Due to their autism symptoms, the little boys in our family were diagnosed as being on the high end of the autism spectrum, along with one of them having sensory integration disorder. They are blessed to have excellent therapists who help them, and us, as we work together to help these sweet boys.

One thing we learned from the therapists was that stress balls and other stress relief toys can be a big help to the kids. The different "squishiness" of each toy helps the children as they play with them. This was true for all of the boys, but especially the young'n with sensory integration disorder. He had a hard time with various kinds of outside stimulus. By playing with odd-feeling stress balls and stress relief toys, he had fun, and he also learned to work through his "feelings" about them and deal with things better.

We have stress balls that are hard, stress balls that are soft, stress balls that are squishy but kind of feel gritty as well, like there is sand in them. We even have stress balls that squeeze out the side and look like a balloon. We've actually managed to pop a couple of stress balls. Oh my, that was so hard for the one sweetie at first, but as he as continued to progress he has learned to take even that in stride.

You wouldn't think such a simple thing as a stress ball could be much use, but they really have been great. Their mom made a box of all the squishy toys for them. I would go over to help and we'd pull that box out. Don't laugh too loud, but I had as much fun playing with them and squeezing them as the boys did! Some were kind of boring, especially the hard ones. But the uber-squishy stress balls with texture were totally relaxing as I laid on the floor, squishing them and watching the kids have fun squishing their stress relief toys.

Of course, we also used stress balls to play catch. Since we were playing inside, we'd always pick the softest ones for that game. Then, if we missed a ball and it went astray, it didn't break anything!

I was always on the lookout for a new type of stress ball to add to their "squishy box." In the middle of autumn, I really hit the jackpot. I found Halloween balls that were ultra-squishy and ultra-wierd. They were perfect for helping our little sweetie with his sensory integration issues! I'm not a big "scary Halloween" fan but I have to admit, I loved the bloodshot eyeball stress balls. They were just so cool looking! You'd squish them and the pupil would move around in the white ball part. A great way to teach them not to be bothered by strange things and a great way to entertain me, and them. :)

They are doing much better now and getting older. For the most part, we've moved on to Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and Legos. We still play with the stress balls, but nowadays it's mostly just to play catch together. And that is something that gives me the biggest smile of all - seeing how good they are all doing. Don't get me wrong, we've got a long way to go. But we've come a long way as well!