Happy New Year!!
My first post for 2011.

Today I thought it would be helpful to share with you the 3 biggest messages that I took away from a brilliant presentation I recently attended, by fellow speech pathologist Michele Ricamato from Chicago… but just before I do…

I quickly wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to and why you might not have heard from me for a while. :0

Things have been crazy busy in my autism world in the past few months…

I recently completed my first series of professional development workshops for speech pathologists, working with children with autism in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne, which went very well and were lots of fun. The whole production took months of preparation and organisation but it has been a fantastic experience with some great outcomes.

As you know I am very passionate about Speechies using a relationship building and developmental approach to therapy, rather than “table-top” intervention. I am happy to say that…

95% of the 500 speech pathologists who attended said that they would shift the way that they work with children with autism as a result of attending the workshop!

This pleases me greatly

As a result, this year we’re planning to run advanced workshops for speech pathologists that will build on the information and ideas presented at the first workshop and will focus heavily on the practical application of those therapy strategies. We are also considering running a series of workshops for parents as well (time permitting).

So I am really excited about the year ahead!

But now… back to my reason for writing today.

As I mentioned, Late last year I attended a wonderful course in Adelaide. Michele Ricamato, a speech pathologist from Chicago and certified DIR consultant/trainer who specialises in children with ASD, presented on two very interesting topics:

• Honouring Intentionality – The journey of supporting intention and ideation in treatment
• Let’s make meaning – Supporting Comprehension at all stages of Language Learning.

There was a lot of wonderful information covered and numerous interesting case studies.

But the 3 overriding messages that really stood out for me were:

1. The importance of TRULY CELEBRATING the child’s unique ideas. There are no RIGHT or WRONG ideas. Our ideas are NOT better than theirs.
2. When you OBSERVE what the child is ‘doing’ throughout their day you will learn what is IMPORTANT, MEANINGFUL and MOTIVATING to the child. So if the child spends their day spinning, crashing, running, lining up then this is where their thinking/processing is at. If the child wants to keep talking about fire engines or helicopter propellers then these are the ideas in their head that they want to share and learn more about.
3. To create a rich and effective learning environment we must simply IDENTIFY what the child is thinking about (what is going on in their mind) and find ways to EXPAND upon this. Remember that ‘comprehension’ is like an onion with many layers to keep unraveling! So if the child loves to think about and play with fire engines this is wonderful and there are many opportunities within play to elaborate upon the child’s concept of fire engines and what they mean. It doesn’t matter what the child’s interests are… learning opportunities can always be created from a thought or idea!

So often in therapy we like to force our OWN ideas about what is important onto the child. As speech pathologists we often are the ones that determine what concepts are important to teach the child. But if we are truly operating in the PRESENT moment, when interacting with the child, then we will certainly learn through the child what is important and meaningful to THEM.

I really loved this quote from the course…

“I believe that a life without ideas is an unfulfilled existence. Not only having ideas is important, but to express them, share them and implement them is what makes a difference in the world”

Hearing the unique thoughts, feelings and ideas of the children that I treat is such a gift and truly rewarding! I would never want to squash this in a child.

So, some food for thought…

How much do you celebrate and expand upon the unique ideas of YOUR child (or those you treat)? Please share…

Related posts:

1. Effective Speech Therapy… what works and what doesn’t
2. What you should know before choosing a speech pathologist for your child with autism
3. Nutty therapy idea that worked!
   Help improve the attention span of your child with autism

Howdy all,

Well I am now the proud mother of two beautiful children. Our little boy Liam was born on the 30th of March and he has certainly been a lovely addition to our family. Though I can hardly say ‘little’ as he weighed in at 4.45 kg, which is nearly 10 pounds! Eek…poor me

Anyway we are enjoying him immensely as there is nothing quite like a cuddle form a newborn baby.

In my last blog post we looked at some of the main things to think about and some key questions that you should ask any speech pathologist before employing their services to help your child with autism.

