Using Play for Learning and Development
Play and play-based therapy is a great way to teach your child crucial skills.
Play-based therapy is especially effective for teaching social participation skills to autistic children, but play can be modified to teach important skills in a way that your child is receptive to.
Play can serve a multitude of purposes depending on how the activity is presented to your child. Play can be more solitary, or it can be a method of social participation. Regardless of what type of play your child is engaged in, each format can be greatly beneficial for teaching new skills.
Different Types of Play
There are many different types of play that develop at different stages of your child’s life. The Australian parenting website raisingchildren.net.au lists six categories of play: exploratory, cause-and-effect, toy, constructive, physical, and pretend play. All of them help with the development of different skills such as gross motor, fine motor, creativity, imagination, problem-solving, independent thinking, and social skills.
Exploratory or sensory play is when your child explores and observes their toy or environment. This helps them learn about their surroundings. It engages the child’s senses like the colors, sounds, textures, and any details of the object they’re playing with.
Cause-and-effect play shows control and learning how each action has a response. This can be pulling a lever to have a toy car drop down the race track.
Toy play is using a toy in the way that it was meant to be played with. This may seem obvious to adults, but a child might not understand how a playset is supposed to be used, such as a kitchen playset or toy train. Toy play is a great chance to learn from adults or peers.
Constructive play is building and constructing things. This could be toys like puzzles or building a tower with blocks or Legos.
Physical play is running, jumping, hopping, or any physical activity. The goal is for the child to get their entire body moving. This helps develop gross motor skills, as well as balance and coordination.
Pretend or dramatic play is when your child utilizes their imagination, like when they pretend to play house or act as a train conductor.
Each of these different types of play requires different skills and develops in stages. Many children will pick up on these types of play naturally, but if your child does not seem to understand, it’s a great opportunity to help walk them through it or take them to a play group.
Play Groups
Play groups are a great way to teach children social skills, cooperation, and participation. Children will often learn from watching their peers and copying what they do. This is why play groups like summer camps or clubs are great for children to participate in. Not only are they occupied, but they are learning important life skills through play.
Play groups are especially effective for those children with autism. Play groups that are specifically geared towards those children with autism or those who struggle with social skills are great for learning skills such as turn-taking, peer interactions, being a good sport, and whole-body listening.
Since social participation is difficult to address in one-on-one therapy sessions such as occupational therapy or speech, group play therapy sessions led by occupational and speech therapists are extremely beneficial for teaching autistic children important social skills through play. They are equipped to handle sensory needs, social anxiety, and difficult behaviors.
EJ Therapy offers such summer programs so keep an eye out on the EJ Therapy website for more information about when summer program registration will begin!
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Matthews, Aubrey, Eriana Buteau, and Andrea Fairman. “Building Blocks for Social Participation: Fostering Friendship and Collaboration Through Play-Based Clubs,” AOTA. 2021, Building Blocks for Social Participation: Fostering Friendship and Collaboration Through Play-Based Clubs | AOTA.
“Play and Autistic Children,” raisingchildren.net.au, May 19, 2021, https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/school-play-work/play-learning/play-asd#play-why-its-important-for-autistic-children-nav-title