Welcome to our All Autism News series! Whether you’re a parent, advocate, professional in the field or individual with autism, All Autism News is here to give you a summary of this past month’s biggest news stories affecting the autism community.

National News

Greta Thunberg’s Activism Helps Other Autistic Women See Themselves
Bustle – “Please save your praise,” Greta Thunberg told Congress when lawmakers applauded her climate activism at a Senate climate change task force meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 17.

Research

New gene linked to autism, neuron development
Spectrum – Mutations in the gene CSDE1 lead to a constellation of developmental delays and conditions, including autism, according to a new study.

Analysis finds little evidence to support dietary interventions for autism
Spectrum – Special diets that eliminate certain foods or contain added supplements have minimal impact on autism traits, according to a review of data from 27 clinical trials.

Autistic children disproportionately affected by chronic pain
Spectrum – Children with autism are about twice as likely as their typical peers to experience chronic or repeated pain, according to a large study. Those with co-occurring developmental conditions, such as epilepsy or intellectual disability, are even more likely to have chronic pain.

Technology

UofL research on robots and autistic children expands
UofL News – One University of Louisville study has found that robots can help autistic children with their emotions and behavior in the classroom. A new study aims to take that research several steps further.

Teens & Adults

How to Have a Social Life While Raising a Child on the Autism Spectrum
Yahoo Lifestyle – Having a social life is so important. Lack of one can impact mental health causing feelings of isolation, loneliness and depression. Yet many parents of children with developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder, struggle to connect with others socially.

Student hosts concert with “Music for Autism”
Yale Daily News – Over the weekend, Jake Gluckman ’21 held a concert for autistic individuals and their families with an organization called Music for Autism in New York City.

Philly artist with autism whose work sells for $25,000 has a Center City show. A year ago, he was unknown.
The Philadelphia Inquirer – For years, Lonnie Smith would gather the artwork made by his son, Kambel, and set up small shows at senior centers, libraries, and YMCAs across the Philadelphia region. Lonnie knew his son had a gift, but he couldn’t get anybody else to see it.

Mom’s post about her lonely autistic son goes viral after he asks heartbreaking question, ‘would someone like me?’
Dailymail – A mother’s tweet about her autistic son being lonely and asking if ‘someone would like’ him provoked a heartwarming response online

By Dr. Hanna Rue and Justin Funches

COVID-19 has changed the daily life of most families in the United States. Many in the autism community are now faced with challenging decisions. Families must decide how they’ll continue their child’s therapy program. Should they increase or decrease therapy hours? Consider online therapy? Or just keep things the same?

This is a complex decision with no simple answer. Every loved one with autism has different needs and faces different challenges. Each family must consider their situation and determine what’s best for them when speaking with their Behavior Analyst.

When making these tough decisions, there are several important factors that each family should consider.

Intensity of Challenging Behaviors

There are families who face significant challenges due to their child displaying aggression, self-injury, elopement, or other dangerous behaviors. For these families, clinical support is critical to maintaining safety in the home. Families concerned about managing their child’s challenging behaviors have to compare the risks of COVID-19 to the safety risks posed by the challenging behavior. In these situations, when continuing services is a matter of safety, it’s important to work with your clinical team to ensure proper health and safety procedures are in place. LEARN has implemented successful practices including pre-session health risk assessments, frequent handwashing, thorough sanitization of workspaces, restricting parent/caregiver participation, and limiting the number of technicians in the home.

Household Dynamics

Families with high risk individuals in their home, such as elderly or immune-compromised family members, may decide to put home-based ABA services on hold or move to online therapy – which reduces the risk for vulnerable household members.

While ABA services in the home can be delivered safely through strict health and safety protocols – none of these strategies are fool-proof. The only way to fully social distance and receive ABA services is through online therapy via services such as teleABA. In households where the risk of having staff in the home is too great, continuing ABA therapy online helps to decrease the risk of COVID-19 exposure and allows therapy (and progress) to continue.

tel·e·aba

noun: teleABA;

The provision of ABA therapy via computer, tablet or smartphone.

“By starting teleABA services, the family was able to help maintain their child’s behaviors when they couldn’t access session in-person.”