After you’ve been working with your therapist for a few months you’ll want to know if the therapy is actually making a difference and that you child is making some real progress. This depends greatly on how good a ‘match’ your therapist (and the therapy) is for your child.

So today (as promised) I’d like to share with you some of the warning signs that may indicate that it’s time to find another speech pathologist who is ‘a better match’ for your child.

If you haven’t read my previous post about why this is so important please read it now.

As you know, time is precious and no parent wants to waste it when treating their child with autism! This is particularly true for early intervention. So it’s very important that you are able to determine as early as possible whether the therapy your child is receiving is effective or not… otherwise days will turn into weeks that will turn into years…and before you know it time is slipping away.

But fear not

Here are some tips to help you determine just how effective your child’s speech therapy really is… and whether you should continue with your current therapist or start looking for another one…

1. Does your child have a good connection/relationship with their speech pathologist?

Please remember that without a warm, trusting and fun relationship your child will not genuinely want to interact or learn from their therapist. This is essential for creating a solid foundation for all future learning.

2. Is your child enjoying their therapy sessions?

Two of the primary ingredients for learning new things and laying down memories are ‘fun’ and ‘motivation’. So for speech therapy to be effective is must be fun and motivating for your child. It’s crucial that your therapist incorporates your child’s interests into their therapy sessions. If your child is attentive in the activity because it ‘pushes their buttons’ then the quality and rate of learning will be far greater. So if after several months of therapy, if your therapist is not incorporating highly motivating activities into your sessions (easy to spot because your child will be bored and disinterested 8 out of 10 sessions)… or worse still, they may not even be aware of what activities actually motivate your child, then it may be time to move on.

3. Are there noticeable improvements in your child’s Social and Communication Skills as a result of the goals that are being targeted in speech therapy?

Can you notice a difference in day-to-day functioning of your child? Can others notice a difference?

The reason that I ask you this is because sometimes speech therapy sessions can seem to be going well ‘in the clinic’ but these improvements do not necessarily translate to the everyday functioning of your child…. and let’s face it, this is what is really important!

This can happen if the goals that are being set are not very meaningful and important to the child’s existence. In my opinion, the best way of speech therapists creating practical and meaningful goals is by doing home and school visits that clearly show the therapist what is important to target in intervention. If a speech therapist is simply creating goals as a result of carrying out some formal language tests then there is a good chance that the goals will not be practical and meaningful and perhaps will not target the social aspect of communication development. Instead they will just end up teaching splinter skills (i.e: following instructions, answering questions, requesting things etc) without addressing their application in day to day life.

4. Are you clear at the end of each therapy session what goals you are targeting in therapy and what you need to work on and practice before the next session?

I know you already know this but an hour or so of speech therapy weekly or fortnightly is simply not going to create the huge breakthroughs you want for your child. Whenever possible you need to be following up and working with your child at home. It only needs to be for half an hour or so but it must be regular.

Therefore it is crucial that your speech therapist is including a lot of parent training and education in your sessions so that you feel confident on how to apply what you’re working on at home (another really good reason why your therapist needs to understand what goes on at home so they can give you practical activities and exercises that actually work in the home environment). By doing this you will gradually learn how to make every interaction with your child a fabulous learning opportunity… which is when you start to see the big breakthroughs!! So if your therapist is not helping you achieve this then I’d suggest that you’re not getting the most out of them!

5. Lastly. Trust your own intuition as a parent!

Some families will say to me “I knew for a long time that the therapy was not right for my child and I felt like I was just handing over my money at the end of the session and not achieving very much”. If it doesn’t feel right to you then it’s probably not! But make sure you give something new a few months before you decide to stop.

A final thought…

Please do not waste your precious time and resources on therapy that you feel is ineffective or not a ‘good match’ for your child. Constantly review and challenge the effectiveness of your therapist’s intervention and make the necessary changes by trusting your intuition. I can’t tell you what a buzz it gives me to see parents who feel so capable and confident to trust their intuition because they have spent a little bit of time every day training and empowering themselves to better understand their child’s needs.

