Play

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Play
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What is Play?

• Play is the language of children
• Play is an intrinsically motivated, pleasurable,
  autotelic (Valued for its own sake) activity that
  in typical children requires no rewards or
  reinforcement it is usually accompanied by
  positive affect and is intimately related to the
  development of social behavior and communication.

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Basic Competencies Required in Play

• Intrinsic Motivation
• Non-literality
• (Pretend vs. Real)
• Imagination
• Cognitive Flexibility

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Did You Know???

• Play is intimately related to the development of
  social behavior and communication, and vice
  versa.
• Social behavior and communication are intimately
  related to the type and quality of play behavior

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The Problem

• Because of the competencies required and the
  intimate relationship that it has with
  communication and social behavior, play neither
  comes naturally nor easily to children with
  autism.

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Good News

• Research demonstrates that children with Autism
  CAN learn to play
• We know that there are social-cognitive
  precursors to symbolic communication and play
• Joint Attention
• Sharing Affect

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Play Provides a Context for Language Development
Social Interaction

• You can not learn a word without the ability to
  grasp the associated concept
• Concepts and words are best learned in context
  that supports learning
• Toast am kitchen
• pm with a glass of wine

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Levels of PlayMildred Parten, psychologist from
1930s

• Unoccupied behavior
• Onlooker behavior if something attracts their
  interest they look
• Solitary play a child playing with blocks alone
  in the corner
• Parallel play two or more children playing with
  blocks near each other but not talking with each
  other

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• Associative/companionate play two or more
  children playing with blocks building the same
  thing, talking with each other but not working
  together to create something
• Cooperative play two or more children are
  playing with blocks building the same thing,
  talking with each other and working together to
  create something

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Considerations

• Children differ widely according to birth order
  within their own families
• Boys and girls develop in different areas at
  different stages of their life
• Not all children move through the stages at the
  same rate
• Children who have more life experiences tend to
  emerge as leaders or organizers at younger ages
• Confidence, shyness, and other personality traits
  factor into these stages of play

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Our Mistakes

• When we work with kids we often start at too high
  of level in the play
• cooperative play

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Where do we Begin?

• Begin where the learner is
• Observation
• Which activities are they involved in?
• What level are they at?

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Questions to Ask
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• What is important to the child?
• What is motivating to the child?
• What is interesting to the child?
• How does he/she communicate?
• How do they request?
• How do they reject or refuse things or actions?

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When Do We Begin?

• Emotionally regulated?
• Ready to interact?
• Physically ok?
• Joint attention? If they arent focusing on
  anything we have to gain joint attention.
• Follow the child's lead
• Imitate their actions funny hat, prompts,
  string
• Affect sharing?

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How Do We Start?

• Build play routines around
• Interests
• Sensory preferences
• Motoric ability

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Provide Scaffolding for Play

• Model the play responses and direct the play
• Provide verbal guidance Im driving my car on
  the road. Oops, I have to stop.
• Provide visuals
• Provide feedback and reinforcement You made
  your car go fast.

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Strategies to Promote Initiation

• Set a desired object out of reach
• Engage in a fun activity several times, then
  stop, wait for the child to initiate the request
  for the routine or the action. Reinforce
  initiation
• Set up problem solving situations, give the child
  a shoe instead of the puzzle/shape when it is
  needed later

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PEER PLAY

• Model response
• Provide lots of watch time
• Provide verbal guidance
• Provide lots of practice
• Play the game with adult
• Play the game with peer

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JOINT ACTIONROUTINES

• Preparation of food or fabrication of a specific
  end product such as art
• Cooperative turn-taking games or routines e.g.
  Peek-a-Boo, Pat-a-Cake, Songs, Simon says
• Routines organized around daily themes such as
  washing dishes, birthday party, going to a
  restaurant
• Play routines based upon childrens literature

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Structural ElementsVisually Based

• We need to organize the activity for the child to
  enable them to function as independently as
  possible!
• What are the boundaries of the activity?
• Time Constraints
• Visual timer, watch
• Starting/stopping point- amount of time, number
  of card games, pieces of puzzle, blocks
• Make each section of the play sequence visual
• Line up the pictures/photos and show them the
  steps they need to follow
• Provide scaffolding
• Extend play a little at a time

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Social Skill Elements

• Turn taking
• Waiting ones turn
• Conversational scripts
• Sharing materials
• Keeping an appropriate social distance
• Visual regard
• Perspective taking
• Responding to others

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• Acceptable social behavior such as
• Winning/losing game
• Determining who goes first in a game
• Following the rules of the game
• Maintaining participation until the end of the
  activity/game

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REMEMBER

• The important thing to remember is that play must
  be FACILITATED in children with autism. It
  cannot be left to chance.

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Social Stories Review

• Social Stories
• Descriptive
• Explain what occurs and why
• Explain who is involved and what they are doing
• Point out the relevant features in a situation
• Example There are times at school when kids need
  to share. If a toy is small, it is called a toy
  for one. Sometimes when the wind blows, leaves
  and papers fly up in the air.

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• Perspective
• Describe the reaction of others or student in the
  situation
• Example I am afraid the wind is going to toss me
  up into the clouds. Many people do not like
  change. Although they do not like change, they
  may say to themselves, No big deal. I can do
  this.

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• Control
• Written by student
• Identify their own strategies to recall
  information
• Example To feel safe, I can hold a friends
  hand.
• Cooperative
• Direct the rest of us about what we are going to
  do
• Define our responses
• Example My teacher says good job and will give
  me a sticker. If I use a loud voice in class the
  teacher will point to the voice I should be using.

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• Affirmative
• Enhance the meaning of surrounding statements
• Often express a commonly shared value or opinion
  within a given culture
• Example Most people eat dinner before dessert.
  This is a good idea. (Stress an important point.)
  The toilet makes a sound when it flushes. This
  is ok. (reassure)
• Social Story Formula
• 0 1 directive
• 0 1 control
• 2 5 perspective, descriptive cooperative

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Questions to Ask About Your Social Story

• If you read a story and any of the following are
  true, then it is
• possible that the story is not a Social
  Story(TM)
• 1) it sounds more like a to do list than a
  source of helpful
• information and suggestions
• 2) you sense that it was written with a sole
  focus on eradicating a
• problem behavior
• 3) it seems as if the goal of the story is to
  just get a child to
• comply with an adults rules or expectations
• 4) it contains negated verbs (i.e. not)

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• 5) there are first person statements - i.e.
  statements written in the childs voice- that
  refer to a childs mistake or negative behavior
  (the combination resulting in a self-depreciating
  statement)
• 6) it contains second person statements
• 7) it contains the word should
• 8.) you realize the stories for this child always
  provide new
• information, never applaud what the child
  currently does well
• 9) there are statements that, if they were
  interpreted literally, would not be accurate or
  true, and/or
• 10) the title identifies a desired behavior, as
  in, I Sit Quietly in my Desk.

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• If written according to the guidelines and
  criteria developed by Carol Gray, Stories will
  have a positive, respectful, reassuring quality,
  and will provide missing information to ensure
  social understanding, not rote compliance.
• In addition, half of all Stories written for an
  individual must applaud something that person
  currently does well