Risk of Skill Loss and Behavior Regression

There are families who have witnessed significant improvement in their child’s communication and social skills. These families may determine that the benefits of continuing in-home ABA services are greater than risks of COVID-19 – which we minimize by working closely with a clinician and taking ALL recommended precautions per the CDC. Other factors such as location in the U.S. and access to reliable technology impact a family’s decision to continue home-based ABA services.

Opportunities for Additional Learning

While the widespread closures of schools and center-based programs has created a challenge for many families, it’s also created opportunities for additional learning opportunities. In some circumstances, children may benefit from increased intensity of services in the home. Whether that’s to support new skill acquisition or work on a behavior reduction program. This could be particularly relevant for young learners and older learners focused on learning life skills.

It is our hope that the considerations outlined above will help families determine the best path forward. There is no one-size-fits all but we will partner with you to determine how your family can continue to benefit from ABA therapy. Whether that means keeping things the same, changing the intensity of service or embracing teleABA, every family has the opportunity to get the support that fits their individual needs. We highly recommend that families don’t go too long without services and work with their BCBA to find a solution to their challenges, as well as stay up to date on community news and happenings.

Being a working parent is demanding.  Being a working parent with your kids home all day is demanding squared.  Being a working parent with your kids home all day when your child does not have a lot of independent play skills is relentless! 

For parents of children who require a lot of supervision, there are a number of activities that many children can do independently, and that may provide you a few minutes to yourselves.  For kids who enjoy messy, sensory fun, here are some fun activities that you can contain in a very washable location: the bathtub.   

Many of the activities you might normally do on an activity table or in the yard can be converted to the tub.  When play time is over, you can turn on the water for easy clean up of your child and the play area.

Paint

Bathtub paint is available online, or make your own by mixing liquid hand soap, cornstarch, and food coloring.  Let your kiddo paint the entire bathtub, with brushes or their fingers, whatever they like!  Use food coloring if your child is apt to get some in his/her mouth; use liquid watercolor if you’re concerned about staining clothes. 

Oobleck

If you don’t know about oobleck, it is a magical substance that feels solid to the touch, but becomes a liquid when you pick it up,  Add food coloring or liquid watercolor and it’s the coolest, messiest thing around.  I like to make a humongous bowl of it, putting one liquid watercolor on one side of the bowl and another color on the other side of the bowl; as they play with it, the colors swirl and change and mix and are truly mesmerizing.  Again, your own circumstances dictate whether food coloring or liquid watercolors are best for your family.

Edible playdough

There are many different recipes online –  choose the one that fits your kid’s allergy situation.  Here are my favorites:

• • Peanut butter playdough
  • Marshmallow playdough
  • Frosting playdough

Slime

Slime is always sensory fun, and there are a number of different types of recipes. 

• • Borax-free slime is made with fiber powder, so although eating it would not be good on the tummy, it is safe for kids who might give it a small taste. 
  • Gummy Bear slime is safer to eat, but it’s chock full of sugar, so careful of the sugar-crazies!
  • Borax-free and sugar free slime recipe, try this one that uses Jello.

Bubbles

For children who get excited by foaming bubbles, let them create miniature volcanoes in the bathtub.  Line up a bunch of paper cups in the tub and fill them half-way with vinegar.  Drop in some color, either food coloring or liquid water color.  Show your child how to put a spoonful of baking soda into one cup – and watch the eruption!  Exciting, non-toxic fun.   

Last, just a reminder that for kids who like water-play, actual baths are always an option for a family stuck in the house.  Now, you don’t want to leave your children alone in a bathtub full of water, but if your kid is able to play in the water safely while you are supervising, you might be able to get in a phone call or two.  If you want to mix things up, check out bathtub color tablets, different colored/scented bubble-baths, or (my kids’ favorite): water beads.  Please note that water beads are not edible, and only appropriate for children who will not ingest them.  Pre-soak the water beads first so they get plump and as big as a marble, and dump a bunch in the tub.  For kids who like to taste all of their toys, dump a container of blueberries in the water instead! They are the same size as water beads and also float!  Other novel floatable fun objects include bars of soap, apples, corks, sponges, and ice cubes.

Here’s hoping that at least one of these ideas will spark delight in your kiddo’s eyes and give you a few minutes to breathe. 

