I recently had the opportunity to get one of the cool sensory products from National Autism Resource to review for my blog. After looking at the items, I immediately knew what I had to choose – one of the Squishy Dinos.
Why that one, you ask? Well, we have a new kiddo coming to the Friendship Station (special needs classroom) at our church who is obsessed with dinosaurs, so all of the teachers in the room have been picking up toys and puzzles from dollar stores, yard sales or wherever we can find them to help him be engaged and occupied while he is there. Plus this one had the extra bonus of providing sensory input, so I was sure it would be a hit.
And it was! The boys have integrated him happily into the battles and rescues and other games they love to play, and they don’t realize we are sneaking in some extra sensory input along with it. Even the parents can’t resist picking him up for a little squeeze therapy. 
The one we got is the stegosaurus, which you can’t see in the picture unless you look very closely in the upper right corner of the box. He has a rubbery body which you can pull and squeeze, as well as a squishy middle that is very satisfying to play with when you’re bored or a bit stressed out. (Can you tell I have played with it almost as much as Michael has?)
National Autism Resource is one of the neatest sites I’ve seen of this nature, as it combines helpful articles for both parents and teachers with recommendations of books, toys and other items that correspond to the topic of each article. As it says in their mission statement…
National Autism Resources was born from a dream to make the world a little easier for people living on the spectrum and their family members. We strive to empower our community by providing excellent information, helpful links, and affordable books, games, toys and therapy products for people on the spectrum.
I think the dinosaur will be staying at church, but I love the idea of having sensory toys that look like regular toys for Michael to use at school or other places where he needs a little stress relief but doesn’t want to look different from the other kids.
When you have a moment, I would encourage you to check out this site. They have a ton of sensory friendly items as well as other products designed to help with social skills, emotions, learning and educational supports.
Disclaimer: I received one of the dinosaurs from the Squishy Dino set to review. No other compensation was given, and my opinions are my own.
I'm a mom with Asperger's raising an amazing son with autism, which means I'm basically the case manager/advocate/cheerleader/chauffeur. The rest of the time, you can usually find me with my nose in a book!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing! My boys would love a squishy dino! I will check them out soon.
Yeah, it's pretty fun to play with! And they have a lot of other neat stuff
on the site too.