Toys for Children with Autism: Teaching Pretend Play

Toys for Child with Autism

Pretend play is an advanced form of play that develops at about 18 months of age in typical children. This kind of play is crucially important for children because it helps develop imagination, creativity, language, and social skills. However, many children with autism do not play with toys the way that typically developing children do and do not engage in pretend play at all. A child with autism may only line up his toys, or carry them around. Pretend play will not develop on its own in most children with autism. But, with your help pretend play can be taught and enjoyed by your child.

Five steps to teaching your child with autism how to engage in pretend play:

1. Introduce a new pretend play toy (people figure, doll, train, puppet, car, etc).
   
2. Let child become familiar with the toy in his own way.
3. Write a script for playing with the toy.
4. Read the script to your child AND demonstrate the script with the toy.
5. Allow your child to use the toy with his new understanding of its use :)

One way to introduce pretend play to your child with autism is to begin with individual play figures like little wooden people or animals. Many children with autism are naturally attracted to play figures so you can just follow your child's interest. Initially, your child may only carry the figure around with him and that is fine. Once your child is familiar with the figure you can introduce pretend play.

Many parents find it particularly effective to write a script for their child. Create a story on paper with pictures for the figure where the figure is sleeping in his bed, then wakes up. Read this "story" to your child and then move on to playing with the figure as shown in the story you created.

Try setting up the figure and demonstrating the story to your child. For example, have the figure pretend to be sleeping, then wake up, then walk around, then jump and run. Maybe the figure is hungry and wants to eat. Pretend to feed him. You should do these things with the figure to demonstrate how to play with it. Make sure to narrate what the figure is doing during this process.

Now give your child the figure and you should see a change in his play behavior with the toy. Help him along and encourage his new skills. This activity should be repeated over time. Expand the play routine once your child has the hang of a simple concept such as sleep/wake take it a step further. Cover the toy with a blanket, sing a lullaby, or feed it breakfast when it wakes up.

Introducing puppets to your child with autism is also a great way to get him involved with pretend play. Choose a puppet that your child shows interest in whether it's a person or an animal.

Many children with autism are attracted to train toys and car toys. If that's something your child shows interest in, use train sets and cars to introduce pretend play. Your script will be entirely different but apply the same steps!

Toys for Children with Autism at GummyLump.com

Pretend Play Toys at GummyLump.com

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