By Ronit Molko, PhD, BCBA-D

The Covid-19 response requiring nationwide social distancing and sheltering in place has curtailed or eliminated opportunities for one-on-one or group ABA activities in centers and schools. That has left many parents of children on the autism spectrum wondering how to maintain the gains their children have made in ABA therapy. Because the current conditions will almost certainly persist into late Spring and possibly beyond, we want to help parents adapt to these new conditions as soon as possible.

Maintain Structure

The current situation is obviously sub-optimal, but there are strategies parents can employ to sustain their children’s forward momentum. The first is to recognize that the current measures represent a drastic disruption in the child’s routine and that establishing a new routine as soon as possible is important. This routine should adhere as closely as possible to the existing home-school routine with which the child has become comfortable. We all need some level of structure to function well- structure provides emotional safety as well as freedom.

Utilize Telehealth

Although the effort to minimize human-to-human contact has taken in-person ABA services off the table in many communities, many behavioral health providers are moving to telemedicine and online services using video conferencing and video calling apps. The number of these is expected to grow in the first few weeks of sheltering at home, so parents should access their providers for remote support and guidance.

Opportunities to Use ABA

ABA therapy is a repetitive command-response-reward learning system that develops a variety of skills, including communication, hygiene, play, sharing and other activities of daily living. They can be reinforced with everyday activities within the the new home-life routine.

Morning Routine

The morning routine might not have to vary at all, even without school. The child still must wake, wash, dress, brush teeth and eat breakfast, in the same order and at the same time as before. Parents should emphasize to their children the importance of personal hygiene and this is an excellent opportunity to teach the hand-washing and tooth brushing phases of this routine.

If the child normally has the option to choose what they want for breakfast, parents should maintain that choice and require the child to communicate it as before, and be rewarded with the option they choose. Veering off these routines can cause distress for children with autism.

Learning While Having Fun

It’s important to remember that many skills can be taught during typical daily activities and routines at home, as well as during times of play and fun. For example, baking together with your child provides the opportunity to teach and practice math, follow directions (a recipe) and the daily living skills of cleaning up.

Communication

Communication, playing and sharing skills can all be reinforced through play, for which there are myriad options even from home. Scholastic magazine offers free online lessons “built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video,” according to its website. These lessons can be adapted for children with autism and completed at the child’s pace. Scholastic will release 20 weeks of lessons designed to take three hours apiece.

Virtual Excursions

Various zoos now offer live video online of animals in their habitats. Discussion and play can be developed around the identities of the animals, the sounds they make and what the child can see them doing. Among the zoos with webcams are the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Houston, San Diego, Maryland and Memphis. The penguin exhibit at the Kansas City Zoo is particularly fun and active.

Creativity Time

Art activities help children express their creativity while exercising some of their learned skills. Collaborative projects among children can be used as a springboard to practice sharing and communicating. Parents can focus on tactile art projects that fit the needs of their child, using household items like food dye, macaroni, sponges, shaving cream, toilet paper rolls and much more.

Make Time for Play

There are many other play activities that parents can employ to engage children with autism (and neurotypical children!) and reinforce the skills they have learned in therapy. These might include board games, exercise and sports, and computer games. Whatever the activity, communication with the autistic child should make clear what is expected and reward constructive responses.

Lunch and Dinner

Lunch and dinner times and routines should be maintained while the child is home. Involving an older autistic child in food preparation is a way to develop life skills while practicing sharing, communication, etc. Bedtime routines should be strictly maintained for the emotional comfort of the child.

Parents are their children’s first teachers and continue in that role for their entire childhoods. With a little creativity, parents of children with autism can find enjoyable, everyday moments to reinforce their children’s lessons from therapy.

By Rebecca Mandal-Blasio, PhD, BCBA-D

It is Thursday morning and I just received the 4th frantic phone call from a family member of a child with autism. These are parents who are desperate to find crisis services for their child. These are not families who already have our ABA services, these are family members who did not have any services. Others were on waitlists to receive ABA, and sadly others’ ABA providers hav closed their doors during this time. As I talk to these family members, I refer them to agencies I hope can help, but the reality is crisis services for children with autism are often hard to find even when there is not a pandemic occurring.

