to reduce direct contact, offering more direct contact only as the child’s comfort increases.
Some of the most popular tactile or sensory-focused materials or activities children interact with in our sensory tables include:
We understand that it can be frustrating for parents when your child doesn’t learn or adapt as quickly as you’d hoped with a specific task or therapy. However, it’s essential that you never force contact with a material, as that can set your child back. Your child is also sensitive to your energy levels, so if you’re feeling stressed or frustrated, that affects their regulation.
Over time, and using consistent techniques and a patient approach, you’ll begin to see improvements. Also, when used correctly and as part of a healthy generalization activity, your child’s sensory table or bins become a “safe space” that they can go to when feeling overwhelmed or when they need more sensory input than is available from others in that moment.
🌟 A Gentle Reminder
Never force contact with a sensory material, even when progress feels slow. Your child picks up on your energy too. Patience and consistency, not pressure, are what turn a sensory bin into a safe space your child can return to on their own.
We also encourage parents and caregivers to work at home or in routine settings on general ways to create calm with respect to auditory and visual stimulation.
If your child is sound sensitive, consider ways to reduce ambient sound levels or avoid places that are excessively loud or chaotic. You may want to ask the school for sound-canceling earphones or purchase a pair that is comfortable for your child and that they can use as needed.
We also use sound to build joint attention, letting them play simple percussion instruments to experiment with sound levels, or taking turns with you playing a particular instrument as they hone their attention to match your sound level and intensity.
Visual stimulation has increased exponentially in Western culture, especially with the rapid integration of screen time and the proliferation of big-box stores in our daily errand-running lives. If your child becomes easily visually overwhelmed, we’ll discuss ways to create visual calm wherever possible.
This could include using dimmer switches or turning some lights off, as lower light settings are more calming for most kids with ASD. Similarly, flickering or flashing lights can be a trigger, so consider using light filters in rooms with fluorescent lights and avoid bright, flashing lights whenever possible. Some children enjoy visual soothing tools like snow globes, sand timers, or lava lamps.
Some children benefit from oral soothing strategies, especially those that include chewing (part of that hard work again, but this time in the mouth/jaw). Speak to your BCBA about chewing tools to find safe alternatives to your child’s clothing or pens/pencils. Children may also enjoy blowing bubbles, using their breath to spin pinwheels, or blowing a cotton ball through a straw. These exercises support breath regulation.
💡 Sensory Calm Toolkit at a Glance
Sound
Sound-canceling headphones for loud spaces, or simple percussion play to build joint attention.
Visual
Dimmer switches or filters for flickering fluorescents, and calming visuals like snow globes or lava lamps.
Oral
Safe chewing tools from your BCBA, or blowing bubbles and a cotton ball through a straw for breath regulation.
As we mentioned at the start, we don’t want parents to feel overwhelmed or like this is one more thing they have to fit into an already overfull day. Consistency matters far more than activity duration. Adding just five to 10 minutes of intentional activity each day builds regulatory patterns that build on one another for noticeable results.
Again, your BCBA therapist or OT can provide more specific information about the activities best suited for your child and their sensitivities or needs. In the meantime, here’s an example of how parents or a family might embed activities into the existing routine or during transitions:
While these are examples, your versions would be targeted to your child’s needs and emotional status. For example, if they came home from school all wound up, they may need a few minutes of soothing music while sitting with a weighted blanket on their lap before starting homework or other activities.
When they first come home from school or after dinner time, you may also want to do some interoception (checking in on their body’s status) time. For example, they could belly breathe with a stuffed animal and see what they feel inside their body. You might use their PECS or other picture cards to check in about what they’re feeling (tired, too hot or cold, hungry, etc.), or they can use sensory activities, cards, or language practice to label their emotions.
As a parent, you don't need to act like a therapist or feel like you have to be as skilled as one. Your job is to be a parent: connect with your child and use the tools and strategies therapists have shared that may be helpful for your child. The intentional paying attention, noticing where your child is at, and then allowing room for child-led activities or play is all you have to do.
At-home activities and sensory play for children with autism or sensory processing disorders work best when coordinated with the child’s therapy team, so we’re all building on the same skill sets.
Every child's sensory profile is different. Our BCBAs work with families across Tyler, McKinney, Prosper, Celina, and Frisco to identify which activities fit your child's specific needs and support the skills being built in therapy.
Contact the Autism Response Team by giving us a call at (877) 77-ART-TX (877-772-7889), or email us at StartABA@arttx.org, to learn more about how we can support full-spectrum support for your child, including personalized at-home activities and sensory play that improve their whole-child development and social skills.
Want activities tailored to your child's specific sensory profile? Call the Autism Response Team at (877) 77-ART-TX or email StartABA@arttx.org.
