Autism, Play Project "Counting Fingers"

(11-28-09) We are playing in this little guy's interest and comfort zone, getting engagement, warm interactions, problem solving and symbolic play. At times he shows such intense interest counting the numbers, it is hard to get a back and forth engagement going. So we simply join his interest by counting enthusiastically with him or cheering him on. By joining his interest instead of stopping it, he feels a connection with us which leads to regulation, intimacy and engagement and his allowing us to add new ideas. Then we can interact around his interest by showing him how his numbers can function in the world (measuring, counting real things, etc.); he will be more emotionally available to our ideas as well as his own. We can inspire more problem solving and negotiation, as he is able to deal with our wanting something a bit different than what he wants. But all of this comes first from his feeling a trust and intimacy because we are joining and supporting his interest. Jan Sarbora, certified Play Project consultant (11-28-09) NOTE: This is the personal work of J.Sarbora and has not been approved or disapproved by ICDL or Play Project.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Autism
• DIR Floortime
• Floortime
• Play Project
• ABA

[jsarbora]

If you look at the video response above, taken almost 2 months prior, he clearly was more exclusive when looking at numbers -- hard to engage. In this video, he is interacting more around his interest and the function of numbers (he also later measured items with his measuring tape).