Promoting Play for Children with Autism

 

By Amanda Frye, M.S., BCBA, LABA

We often think of play as a time for a child just to have fun. But play is more than fun. Engaging in play activities can help children learn new skills, connect with their environment in new and exciting ways, and build relationships with people around them.

Sometimes children with autism require help learning how to engage in play skills, but there are several strategies that can be used to encourage those skills. Types of play skills caregivers can use include toy play, pretend play, and interactive play. 

Expanding toy play may include exposing the child to new toys or playing with toys as they were intended. Examples of this include teaching a child who likes to watch matchbox car tires spin how to roll the car on a track, spin a top, or create spin art.

Pretend play might look like exploring new ways to play with toys the child already likes. For example, you can show a child who likes to push buttons on a pretend phone how to hold the phone up to their ear and have a pretend conversation.

Examples of interactive play can include cooperative interactions between the child and adults or peers that occur during board games, sports, or other turn-taking activities.

Below are some general suggestions for promoting play skills: 

1. Identify items or activities that your child prefers, or especially enjoys. Start teaching new play skills with toys that may share physical or functional similarities with toys he or she already prefers. Using existing interests as a strength when introducing new toys can aid in successful teaching.
2. Introduce new items or activities and help the child tolerate or accept them. Briefly interrupt play to model a different play skill. In other words, stop the current activity, demonstrate a different way to play, then allow the child to resume play. 
3. Prompt as necessary. Some children may pick up on new play skills when they see how to play with a toy in a new way. To encourage this, you could point to different parts of the toy to help them use it in a different way. Keep in mind that some children may need physical help to play in different ways.
4. Provide preferred activities, social interactions, toys, or snacks as a reward when a child demonstrates a new play skill. This will likely increase his or her patience with learning prompts and aid in increased independence with newly taught play skills.
5. Increase the length of time the child engages in newly taught skills by only providing preferred items or activities when the play skill has been demonstrated for a specific amount of time Start with a short duration and work up to when an activity is complete, or for whatever amount of time makes sense for that child. 
6. Make changes as needed. If a child does not show interest in the toys and activities you offer, it might make sense to introduce a different set of toys or activities, while still using current interests as a starting point.
7. When promoting play skills in children with autism, it is important to remember that they may not have the same interests as siblings, peers, or what caregivers expect. That does not mean that their preferred methods of play are wrong or bad. The goal of promoting play skills should not be to change preferences, but to expand interests, create opportunities for learning, and increase the value of new items and activities. For guidance specific to your child, please contact a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, or BCBA, for consultation. 

Amanda Frye, M.S., BCBA, LABA is Clinical Director at the May Center School for Autism and Developmental Disabilities in West Springfield, Mass. She can be contacted at afrye@mayinstitute.org.

About May Institute
May Institute is a nonprofit organization that is a national leader in the field of applied behavior analysis and evidence-based interventions, serving autistic individuals and individuals with other developmental disabilities, brain injury, neurobehavioral disorders, and other special needs. Founded nearly 70 years ago, we provide a wide range of exceptional educational and rehabilitative services across the lifespan. May Institute operates five schools for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, including one in West Springfield, Mass. For more information, call 800.778.7601 or visit www.mayinstitute.org.