Etch-a-Sketch
Right now I'm in a special education room working 1:1 with a fourth grade boy on the computer who I'm pretty sure is autistic. I just taught him how to use a program called Kidpix which is kind of like a computer-animated etch-a-sketch. He's next to me with his head phones on and keeps laughing and exclaiming, "oh man!" everytime one of the graphics or sounds amuses him.
When I was little my parents would put me in the back seat of the car with an etch-a-sketch and they wouldn't hear from me for hour even though I only had two options, the skinny line or the fat one. I wonder if I gave this kid and etch-a-skecth if it would pacify him like the computer does. Or would that be like my grandpa trying to get me to play "Pong" when I'd been saving the princess for years on Super-Mario Brothers? Wonder if there is an etch-a-sketch around here so i can find out.