So what can families do whose children are not use to the major disruption to their routines due to their school or learning center bing closed and added the social disruptions caused staying at home and social distancing? The limited explanation or understanding about why these changes have occurred can lead to stressful feelings that may manifest as irritability, tantrums, aggression or self-injury. Ultimately, family members understandably become fatigued and frustrated as they do the best they can in a hectic situation.

Here are a few tools/tips to best support and guide your family during this time and  to help prevent crisis from occurring.

1. Explain what is currently happening: Children need to know why there are closures or why they can not go outside. Keep it as simple as possible, but explain in concrete terms….in black and white. Having “gray explanations” and using abstract words or concepts will only make a confusing situation worse.

2. Social Stories: Often times ABA therapists and families utilize social stories to help explain stressful situations such as going to the dentist or getting a haircut. A social story could be a useful tool in explaining what, how and why they can not leave the house and go to the park they used to go to every day. Many autism websites will help provide tips on how to write these stories that could be reviewed each day. If your child is able to assist you with writing a social story, it is great opportunity for an afternoon activity too. Click here for example.

3. Try to keep a schedule: This may be hard to do given our schedules are not predictable each day, but making the child’s schedule as predictable as possible will help calm stressful feelings. This can be accomplished by using a visual or word schedule to make their routine predictable. As the child completes one activity have them put the picture in an envelope or cross the activity off of the paper. Helping set up a schedule for your child will also help put a routine in place for you as well. Ideally, this would as similar as possible to the schedule the child had before the restrictions of the COV-19 were in place (i.e., wake and bed times, bath times, eating times). Don’t put pressure upon yourself to create an elaborate schedule. A simple schedule will be just as effective. If changes need to happen in the schedule, review the changes with your child to prepare them that their routine won’t be as predictable on that particular day.

4. New Skills: New skills may need to be taught using task analysis. For example, hand washing more frequently, the new way to greet people with out shaking hands, using hand sanitizer, or keeping 10 feet away from others may be new skills that should be taught during this time. Breaking these activities into smaller steps and rewarding each step completed will lead to the child learning these new skills. Choosing their favorite song to wash their hands to or setting a timer to indicate when they can stop washing should be considered. Again, no pressure on creating these task analyses….there are many websites that are available for free to help parents create these during this event. Click here for example.

5. Everybody needs a break: Down time is a good thing for everyone. Watching a show on tv or tablet, reading a book, counting beads, or taking a nap is necessary for all of us during stressful times. Exercise or going for a walk outside are also good activities. Down time allows us to escape from the stress and recharge ourselves so that we can face the new activities of our lives.

6. Identifying triggers: You might be aware of the regular triggers that upset your child, however, new triggers during this time may be developing. Observing your child to see what triggers or antecedents proceed challenging behaviors will be vital in decreasing stressful times in your household. If you can identify these triggers, remove or minimize them around your child. But sometimes this is not possible which leads to #7.

7. Coping skills: Determining the activities or skills your child has to self-manage or calm themselves down will be a must in at this time. Counting to 10, deep breathing, touching a sensory item, or behavior relaxation are some ways children have been taught coping skills. If your child does not have coping skills, having a quiet place to calm down will be necessary. A dim room, maybe a circulating fan for a cool breeze, soft relaxing music, access to sensory calming items may be used to create the perfect calm place. The quiet place needs to be individualized for your child’s preferences and what he or she finds relaxing.

Where to Access Help in a Crisis

1. State agencies: Many states have agencies that specifically work with individuals with developmental disabilities. These agencies have psychologists who have experience in providing behavioral services. Often they have crisis teams that work in conjunction with mental health agencies that can help during dangerous or extremely stressful times. Local parent groups can often be great resources for this type of information, like this example from the Phoenix Autism Society website. 

2. Mental Health Clinics: If your child is currently being seen by a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist should be notified that a crisis is occurring. Emergency office visits or telehealth appointments can be set up to get medication guidance during this times.

3. If a child is an imminent risk to themselves or others, hospitalization may be unavoidable. Working with a psychiatrist will help you in locating in-patient mental health services. Child specific hospital emergency rooms may not have as many COV-19 emergencies that can assist if hospitalization is necessary.

Know that you don’t have to do it all alone.  Connect to family and friends when possible or with other parents on community pages on social  media.  With support and quality resources, you will get through this challenging time and back on track.

