I am always on the lookout for new items and websites that cater to the autism community. I found such a site that was listed as a sponsor in one of the Autism Society of America's e-newsletter, known as the ASA-Net. The sponsor ad logo, "supplies for the journey" seemed like a nice catchy phrase with the whole banner done in purple, my favorite color. Autism Community Store is a new store that has hundreds of items selected by parents and therapists.

I was still looking for Year end classmate gifts and found some items that were useful as fidgets for Matthew. I purchased three assorted bags of the PeoplePop Lollipops that contain six flavors. The flavors available at their site now consist of: very cherry, grape, raspberry, grapefruit, lemon, banana, chocolate fudge and pineapple. These are a great deal at $2.99 per bag. Each pop contains 28 calories, no sugar, no saccharin, no artificial color or flavorings, no salt, no MSG, no gluten, no caffeine added, no fat and no preservatives.

The ingredients listed on the back of the assorted bag lists:

Isomalt (made from Beets), unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, natural flavors. May be naturally colored with Beet Juice & Tumeric Liquid or Annatto. This product may be used for diabetics as pat of a medically supervised diet. They state these are for Big and Little People. My son Nicholas is thirteen years old and loved trying these. They lasted a long time and for some flavors they took awhile to taste it. I noticed the scent whenever he was having a PeoplePop. His favorite was raspberry and then very cherry and grape. He now wants to try the banana, grapefruit and lemon. The chocolate pop was the last one Nicholas tried and he thought it was pretty good.

The bag has a sticker indicating the best buy date of July 1, 2009. Each Pop is five ounces. The bag is resealable with individual wrapping on each Pop. These would be great for Easter candy, birthday party snacks and Halloween treats.

Also at the Autism Community Store was a Rubber Band Sensory Ball for $3.50 that has an interesting texture with two strings to put your finger inside and bounce it around. A classmate was sharing this with Matthew at their fifth grade culmination ceremony. I like how colorful this ball is.

I enjoyed touching the Oogle toy that is soft, stretchy and unique looking for $3.90. I also picked out the Tom Cat for Nick at $3.50. Autism Community Store uses Federal Express. I was not sure of the price for shipping so I placed my order over the phone at 1-866-709-4344. They are located in Colorado and have many other items such as personal hygiene, biomedical supplements, awareness items, teaching supplies, toys, sensory products and reinforcers. We will be shopping here for more PeoplePops and I can get stocking stuffers.

Dokedo is the other site I ordered goodies for classmates of Matthew and Nicholas enjoyed playing with this "naturally scented play putty". They also have a catchy phrase at the site, brain play for sensory stimulation, makes so much scents!. The business card calls this a sophisticated putty, naturally therapeutic, stress & boredom buster and suited for ADD, ADHD and autism.

The putty comes in two sizes - 0.50 ounce sells for $3.50 with the 2.00 ounce for $8.95. Be sure to check out their specials. They have five mood changing pens, and one is free with an order of ten dollars or more. These pens are slim and colorful. They will soon carry t-shirts and sell gift certificates, which will be perfect for therapists, teachers and holiday time.

Mama Luvs LLC is a family run business out of North Carolina. The youngest age for the putty is recommended to be 4 and it is suitable for kids and adults. My son Nicholas loved playing with the flavors, chose the ones he wanted to get and mixed them up to create bigger balls of putty. We have the large size for popcorn ball and citrus circus. The smaller sized ones we kept are midnight berry, banana boat, cotton candies and shake like jelly. I gave away the other nine smaller sized containers to Matthew's classmates. I enjoyed the jelly scent as well.

The containers are plastic and come sealed and wrapped. They snap shut and can hold the putty once it has been played with and ready to be stored. Nicholas left the putty on the couch a few times when playing. It was easy to remove it from the cushion in one piece with nothing left on my skin or the couch. The popcorn ball naturally scented play putty smells divine. At the bottom of each container it is written not to eat, put in mouth, nose, ears, eyes, etc. The container label also states that they conform to safety requirements, may stain or stick and contains colorants. They are made in the U.S.A. and silicone based so it does not dry out or crumble.

" It stretches, rolls, drips, bounces, breaks, twists, molds, textures, crackles, bubbles, bends, snaps, picks up newspaper print and smells great!"

There are surprise party bags that sell in groups of 3, 6, 9 or 13. The other flavors available are - boysenberry, icing on the cake, marshmellow, twisted taffy, gumball burst, cotton candies, cocoa cafe and melon splash. These putty containers are great for summer play inside and outdoors and portable for playing in the car and keeping busy when running errands. A container can easily fit inside a purse or diaper bag and be quite useful in church or on a plane.

Educational Autism Tips for Families 71 page resourceful ebook for families entering the school system with a recent autism diagnosis. Find out what issues take place over the course of a school day and meet these challenges head on.