Top 10 Ideas for Using Thomas the Tank Engine as a Teaching Tool
Wednesday October 25, 2006
No one really knows why Thomas the Tank Engine is so popular among children with autism. But it's not a bad thing! In fact, Thomas books and toys can be the source of wonderful interaction, learning and skill building.
Do you have a Thomas-lover in your family? Or have you discovered other toys or games that help build social, physical or thinking skills? Share your finds!
Comments
My son is 5 has recently been dx as PDD-NOS, according to the school psychologist it’s “very mild”.
Yes, he LOVES Thomas and Friends. He loves to seat a play with the tracks and trains for hours. But now he likes to play with someone else.
Pokemon and YuGiOh, without a doubt. It not only occupied my now 19 yr old college freshman son, but it helped him to learn social skills, and helped him to reach out to younger kids, to help them learn about the games.
Thomas the Tank Engine–my son almost did not receive a dx of Asperger’s because so many kids love Thomas! I had to explain that he had no other toys and had to have every piece of the set. We have a small fortune invested in it! But Thomas, Winnie the Pooh, and now Captain Underpants, Tak and Loc video games, Captain Fact, and the Magic Tree House all let him hyperfocus on things other kids love too–great for social contact. The BBC Walking with Dinosaurs CD set was one of our best investments, and everything else with Nigel Marvin in it.(A bit tough for those of us with empathy for animals, though.) Razor scooters, too, have helped him with balance and social interaction. And keeping an exercise ball in front of the TV when he watches videos, etc has improved his muscle tone, as he lounges on it and inadvertantly exercises.
Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story and Blue’s Clues are my six-year-old son’s favorites. I heard this idea from a therapist who saw another mom do it. Print Blue’s pawprints (go to Nickjr.com), cover with contact paper and hide them all over the house. It’s a great way to teach the concepts of over, under, inside, outside, etc. The bonus is a great deal of social interaction between the person who hid the pawprint and is now giving clues and the child with autism who’s searching for it.
p.s. Thanks, Kathy, for the exercise ball idea; I love it.
My 8 year old does not like thomas but he loves veggie tales and 3-2-1 penguins. He has very low func. autism and I dont think we would make it through the day with out veggies, he even hums and sometimes sings along and he doesn’t talk at all so that is something.
My 3 year old son was diagnosed with autism Jan.2005. He adores Thomas the Train. Sometimes its the only way we can calm him when all else fails. Most nights we put him to bed with a toy Thomas train.
My son is 18 years old and has been part of classroom participation since 3rd grade; he is Asperger Syndrome.
Before he heads out to catch a public bus for school, he watches Thomas the Engine, anything on Public Education TV. He also has a passion for cooking and radio broadcasting–he’s a big football, basketball and baseball fan.
Strangely, I also catch him watching Spanish television, I think he knows spanish–he has a thing to collect spanish newspapers.
He had a homework assignment that had to match images with the correct english/spanish word. He did this in 30 minutes–I called words randomly.
I believe Thomas the Red Engine, Sesame Street and all of those wonderful educational televisions shows has carved my son’s abilities.
I don’t know if this would be considered an informercial…if so, it won’t make this blog.
I live in Dallas, Texas. For those parents who are actively involved with their child’s disabilities, please visit this link:
http://www.atcoftexas.org/summit_register.asp
hey all,my 11 year old son loves thomas and friends. he loves all trains in general.i have used thomas movies and toys as motivators to get my son to potty train him. one of the other things i have found to be usefull is “floor time” play to teach them how to develope thier imagination.i think kids with autism relate to object differently than we do.my son used to wave bye bye to his pee and poop! they seem to think objects understand or something, i;m not sure how it works but there is so logic behind it.
I have two boys diagnosed with Autism Jose(9)and Jesus(8). Jose loves to play with Thomas toys and also Toy Story. Jesus likes to play with Blues Clues toys and DVD movies.
My son is Down Syndrome and autistic, along with being non-verbal.I was told by a teacher that he may never know his alphabet or how to write. Well because of the Vtech write & Learn smartboard he has learned his alphabet and is trying to write.He loves playing the game of finding letters. I ask him to find a letter in any order w-a, or skip t, b, he will find them.
My son’s first obsession was trains — from age 1 to about 6. Now he’s 8 and thinks trains are for babies — his main obsession is Lego, especially Bionicle. But his obsessions have never been exclusive. He has many other interests, and gets excited about following up on a new interest (although he has a hard time accepting that there isn’t necessarily a website devoted to it). He also likes the Discovery show Mythbusters, and I made a book for him based on that show, promoting his interest in math. That book plus the PBS show Cyberchase gave him a good attitude about math which helped him in school — at first he couldn’t even count 10 objects, but within a year he was doing basic addition and subtraction. Sometimes it’s necessary to set limits on his interests, but I definitely see their value for both relaxation and motivation.
Norway Mom - sounds like your son is a budding engineer or scientist - Mythbusters is a great show to help find out how things work.
Take a look at these three sites - I think they may be interesting.
First Sodaplay: www.sodaplay.com
This site lets you create moving robots using line drawings - takes some experimenting but they also have working examples on the site - its all there - nothing to download.
Next take a look at Line Rider:
www.deviantart.com/deviation/40255643/
You simply draw a line on the screen and the man and the sled slide down - try hills and valleys - he can pick up speed and make jumps, etc.
When he gets older - or even now depending on his reading comprehension you might want to look over the site together HowStuffWorks - www.howstuffworks.com
Have fun!
Thanks, Peter. Line rider is easy and hilarious. I’m sure it will be a hit today when my son comes home from school. Sodaplay is more complicated, so I’ll have to figure it out myself before letting him try. Another engineering game we like is Widgets at www.iknowthat.com. You don’t have to be a member to play.
My 11 year old son has been a Thomas fan since the age of 2. Thomas was the breakthrough toy in his diagnosis of Aspergers. A family counselor picked up on it and approached me with her thoughts based on his obsessive talking about Thomas at the age of 7. Now my two year old is a Thomas fan as well. But he isn’t obsessing over Thomas, nto yet anyhow.
However I do need to mention my son’s counselor suggested that the reason for the love of Thomas is the easy to read emotions. Something kids in the autism spectrum have problems expressing and understanding.