Strategies to teach games and appropriate leisure activities

Author: PaedDr. Andrea Šedibová (ANDREAS-Bratislava-SK)

Play is the third area of a triad of social impairments associated with autism.

Play and Imagination

Parents who have had other children before their autistic child usually realize that their child does not play with toys in the usual way. They do not show interest in the same toys at the same stages of development. Some parents notice that the child simply doesn't seem interested in toys at all. Often the young autistic child plays relatively infrequently with either toys or other objects. He may wander around touching various things, but never really becomes engaged in anything for a long time.

Development of the child’s play

There are four main stages in the game progress. The information should help us to better understand some specific forms of stereotyped behaviour that occur in the games of children with autism.

1. The simple manipulation. A four-month-old child looks around him/her for the simple “reason – consequence“ game. You rattle and the consequence of rattling is always the same sound. The child is also interested in various sensory stimuli; he/she can see that a hanging toy moves if he/she touches it; he/she caresses a teddy bear, etc. The child uses all the senses simultaneously and thus he/she introduces some variety to the game

This information perhaps reminds you some older children with autism who get stuck in this developmental stage. Their game is simple and restricted. They repeat the same games, play with their trains all around, spin wheels, that is, they do all the repetitive, stereotyped, and simple manipulations. They prefer direct perception...

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