Visual Gift Ideas for Autistic Teenager

It's time for my annual post on my favorite toys and gifts for teens with autism.  As always its a challenge to find really great gifts that are socially appropriate for a teenager with autism.  This year I've found some really good ones that are highly visual.  I like highly visual gifts because most of the teens on the spectrum I know are fascinated by highly visual items (including my son LOL).  Anyhow here, is a sneak peak at our Christmas list.

Laser Stars
This projects a bunch of floating stars and what kind of looks like the Milky Way onto the walls and ceiling of a dark room.  Once in awhile a shooting star will go across the ceiling.  It is so awesome to look at.  This would make a great calming gift for a teen with autism.  It could turn any darkened room into a quiet planetarium.

Here is a video but I don't think it does it justice:



Super Light Doodler

The super light doodler is big sphere of light (about eleven inches I believe) that you can manipulate which is really neat.  You can make the light spin, or stop, or it can randomly change designs.  This is really interesting to look at and best of all other teenagers think it's cool.

Strobotop
OK to understand the greatness of the Strobotop you've got to watch this video:


Now that you've seen the video, you know how awesome the Strobotop is.  What I like is that you can make your own animations, draw in your own designs.  For teens with autism who are also artistic this is a really fun and interesting toy.  

Hoberman Sphere

The Hoberman Sphere is another really interesting, highly visual mechanical toy.  This thing literally expands to three times its size.  My son is fascinated by mechanical pieces in action.  I think this would also be a great gift for other autistic teens, but they have to be careful.  If your teen is rough with items then I wouldn't get it.  Some of the plastic pieces in the joints are small and can break if not handled carefully.  Super interesting and fun to play with. 

Mosaica

Mosaica is a magnetic mosaic set.  You can make a wide variety of colors and designs using the tiles.  I like that it comes in a sturdy tin so all of the mosaic pieces stick to the tin.  This is a fun travel toy or holiday distraction for teens that need one. 

What about you what are you buying for Christmas?  If you've got some good gift ideas for your teen please share them!