Please keep these things in mind at your next session!

If you would like further assistance in building your knowledge and practical skills to help your child on a daily basis and to become better at assessing the effectiveness of their therapy sessions then I think you’re really going to get a lot out of my Autism Essentials In-home Training Program.

As always, I’d love to hear about your experiences and stories that you may have on this issue.
Please leave me your comments below.

Till next time
Monique

P.S: If you liked this article you can always subscribe for free (top right of this page) and each time I create a new article I’ll let you know via email so you’ll never miss a thing!

Related posts:

1. What you should know before choosing a speech pathologist for your child with autism
2. Effective Speech Therapy… what works and what doesn’t
3. Is Your Child’s Therapy Team Really Working Together?

I’m now past my due date for our baby boy to arrive and since I’m just sitting around waiting for him to come I thought I’d quickly take a few minutes and share some more thoughts with you…

It’s very important when finding a speech pathologist for your child that you get the ‘just right fit’.

Here’s why it’s so important…

Just as there are many areas of specialty for doctors (orthopedics, pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiologists, neorologists, etc) the same applies for speech pathologists. Areas of specialty can include stuttering, articulation, literacy, hearing impairment, language disorders, voice disorders, strokes, laryngectomies etc, etc… the list is very extensive!

But the thing that completely baffles me is that some speech pathologists say that they have 5-8 or more “Areas of Specialty”! To me this suggests that they do not specialise at all, and are more of a ‘generalist’ speech pathologist (like a GP is a generalist doctor). Some therapists even say that they ‘specialise’ in autism when they may have treated only 10-20 children on the autism spectrum.

In my view, you’re only a ‘specialist’ if you work exclusively on just one thing and only one thing… and as a result, you tend to become quite good at it
Heck! I’ve been specialising in autism for over 12 years and I’m still learning things with every new client I treat.

As we know, children with autism are ALL incredibly different and unless your child is seeing a speech pathologist who’s caseload is predominantly children with autism, there’s a good chance that the therapist would not have had the time or experience to truly equip themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to really help your child with autism.

If I had a child with autism…
Here’s a list of key questions I would ask any speech pathologist before employing their services:

1. How many children with autism have they treated before?
   Anything below 50 is really quite a small number. If they are just starting out that’s ok, we all have to start somewhere, but I would fully expect them to be mentored by a senior therapist with well over 50 clients under their belt.
2. What percentage of the children that they treat are on the autism spectrum?
   This will give some indication of the therapist’s level of commitment to treating children with autism and may also indicate the amount of professional development that the therapist has done in the field of autism.
3. Have they treated children on the autism spectrum with your child’s specific diagnosis (eg: Mild autism, severe autism, PDD-NOS, Aspergers)? How many?
   Some therapists may not have had experience working with the full spectrum of autism.
4. What age range do they mainly treat?
   Some therapists may only specialise in either early intervention or school aged children.
5. Is there a possibility of having home or school visits?
   I firmly believe that it is essential to get into the homes and schools (the main social and communication environments) of children with autism so that you can get a ‘true picture’ of what is going on for the child and family. Sometimes home and school visits are not always logistically possible for every session but I would certainly favour a therapist who was willing to do them now and again.
6. What style of Speech Pathologist are they? Is the therapy play based or structured learning at the table, is it adult directed or child directed?
   I very much believe in a play-based, child-directed and practical therapy approach where building a relationship with the child that is based on fun, trust and respect is pivotal to successful treatment. If a solid, trusting relationship is not present then your child will not build their desire to interact or learn from the therapist and the effectiveness of therapy will be compromised.

   A relationship builiding approach to speech pathology ensures that we are not only working on the ‘Communication’ element of the triad of impairment but also the social part. This is essential when treating speech and language skills and MUST NOT be ignored because social skills development drives communication development!!

