How to teach a child to match paired items?

[Guest guest]

My little boy is 2 years and 2 months old

and has autism. I have been trying to teach him about pairs of items.

When he goes to fetch his shoes, he usually brings two different shoes

rather than a matching pair, and he seems to have no grasp of the

concept that shoes should be matching. The therapist suggested putting

a selection of paired items in a clear zip bag, so I tried that with

this morning. I put two spoons, two blocks, two bowls, two

mittens, two matching pieces of lego and two pieces of raw spaghetti

shapes in the bag. He played with the bowls, spoons and spaghetti

shapes but didn't really match the items or pair them until I had him

help put the items back in the bag. If anyone has any ideas how to

teach a child with autism at 's stage in development to pair

items such as shoes, please let me know. I would appreciate some tips

and hearing about strategies that have worked for you.

's Blog: (usually updated daily)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pernod/blog/

cherimoya@...