INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The holiday season is finally here and so is Christmas shopping time!

As Black Friday approaches, it’s important to know who you are shopping for and be mindful of how inclusive we are when purchasing gifts.

Beth Roudebush with Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center joins Daybreak to explain the importance of being mindful of your shopping, especially for autistic children and sensory sensitivities.

“Autism prevalence continues to increase. Currently, we’re at one in every 36 Children is diagnosed with autism. So the chances that we’re shopping for someone on the autism spectrum have definitely increased and we all probably have someone on our shopping list that falls into that category,” Roudebush said.

Roudeush added that there are some things that shoppers should consider when shopping.” The biggest thing is communicating with that caregiver, what are those child’s interests? What are their needs? You know, some kiddos are very sensory-seeking while others are wanting to avoid that. So finding out what they could benefit from is the best first step.”

To make sure everyone has something to look forward to under the tree this year, Rodebush compiled a list of sensory-friendly gifts for parents, family, and friends of children with autism to consider.

“So we have this power tool play set here. So this is great for creativity. This also has a lot of cause-and-effect things on it. It’s got some buttons, it makes some noise. So that’s really great for that pretend play,” she said. “We have this Goodnight Moon game. This has a lot of different ways that you can engage with it. There’s options for black and white, there’s options for color. So just really a great way to help with some of that visual performance and matching.”

To learn more and to hear the full list of sensory-friendly gifts, watch the full interview above.