   Some speech pathologists use a skills-based approach where they set the agenda for the child’s learning and carry out ‘structured teaching’ sitting down at a table drilling them on certain concepts or commands. This type of learning can often be very unmotivating for the child and often does not tap into what learning is important and meaningful for the child.

Now obviously it would be an ideal world if every child with autism could be matched with the right speech pathologist (and you should absolutely keep striving for this), but the practical reality is often quite different. Specialist services can often be hard to come by and most of the time parents will settle for ANY help rather than none! And even when you manage to get ‘a good’ therapist, it takes time and a few sessions to determine whether they are ‘right’ for your child.

This is exactly why parents need to be able to step in and fill in the gaps and to recognise when things aren’t working as well as they could be and to make changes in their child’s program that will result in positive outcomes for the child.

How do you do this? By knowing your child better than anyone else (including their therapists). You need to understand what they need, what motivates them, how they learn best and what type of therapy approach is going to get the best results for them.

If this is kind of making sense for you and you’d like to have a greater understanding of all these things about your child so you can feel more empowered and confident to make these sorts of decisions for them then I’d really suggest that you check out my Autism Essentials In-home Training Program.

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. Just make sure to keep them in mind when choosing a therapist for your child.

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts and stories on this.
Please leave me your comments below.

P.S: Don’t miss my next tip…
I’ll be talking about the warning signs that will help you know when it might be time to find another speech pathologist who is a better match for your child.

Related posts:

1. Effective Speech Therapy… what works and what doesn’t
2. Improving Speech and Language in Children with Autism using Video Modeling
3. Is Your Child’s Therapy Team Really Working Together?

Howdy everyone,

I’m sorry that some of you have not heard from me for a little while. Things have been crazy busy!!!

Not only am I due to have our second child any day now but I have also been running some training workshops here in Sydney for other speech pathologists to share my knowledge and experience in working with children with autism.

I really enjoyed doing the workshops and the attendees got a lot out of them, which was great!

One of the main aims of running the workshops was to help shift the way that speech pathologists work with children on the autism spectrum. I figured that if I can help fellow speech pathologists work more effectively with these kids then I will indirectly be helping many more families because they will have greater access to speech pathologists who are trained with the unique knowledge and skills that are needed for treating children with autism.

The title of the workshop is “Effective Speech Pathology… what works and what doesn’t”. Some of the key messages that I shared were:

1. It IS possible to treat the social part of the triad of impairment
2. When we use a developmental approach to treatment we are treating the core deficits of autism
3. We must get to know the ‘individual differences’ of the child if we are to achieve greater therapy outcomes
4. Parent training and empowerment is an essential part of effective treatment
5. Practical and meaningful speech pathology is a must

I then went on to practically explain how I carry out ‘effective therapy’ with the families I treat, using lots of client examples and video footage etc.

In a nutshell….
As speech pathologists I strongly believe that we need to be carrying out a ‘relationship building’ and ‘developmental style’ of therapy rather than sitting these children down at a table, drilling them with specific, isolated skills that are often not meaningful or motivating for the child.

After specialising in the treatment of autism for over 12 years and consulting to many different programs, I’ve treated enough clients and seen the case history of enough families to know that this structured style of teaching does not address the core deficits of autism or lay the foundations for even more effective learning.

I am a very open-minded therapist and certainly not ‘stuck in my ways‘ but I still continue to practice a relationship building style of therapy today for one very simply reason… because I find it get results.

My plan now (after our baby is born!), is to travel around the other capital cities of Australia to carry out the workshops there, then head overseas to do the same. Towards the end of the year I’ll be running more advanced training days for speech pathologists to increase their skills even further.

So along with continuing to manage Connect Therapy and creating more Training Resources I’m very excited to now be training other therapists in autism as I know that it will reach so many more families and quite possibly indirectly assist each one of you in your journey as well as other families that will follow in your footsteps!

So that’s what I’ve been up to… how about you guys?
How effective have you found Speech Therapy to be in your child’s treatment? What type of therapy approach has worked for you? I’d love to hear your experiences from a parent’s perspective.

