Family Autism Night

Thursday, September 30th | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Join us for a special event for children of all ages on the autism spectrum, their therapists, and their family. This is a fun opportunity for families and children to play and interact in an autism-friendly environment. Pretend City wants to enrich your family’s play experience with welcoming smiles and practical support. 

Specifically, for: Families with children of all ages who are on the autism spectrum and with other disabilities. Pretend City will be closed to the public. 

This special evening is an opportunity for children and their parents/siblings/caretakers to have some fun in an autism-friendly environment along with other families. Many of our community partners, who specialize in supporting children on the autism spectrum, will be on-hand to enrich your family’s play experience with welcoming smiles and practical support. Watch a video tour of our museum here. 

• Sensitive Storytime (6:30 PM): Join us in our Library exhibit for a sensitive storytime reading of this classic Eric Carle tale about a hungry caterpillar that literally eats his way through the pages of this book.

Grown-up Tip: Children on the autism spectrum may not develop pointing skills at the expected developmental stage. It is an important skill and can be incorporated into looking at pictures and specific words in books with your child. You can shape your child’s fingers to the pointing shape and say ‘(Name of child), point to (picture)’. You may have to do this over and over again at different times. Make sure to use a positive tone of voice and language each time. 

RSVP: Register HERE | max: 200 guests  *Only guests with a reservation and a confirmation number will be admitted. 

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: We have a reoccurring predicament that we need your help with! Consistently, 200 guests register, but then never attend. To mitigate this, we’ve decided to open registration closer to the event’s date on September 16th so parents can better gauge their ability to attend. We know that a child’s temperament, nap schedule, energy level, will and desire to play can be unpredictable – we don’t want to discourage you from signing up for that reason! We simply want to spread awareness: When you sign up knowing that you likely won’t come, you are taking the spot another neurodiverse family might use! Thank you for your consideration and kindness!

Fee: FREE to behavioral therapists and children on the spectrum or with other disabilities and their immediate families

Play Partners: Kyo Autism Therapies, our experienced stage staff of trained early childhood and child development educators, and grown-ups! Kyo Autism Therapy: ABA is a highly effective treatment that helps people with autism to develop language and daily living skills. ABA can also be used to decrease challenging behaviors, such as aggression or self-injurious behavior. The goal of ABA is to increase independence and quality of life for the child with autism and their family. At Kyo, ABA therapy is also naturalistic and fun! The Kyo team uses child-centric, play-based activities to help children meet their goals. By incorporating each child’s interests throughout treatment, therapy sessions are both highly effective and engaging.