chapter seven
Helping your child
to play with things
This includes:
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beginning to explore objects;
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playing with things in different ways.
Play is an activity young children engage in for its own sake; they usually do it on
their own terms and find it fun. Children learn how things work, and what they can
do. Playing with others and pretend play helps them understand social situations,
and develop language and social skills.
Many children with autism prefer to spend their time engaged in repetitive activities
and need support to explore new activities and engage in pretend and social play. A
child with autism may spend most of his time manipulating objects. Even in this type
of play they rarely explore the many different aspects of an object but can get stuck
in repeating one action with an object, such as, banging or spinning.
Some children learn to copy events in play such as brushing hair with a toy brush,
but this play can be repetitive and inflexible. If this applies to your child, then he will
need you to show him other ways of playing if he is going to progress. This chapter
describes how children’s play develops. In ‘More than words’* chapter 11 you will find
more details about these stages and how to help your child play with toys.
Different types of play
Exploring in play
Children learn how things feel and sound by mouthing, shaking, hitting and throwing
them. They also like to explore how things taste and smell. Gradually, they learn that
different objects do a variety of things and they begin to treat objects differently.
Your child may need support to learn what objects can do. They can learn this
through interactional play, imitation or direct teaching. The choice of method
depends on your child’s ability to focus his attention and on his willingness to attend
to something an adult has introduced.
*
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Sussman, F. (2000). More than words. Winslow, UK
Good beginnings
chapter seven
The early stages of developing exploratory play are:
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shaking and hitting objects that make a noise;
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feeling objects with different textures, for example, soft, rough, pliable (playdough);
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examining objects that have more than one property, for example, feel and smell, look
and listen;
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dropping and throwing things;
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squeezing and stretching playdough, or plasticine;
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looking inside containers.
Later they begin to bang objects together and place objects in or on others. This can
lead to constructive play and is sometimes called relational play. Children also pair
objects that go together such as a spoon/cup, hat/coat. The next stages in developing
this type of play are:
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putting objects in and out of containers;
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banging two objects together;
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operating press button toys, for example, jack-in-the-box;
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putting objects on top of one another;
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balancing bricks and building a small tower;
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putting rings on a stick;
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turning a knob to operate a toy;
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using a finger to turn a dial.
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chapter seven
Pretend play
Pretend play starts when a child begins to repeat familiar actions or uses objects
to represent real objects, for example, pretending to drink from an empty or toy
cup, or pushing a toy car, or putting on daddy’s hat. This play shows that the child
understands the functions of objects, such as cups are for drinking, hats are for
putting on your head. This type of play then usually extends into small sequences
of actions such as making tea and giving mummy a drink, and then into more
imaginative play where objects are used for different purposes, such as pretending a
box is a boat. These skills can be taught through play situations and by
direct teaching.
Achievements in developing functional and pretend play
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u
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Your child plays with objects in different ways that show you he understands the
function of the object, for example, pushing toy cars.
Your child may begin to relate the object to himself by pretending to drink from a toy
cup, or using a doll’s brush to brush his hair.
As your child develops his pretend play he needs encouragement to involve you in
his play, for example, offering you a bite of his biscuit, brushing your hair.
Then your child may start to imitate some of the activities he has seen you do,
such as talking on a telephone, sweeping, ironing.
During this type of play your child will use
the objects in a conventional way, so that
a cup is used to drink out of and will not
be used as a pretend helmet for a doll.
Your child will probably need prompting to
involve you in his play.
At a later stage children begin to use
smaller toy objects to represent real
objects and gradually their play becomes
imaginative and flexible. Children with
autism are likely to have great difficulty
in developing this type of play. They can,
however, be taught to extend their play
so it becomes more flexible. Developing
their play also helps to develop their
understanding and language.
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Good beginnings
Show your child different things
he can do with his toys.
chapter seven
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u
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When he is able to pretend with himself and with you, then the next step is for your
child to involve a doll or teddy in their pretend games such as giving a doll a hug or a
drink.
Then show your child how to use small dolls and models in his play, for example, play
people, cars, Lego, or Disney figures.
If your child enjoys playing with small toys such as cars or play people, you can show
him how to carry out a short sequence of actions using these toys. For instance he
could pretend to drive the car into the garage and fill it up with petrol.
Peter liked to line up the toy people and trains from Thomas the Tank Engine stories.
His older brother set up the track and pushed one train along fast. This caught
Peter’s attention. In the beginning he wouldn’t let anyone push his toys, but his
brother carried on playing in front of him. The ‘game’ was made exciting with noises
and pushing the trains fast. His brother left pauses for Peter to join in and one day
he pushed the train; from then on he started to put his trains on the track. Gradually
Peter’s play was extended so he could carry out a sequence of actions using the
trains, such as, pushing a train to the station and loading the train.
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u
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Your child may then carry out sequences of pretend actions to act out themes such as
doing the cooking, shopping. A child with autism may act out themes from videos he
has seen. Sometimes this play becomes very rigid and repetitive, and you need to move
your child on slowly. Start by joining him in his play, and only gradually introduce new
parts to the play.
In the next stage your child will take on different roles in play, and re-enact personal
experiences that have made a big impression, for example, a hospital visit.
When your child can use one object to pretend to be another, for example, a folded
tissue being used as a doll’s pillow. Children with autism have great difficulty with this
pretence. You will need to explain carefully what you are doing. Your child will need
good verbal understanding so he can understand your explanation of pretence.
For this reason most children with autism will not be able to grasp this concept until
they are older.
Good beginnings
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chapter seven
In the books of the Hanen programme ‘More than words’* and ‘It takes two to talk’**
Chapters 5 and 6 have lots of examples of games to play with your child. As well as
teaching your child how to interact and communicate through play we also want him
to learn to explore his environment and occupy himself in play. The aim is to teach
your child to play appropriately both by himself and with others.
*
*
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Sussman, F. (2000). More than words. Winslow, UK
Manolson, A. (1992). It takes two to talk. The Hanen Program. Winslow, UK
Good beginnings