Please leave your comments in the boxes provided below.

best wishes
Monique

Related posts:

1. Improving Speech and Language in Children with Autism using Video Modeling
2. Is Your Child’s Therapy Team Really Working Together?
3. Therapy needs to fit in with your family life

Wow! Only 4 more sleeps until Christmas!

I thought I’d squeeze in one more autism tip to help get you through the holiday period.

This week’s video is about getting the most out of your interactions with your child with autism while reading picture books with them. And because this is an activity that almost all children and parents enjoy doing together quite frequently, I’m sure you’ll find this one very helpful.

Take a look…

Duration – about 10 min

Here a little peak inside this weeks video…

There are essentially 4 types of interactions a child with autism can have whilst reading a book.

Which one does your child experience the most?

1. They enjoy the physical, visual experience of turning the pages ad looking through the book and it’s usually an activity they prefer doing on their own.
2. They don’t mind if you sit with them, but they like to control the reading of the book and don’t really involve you in the experience.
3. They enjoy reading books because they like the process of rote learning, the sequence of events and knowing what is on the next page. They don’t mind if you get involved but they are really only using you as a tool to help them get from page to page and it is not a true shared experience.
4. Your child genuinely enjoys reading books with you and it is usually a highly interactive experience with lots of back and forth conversation and emotion sharing.

If you said number 1, 2 or 3 that’s fine. However number 4 is the type of interaction we want to aim for. This is where your child is going to get the most out of the experience and will get the most opportunities to maximise their learning and their ability to really ‘connect’ with you and eventually other people too!

So I’ve really tried to focus this video on giving you some simple steps that should really help improve the quality of your interactions with your child whilst reading together. So what are you waiting for. Go back up and click play now!

Stay tuned for Part 2 – which I’ll be releasing next week.
Until then, stay safe and have a really great holiday break.

Part 2 is now available here – Watch Part 2

All the best
Monique

Related posts:

1. Maximise Your Child’s Learning With Visuals
2. If you want more language you need to expand your child’s world
3. Help! My child finds it hard to concentrate

Often toy libraries can be a very underutilised service in many communities… but they have a lot to offer, particularly for children with autism, aspergers or pdd-nos.

Many families say “We have so many toys at home…the last thing we need is more toys”

But let me give you a little bit of food for thought….

I saw a boy named Oli on the weekend for a session who will be going to a mainstream school next year.

He is doing really well with his play and interactions at home with his parents and his brother. This family have done an incredible job at building their relationship with Oli, helping him realise that they are heaps of fun to be around and can add so much value to his life. In fact, when I recently analysed some video footage of Oli playing with his family at home it really was not apparent that he had autism!

Yet aside from all of his wonderful progress at home his parents report that he is having significant trouble forming relationships with his peers.

One of Oli’s challenges is that he experiences a considerable amount of anxiety which is getting in the way of helping him develop friends. The thing that triggers this anxiety for Oli is new and unpredictable things. For example when he has play dates with friends, away from home, there is soooo much unpredictability (new home, less familiar people and of course new toys!).

So we needed to focus on helping Oli become more comfortable with new situations. Therefore I recommended that this family create more unpredictability in their play time at home, where Oli already felt very safe and secure.

One excellent way to create this unpredictability is by introducing different toys into your child’s play sequences.

But as you no doubt know, kids can get bored of the same toys very quickly. So if you’re child is no longer motivated by the toys you have at home, an excellent source of new and interesting toys can be your local community toy library… just like a plain old book library but instead you can borrow toys! Plus what’s also great is that as soon as your child gets bored of them you can simply return them!

Just do a Google search for toy libraries in your local area. Obviously some toy libraries are better equipped than others but it’s definitely worth checking out! And if you can’t find any toy library in your area then you could always organise to swap some toys with friends or family members.

Even if your child is not up to the same stage as Oli, toy libraries can also be a great way of trialing toys or equipment (e.g: mini trampolines) to see if your child likes them before purchasing. Because we all know how much money we can waste on toys that we think our child is going to like!

