Pin trading for social skills

[Blanche_Neige]

I will be going to disney in january 2008 , with my 3 DSs (ASD, PDD-NOS & AS)
Pin trading seem like a good opportunity to practice social skills.
But I've never done it before. Could someone explain to me how it works?

thank you

 

[gobgook]

Hi Blanche! Glad you're interested in pin trading - it's a BLAST! Basically, you start out by purchasing a lanyard and some pins at nearly any Dis shop. That's where a lot of people have trouble, figuring out where to start! Why, for example, wouldn't you just buy pins that you like and keep them, instead of trading? You should do that as well, but cast members may have retired open edition, limited edition, cast lanyard series (aka Hidden Mickey pins), etc. that you can't purchase in the shops. Lots of people like to stock up on their fav character(s), some are collecting sets, etc. Once you have some pins to trade, just approach any pin trading cast member and ask to see their pins. CMs with Blue lanyards may trade with everyone, while Cast with Green lanyards can only trade with children. You can trade for any pin on a cast lanyard, but the pin you are trading TO them must not be one already on their lanyard.

That's all there is to it! While Guest -> Cast pin trading has taken on a wild life of its own, I think it'd be neat to start seeing more Guest -> Guest trading. Of course I'm sure some guests don't want to be pestered by random strangers on their vacations LOL

 

[NJBlackBerry]

http://www.odpt.com - the Official Disney Pin Trading web site is a great place to look; check out the Getting Started section.

Pin trading is an excellent social activity.

 

[Parkhopper]

We have used pin trading to teach and enforce manners with our DS who started when he was 4 years old. He was instructed to wait his turn (ie not interrupt a CM when they were speaking with or waiting on someone else), make eye contact, ask politely "May I see your pins please" and then either ask, "May I trade for the_____pin?" or, if he didn't see anything that he wanted to trade for to thank the CM politely for stopping and letting him look.

I think it is wonderful that you are planning to use pin trading to practice social skills. Unfortunately, I am sure that you are going to see many other pin traders giving examples of what NOT to do when pin trading (that you can discuss with your children at a later time).

Suzi

 

[LoriMomx5]

Pin trading is an excellent way to teach your child social skills. Our 5 children have been pin trading since they were small and one of our twins has sensory issues and had developmental delays before starting school and does not read social situations well. He loves to pin trade. I also have a very shy son that started pin trading at 3 years old and that was one of the few times that he would actually talk! Have fun. Your son will enjoy trading. Lori