By Katherine Johnson, BCBA

With the ongoing concerns regarding coronavirus (Covid-19) and recommendations for social distancing, ABA providers are quickly adapting to create new service delivery options for families.  Providers want to keep families and staff as safe as possible, while ensuring that clients continue to receive the care they need.  Telehealth allows patients to receive services remotely, making it an ideal way to minimize in-person interactions.  Every day, more insurance carriers are joining in approving this mode of service delivery for ABA clients. 

Who needs Telehealth? 

While some families are seeking continuity of the same level of services they were receiving previously, sheltering in place has actually increased the need for services for some.   Newly-diagnosed children and older individuals with aggression or self-injurious behavior cannot afford a break in services.  Children and adults who are struggling to adapt to the drastic change in routine of a sudden break from school or expected community activities may need more help than ever.   

How does Telehealth help my family social distance?

Using Telehealth decreases the number of people with whom your family will interact on a daily basis.  Although you may still choose to have services in your home, Telehealth provides the option to minimize the number of providers.  Direct service providers typically visit only a small number of homes.  Having a BCBA, who is responsible for supervising more families and staff, provide supervision and parent training via Telehealth allows those professionals to continue to serve many families without the risk of spreading germs between houses. 

How can Telehealth work within an ABA model? 

The model used for ABA is called real-time Telehealth or synchronous telemedicine.  This means that the health care provider and the patient are speaking and interacting in real time via audio or video communication.  Here are some examples of how real-time Telehealth might be used:

• The direct therapist is assigned to a minimum number of homes and takes precautionary measures to keep him/herself and the family low-risk.  Therapy proceeds as usual, with the BCBA observing sessions, taking data, making protocol modifications, and giving feedback through the use of a Telehealth platform. 
  
• In cases where direct therapy is not able to occur, another option could be an increase in parent education hours.  Some families might be prepared to continue the programming formerly implemented by the direct therapist, and some families will not be.  BCBAs can re-assess needs and design a parent-training program that meets the needs of the client within the constraints of the current family circumstances, whatever those may be.  This may mean changing goals, shifting priorities, and introducing different methods of managing behavior.    
  
• In some cases, direct therapy through Telehealth may be clinically appropriate.  Individuals who are able to readily attend and communicate with a therapist without physical redirection and who don’t require in-person reinforcement delivery may be able to make progress through Telehealth.  The feasibility of this would be determined by the BCBA.     

Are there privacy concerns? 

You have the right to expect your health care providers to protect your privacy no matter what modality your services are provided through.  There are many different types of Telehealth software specifically designed to be HIPAA compliant.  As with any healthcare service you receive, if you have privacy concerns, discuss them with your provider.  And always remember that whether or not you consent to services is entirely your decision. 

What should I expect?  How do I prepare?

The following are helpful in preparing to receive Telehealth services:  

• A strong Wi-Fi connection in your home
• A physical arrangement that minimizes disruptions and keeps other ambient noise to a minimum 
• A device that can be set up to properly view the therapy surroundings and the entire session (for observations and supervision) and moved to an area for 1:1 discussion, out of earshot of the client (for parent or therapist private discussion with the provider)
• Proper audio on your device.  Consider a mix of using device audio and headphones.  When a provider is observing the session, the device audio will capture all of the interactions going on.  When your child is taking a break and you and the provider need to speak, it may be best to use headphones for better sound quality and to reduce background noise. 
• Any other typical items you use during therapy: note-taking materials, etc.   

As with any type of therapy, it’s important to have excellent communication with your providers to share how the model is working for you.   A continuous open dialogue with your provider about your experience allows them to troubleshoot with you, ultimately making sure that this is an effective way for your family to receive ABA services.   

Continuity of services is important for both your child and your family, especially during this time of general disruption in routine.  Not only does this provide consistency in routine, it gives your child the opportunity to engage with others and to continue developing skills, and will ultimately support their adjustment back into a normal routine once this situation resolves. 

LEARN is a family-focused company, and the health and safety of your family and our team members has always been our highest priority. Given the spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, we want to be clear about measures LEARN has long had in place, as well as additional safeguards we have recently enacted, to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.