Til next time

Monique

Related posts:

1. “My child wants to socialise with other kids but doesn’t know how”
2. Part 1 – Why ‘Play’ is SO Important for Children with Autism
3. Is there a ‘Magic Formula’ for Autism?

This week’s video tip is self explanatory really.

Again, this is another strategy I use regularly with my private clients that can work quite nicely.

Particularly suitable for higher functioning children with autism (typically 3-6 years old) who are up to the stage where they ‘get’ the basic meaning of situations, but who are then challenged by real life situations where they are required to interpret the complex feelings and thoughts of other people through their words, facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice, then put all of that information together to really understand a deeper meaning of a particular situation.

If this sounds like your child, then you could really benefit from this.

You’ll have no problems doing this at home with your child and all you’ll need are a few of their favourite DVDs

Running time : 15 mins

Brief Overview

1. When is the right stage to introduce DVDs as a tool for building comprehension with your child
2. Why DVDs are such a great tool for doing this, compared to books and other resources.
3. Why it’s so important to choose DVDs that are ‘pitched’ at the right level for your child’s development.
4. How to use both familiar and unfamiliar DVDs with your child to maximum effect
5. To finish off, some insider tips to help you get the most out of this technique.

Question Time

If you have any questions or stories to share about this particular technique please leave me your comments below.

Monique

P.S: If your child isn’t quite up to this stage but you would like to learn more about building them towards piecing together all of the information in DVDs, there are SO MANY other visual strategies you can use. Please take a look at DVD 7 from my Autism Essentials Training Program. It goes for over 2 hours and covers virtually all of the other visual strategies you can use. http://www.autism-essentials.com/shop/products/Volumes-6%2C-7-%252d-Learn-Part-1-and-2.html

Related posts:

1. Maximise Your Child’s Learning With Visuals
2. Nutty therapy idea that worked!
   Help improve the attention span of your child with autism
3. Help! My child finds it hard to concentrate

Hi everyone,

I have to say I’m finding video to be a great way of explaining all of the concepts and techniques that I have to share with you and also for bringing to life many of the examples that will help with applying these tips to your own situation. So I hope you’re enjoying them too!

This week’s tip focuses on how you can improve your child’s articulation and speech clarity skills using a technique called Video Modeling. There are many ways to improve articulation, but Video Modeling is one technique that I’ve found to be very effective over the years with the children I treat.

So anyway, I created a quick, step-by-step guide to show you exactly how you can use Video modeling to help your child’s articulation and speech development. So if your child is struggling with this then I think you’re going to find this video tip particularly helpful.

It goes for about 10 minutes.

P.S: Please share any thoughts or stories you may have about this video by leaving your comments in the box provided below.

Related posts:

1. Part 2 – Why ‘Play’ is SO Important for Children With Autism
2. If you want more language you need to expand your child’s world
3. 7 tips for disciplining children with autism

Last week I promised to do Part 2 of Why Play is SO Important for Children with Autism. (If you missed Part 1 you can find it here).

But the thing is, we decided to try video blogging, which I’m really excited about! However it took us much longer than expected to get Part 2 ready.

So anyway, I’m sorry it’s late, but here it is as promised…

Part 2 in shiny new video format!

The first video below looks at the importance of stage 3 of play development – Imaginary Play, while the second video gives you some great tips on how to use Imaginary Play to help your child (or those children that you treat).

Stage 3 – What is Imaginary Play? (18 min)



Tips on How to use Imaginary Play to Help Your Child (10 min)

I’m excited about creating my weekly tips on video because it will just bring everything to life! And now instead of reading through long pages of text, you will be able to see and hear me in person, which I hope you will find far more personable and easy to digest and no doubt sometimes even a little entertaining.

But as with anything new…
I’d really love to get your thoughts on the new video format.
Do you like it? Did the video play ok for you? Should I do more videos or stick with good old text and links??

