Play Initiatives: ASD Focus

Megan Allen Heather Lodge

Stacey PipeZoe Plowman

Anne Sheret

What is Play?Why is it important?

To promote social interaction.

A tool for learning.

Its fun!

Enhances cognitive development.

Enhances language development.

Making meaningful links between play and real life contexts.

Promotes problem solving skills.

Emotional development.

Video clip

http://www.teachers.tv/video/2496

Triad of impairments

www.nas.org.uk

Why is play difficult for children with ASD?

Language – problems in expressing and understanding the content of speech.

Social interaction – unwillingness to allow others to share experience. Lack of understanding of thoughts, feelings and intentions. Facial expressions.

Imagination – difficulty in understanding imaginary situations. Often leading to repetitive, obsessive actions that mean something only to the child.

Moor, J. (2002) Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autistic Spectrum, London: Jessica Kingsley.

Play in children with ASD is often described as: Repetitive Motoric Sensory Isolated Purposeless Lacking in imagination

Identiplay…

Identiplay is a structured intervention that aims to teach children with autism to play. It includes:

A shared focus Imitation Parallel play Play dialogue Narrative structure in the form of play scripts Flexibility

Research Suggests…

Children can learn ‘play acts’ if prompted, however it could be questioned whether this leads to spontaneous play.

Identiplay aims to teach children play skills and transfer them into real life play situations e.g. playdough.

Video Clip

Setting Up Identiplay

You will need: A table divided in two eg. with masking tape (with a

clear area for the child’s toys and a clear area for the adult’s toys).

Two chairs, usually facing one another, on either side of the table.

A pack containing two identical sets of toys. A typed script detailing the layout of the toys and

what the adult will say and do with the toys.

Identiplay Activities

•Having seen an example of Identiplay, have a go yourself!!!

•1 person is the teacher and 1 person is the child

•Make sure you swap roles!

We Conclude…

Thomas and Smith (2004) carried out a small scale study on the effectiveness of Identiplay in helping children with autism develop play skills.

After two weeks they found:

* children with autism spent more time playing appropriately with tabletop toys.

* children learnt and used all or some of the taught identiplay sequences.

* There was an increase in social interaction.

Bibliography

Beavan, L. and Phillips, N. (2007) Teaching play to children with autism –practical interventions using identiplay. London, Paul Chapman publishings.

Thomas, N and Smith, C. (2004) Developing play skills in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Education Psychology in Practice, vol 20, 3, pp.195 – 206.

Moor, J. (2002) Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autistic Spectrum, London: Jessica Kingsley.