Because we work in close proximity to clients, we previously enacted the following measures:

• Our existing client service agreement has been designed in part to reduce the spread of contagious diseases. Specifically, we ask that you notify us and cancel a session if your child has a runny nose, cough, sneezing, vomiting, and fever—symptoms that are characteristic of many viruses, including COVID-19.

• Our team members are equally attentive to their own health and are trained to cancel sessions if they exhibit any of the above symptoms of a contagious disease.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have enacted the following additional safeguards:

• We have established a dedicated hotline for our team members to report if they have traveled outside of the United States in the past three weeks or plan to do so in the foreseeable future. Correspondingly, we developed protocols for determining if and when any team member who travels abroad can return to treating clients (based on guidance set forth by the CDC).

• We instructed all team members to adopt the preventive actions published by the CDC to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 and other contagious diseases.

• We encourage you to visit www.coronavirus.gov so that you and your family members can learn and adopt the preventive measures.

Also, if you, your child, or a household member has recently traveled abroad, or has plans to do so, it is important that you contact your clinical director so that we can determine if a temporary 14-day suspension of services is warranted.

LEARN’s leadership team is monitoring the latest information about COVID-19 each day, while paying strict attention to the guidance provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), as well as other national, state and local health agencies. As needed, we will update families, team members and others about our response to the outbreak, possibly including a disruption to your service.

Sincerely,

Michael Maloney, CEO, LEARN Behavioral

As we’ve mentioned before, communication, in general, is complex. So, for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), any improvements in social skills will mean improvements in other related areas, such as communication.

For example, in communicating, the child needs to be approachable—and understand what that entails—then needs to understand when it’s his or her cue to speak or communicate.

Conversely, if the child wants to communicate something, he or she needs to learn how and when to approach others to initiate the conversation.

So, if you can work on practicing social skills at home, you will be way ahead of the game so-to-speak for advancing in communication skills as well.

There are lots of games and activities you can do at home to work on a child’s social skills, and you can have some fun with them. Obviously, which exercises you choose to try will be a function of the child’s age, interests, and where he or she is on the spectrum. But here are a few suggestions.

Role Play:

1. You can spell out an open-ended situation, such as “What do we do when the doorbell rings?” or “What do we do if we’re lost?” And then play through different scenarios because there are probably several right answers.
2. You could write down several different situations on pieces of paper and draw them out of a jar at random.
3. Set up a concrete situation like the child wanting to buy something that costs $1.99. One person can be the storekeeper and one can be the buyer. Then exchange roles.
4. Please note that all children can benefit from these types of role playing games, not just children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Play Cards:

There are hundreds of card games available from the simplest to the most sophisticated and plenty of books devoted to the subject. All require someone to understand when it is their turn to play and when they must sit back and allow someone else to play. Players also have to learn how to act if they don’t want others to know what’s in their hand and bluffing!

This is useful because card playing can involve just two persons or as many as four or even six. In four-handed games, a savvy adult can easily play two hands.

Easy games include War, Concentration (trying to make matching pairs with all the cards face down), and Go Fish.

Slightly harder games include straight 10-card Gin, Whist (a precursor to bridge for four players), and 5-card draw poker.

If your kids are card sharks, then try Texas Hold’em, a variety of poker, or Canasta. You can make card playing more interesting once the child or children understand the games by playing for (fake) money: pennies or popsicle sticks or marbles or chips or chits you make yourself during your craft time.

Card playing also teaches skills like matching like things (pairs), counting (which card has a higher value), and can be a lifelong hobby. Another benefit is that cards are very portable, so you can take your games and activities with you anywhere, and you don’t have to be a great conversationalist to play cards if you master the social skills involved.

Hint: You could also try introducing Mahjong, which is similar to the card game Gin, except you play with tiles, and it’s always four-handed.

The Smell or Taste Game

Try blindfolding your child—if he or she is amenable to it—and having them do some blind smell or taste tests.

Peel and cut up several different types of apples and ask the child to rate them and try to identify them—when it’s his or her turn.

Have them smell some common herbs or spices from your cupboard, and again, try to describe them or rate them or identify them with pictures or words or numbers when it’s his or her turn.

All of these exercises teach a child to watch for cues that it’s his or her turn and how to initiate his or her turn to play or speak. You can all have a lot of fun, and there’s nothing expensive about any of these suggestions.