Social and play skills are still a concern for us so I am trying to spend time teaching Elizabeth how to play. Teaching appropriate play is difficult for me as I really do not know too much about appropriate play for a 4 year old. I have no difficulty working on Elizabeth's other PT, OT and speech goals as they are concrete; we have exercises, worksheets and tons of crafts to meet her goals. Teaching Elizabeth to play is just as important as her walking , speech, ability to print etc and it is something I often leave out. Elizabeth will go off on her own to play but I would not call it functional play (unless it is dinosaurs), in her play kitchen she will smash the dishes and make noise and her pet shop toys she will scatter around the house but it is not play that other children would join in on. After some research I found Lovaas' program and it encourages scripted play which hopefully can be faded over time. I am familiar with this program as it is used for children with Autism and for a short time I worked as a IBI therapist for children with Autism. Using his scripts we played restaurant and practiced serving each other meals. I began giving Elizabeth the key phrases and over time she is not needing prompting to stay and play appropriately. Of course Elizabeth would not be Elizabeth if she did not take time to be goofy.
6 comments:
As a mom of 4 kids. I love Elizabeth play the dinosaur tree and pet shop toys on the blinds appear to me as if she is very creative and one smart cookie. Perhaps she is a little shy with friends her age try not to worry too much and just have fun.
As a mom of 4 kids. I love Elizabeth play the dinosaur tree and pet shop toys on the blinds appear to me as if she is very creative and one smart cookie. Perhaps she is a little shy with friends her age try not to worry too much and just have fun.
I have to check out the Lovaas site. The scripted play thing just might work for us, too. Hallie's Floortime/DIR therapist is planning a playdate for her, so his insights will be useful in this respect too. It never ceases to amaze me how much tactics that work for kids on the spectrum work for our kids.
What cute pics! Maybe it's not all bad that she does those things. You know Faith plays by herself a good bit of the time. We do stuff throughout the day, but she spends time "playing" with the doors and other wierd things. It used to bother me alot, but after a cognative eval. they said that it was good b/c she was practicing things and getting better at them. Now, I don't know how much practice you need opening doors, but Faith should be able to teach a collage class by now! LOL!
Like some of the other mothers I would add my encouragement for the benefits of the play she does by herself.
I might have a little semantic difference with you on the word 'play'. While the 'work' you are doing with her to learn appropriate restaurant behavior is worthwhile, I call it 'role play'.
If you are looking to teach her to interact with other children (remember her performance at camp) - she might enjoy some more level-appropriate group activities.
Love the outfit, too.
Barbara
I'm wondering how you implemented the scripted play before she can read. I'd love to try it with my little girl, but not sure how to give her, her part.
Post a Comment