Autism Play Project (floortime) "Joining Numbers"

(Oct. 09)Three year old boy (diagnosis:autism) showing an intense interest in numbers on a tape measure. This is a comfort zone activity and he usually becomes very exclusive, isolated and difficult to engage. But by joining in his interest, by showing appreciation for it instead of setting is aside, we can inspire him to share with us and we can throw in little challenges to inspire him to engage, gesture and take in another person's view Jan Sarbora, Play Project home consultant, is modeling for mom how to join his interest with genuine enthusiasm so that he feels a pleasurable connection and is then inspired to share his attention and engage around his interest. (Date: 10-09) NOTE: This material is the personal work of Jan Sarbora, certified Play Project consultant. This video has not been approved or disapproved by ICDL or Play Project.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• autism seattle
• ABA

[jsarbora]

Hi Neil - nice to hear from you again! In this particular case, I was trying to show how we could join and encourage engagement around this child's usual exclusive interest in numbers. The fact that he let me in by telling me about his numbers was huge, so I didn't want to push in too soon. Also, I was building our relationship. His animals did get more "aggressive" later on. I totally agree that it's ok if he gets upset as long as we are there to support him. Thanks for comments-I welcome them.

[jsarbora]

Per comment below, we were able to inspire this little guy to engage, communicate and problem solve using his favorite interest - numbers - in a more functional way. He eagerly counted with me some little coins (that I held in my hands to encourage him to look to me). He eagerly counted my fingers and then tried to make the same amount show on his fingers. I showed him how to use a measuring stick and then he initiated measuring his little rug, joyfully sharing his new findings. FUN! Jan

[swright0071]

Love this whole interaction Jan. (Hope you get to put most of it on here) Your way of joining him was so skillfully done.

[jsarbora]

Thanks- I always see room for improvement; we want to get him feeling that warm engagement more than trying to push him into symbolic play. That's the key here and sometimes we loose that when we get overly concerned about trying to move the kiddo up levels. It's the deepening of the intimacy that is key. Then the play becomes about the relationship, not about the specific toy.

[Neilgs]

solving, even though, let us say, the "sudden forcefulness of suggestion" or action resulted in a "meltdown", it wouldn't necessarily be a "lost opportunity" in that moment" as it were. You're still there, he's still there and the "original narrative interaction" or version thereof could be returned to. Now, let us say, that he reacted "positively" to this "startling suggestion." He would then (by default) be using more "visual-spatial processing" of you-the tape-room, thus deepening praxis.

[Neilgs]

For example: Pooh bear suddenly grabbing the tape away; or insisting with playful or definitive contradicting: "No! I want twenty not six !" Give me, twenty!" Child then (i.e., depending upon his processing domains and thresholds) slightly grimace, smile, laugh, have a meltdown, shout back...." The point that I making is that in any and all instances there would be (because of a more seemingly sudden rather than gradual varying of affect a deepening of two-way emotional problem....continued

[Neilgs]

Hi Jan, nice video. Just a suggestion. What if pooh bear became a little bit more "aggressive" and, therefore, an attempt made to vary the affect a bit more, that is tangentially, rather than varying the affect "once establishing (greater) joint reciprocity by following this child's lead?" I think this is something that we (those who practice a DIR floortime based methodology) are sometimes reluctant to do for fear of "losing the child" or extend (deepen) dyadic engagement......Continued

[SoZen08]

Thank you for posting this! I love to share information about Floortime with my college students, so they can learn about more than ABA but haven't found a good illustration thus far. Your video illustrates the method well!

[drbreinbauer]

Continuation of previous posting.....I wonder what would have happened if you would have asked him to measure the bear to see how big or fat, or skinny he is. Try to link the numbers and the object (measuring tape) to its function, to help him learn a meaningful use of the numbers he knows so well. He could become a great mathematician!

[drbreinbauer]

Jan, you did a wonderful job engaging him around his interest and keeping the circles of communication going. He is so interested in numbers because he is really good at them. At 3 years of age, he knows them very well, back and for, and he gets stuck with what he knows very well. The challenge would be how he can give purpose and meaning to those numbers, and connecting them with the affect he has for them. Read more on next posting...