Either way, please have your say and let us know so we can keep producing more of what you like, how you like it.

Till next week
Monique

P.S: If you have any thoughts or stories to share about this week’s article please leave your comments in the box provided below.

Related posts:

1. Part 1 – Why ‘Play’ is SO Important for Children with Autism
2. 7 tips for disciplining children with autism
3. Back on Deck for 2009

One thing that you need to understand is how important PLAY is for the thinking, language, emotional, problem solving and creative skills development of children with autism. So many people underestimate the importance of PLAY.

Ok. So how does play develop and what should your child be able to do in play?

Stage 1

From birth to 18 months of life, much of your child’s play will revolve around Sensory Play.

This means feeling different textures, learning about how their body feels when it is moved in different ways, listening to interesting noises like birds tweeting, the clock ticking and how different people’s voices sound different and can make interesting noises etc, etc. Their sensory play will continue to develop and become more complex during the first 18 months.

Stage 2

As your child gradually learns to ‘make sense’ of the world around them they then learn to engage in Exploratory and Manipulative Play.

This means that they begin to work out the properties of objects (round, soft, hard, small, large) through their senses and work out how they can play around with them to do different things.

For example; if we take a ball there are many things that we can get to know about a ball… it is round, it can be big or little, heavy or light, you can throw it, kick it, catch it, bounce it, roll it… if I drop it from my high chair it bounces really high, if I put it in water it might float or sink… if I put it down the ramp it will go very fast etc, etc.

This kind of exploration and thinking is very important for a child to develop so that they can go on to learn how to use objects in many different and more complex ways.

Children develop some of this sensory and exploratory play on their own, but they also learn it through interacting and watching their parents, siblings and other children. Once children have built a warm and trusting relationship with certain people they become curious to learn more from them and gain a great deal from watching and copying them.

Stage 3 – Imaginary Play

Sensory play and Exploratory play will continue to become more and more complex. However, once your child has started to really explore objects for their physical attributes they will then be curious to learn about the different functions of objects.

…OK WAIT! Let’s just stop there for a moment.

Many of you might be thinking… “Hold up, my child is stuck at Stage 1 or 2!!”

Your child may be engaging in Sensory play for a good part of their day (playing in the dirt, mouthing objects, running back and forth, wanting to play crashing games, making noises for self stimulatory purposes, playing with objects to create fascinating visual effects, etc) OR they may be using Exploratory play with toys/objects in a very repetitive way rather than exploring all the different properties of the objects.

Challenges in the first two stages of play development are largely the result of poor sensory motor development and/or immature social skills. Since I have already talked about these topics in previous blog posts, I will simply say that if you would like further advice on how to improve these areas of development please check out the following resources…

Sense part 1 and 2 of my Autism Essentials DVD program

and the audio 7 steps to unlocking your child’s social skills.

OK. Back to our discussion of play development and Stage 3 – Imaginary Play…

What does Imaginary play look like?

Let’s take a toy car for example. A child will learn that you can push it just like the cars you see on the road, you can also put people in it and carry them to different places (like the park, or the shops, or to grandmas house etc), you can also put seat belts on the passengers, beep the horn, put things in the boot to take to the beach etc. As a child gains a greater and greater comprehension about what happens in their day and their life experiences continue to expand it endless what they will do with their play. This type of play is called imaginary or symbolic play and typically starts developing at around 12-18 months and becomes more and more complex as the child gets older (ie to six/seven years of age), until they reach a point where they can even act out things that have never happened in their life (eg going to the moon, pretending to be a fairy, etc).

There is SOOOO much that can be taught through Imaginary play and it is a wonderful way of developing your child’s thinking, language, emotional, problem solving and creative skills. However many families are not sure of how to effectively develop these imaginary play skills in their child. If you are interested in how to do this please look out for my next post because I am going to explain this in more detail for you.

See Part 2 here

Until then best wishes.
Monique

P.S: If you have any thoughts or stories to share about this week’s article please leave your comments in the box provided below.

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