Increasing Learning Opportunities during Play

for Young Children with ASD

Jamie Owen-DeSchryver&

Amy MatthewsGrand Valley State University

Linda ElenbaasSpring Lake Public School

Welcome Back

Today’s Training:

Introduction to Structured Play

Increasing learning opportunities in play…

• Through general classroom structures

• During specific play activities• For individual students

Classroom

Activity

Student

Spaced LearningTerms/Strategies you will see applied again in this

training in the context of play:

Learning OpportunitiesCenters

CLAMS CardsThemes

and others…

Wow! That’s a good idea!

Reaching Goals through Structured Play

Why is play important?

• If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society”– Jean Piaget

Early Childhood Approach to Play

• One-third of school-day should be spent in free play

• Children learn social rules, language skills and complex, abstract thinking through their interactions with toys and other children

• Children imitate peers and “test” imitative behaviors in the safe environment of play

Why Does this Approach Need to be Supplemented for Children with

ASD?• Children with disabilities often have delays in play

(Pierce-Jordan & Lifter, 2005; Rutherford & Rogers, 2003; Williams et al., 2001)– Limitations in the frequency and variety of play categories– Fail to progress to more advanced play categories

Stages of Play Development Brigance Inventory of Child

Development

1y-0m Engages in play that extends beyond self, such as brushing doll’s hair or rolling truck

1y-6m Engages in simple pretend play, such as eating and sleeping

1y-6m Imitates housework activity, such as sweeping

2y-6m Uses toys to act out a scene

2y-6m Engages in domestic pretend play, for at least ten minutes

What happens when you ask a child with ASD to go play?

What happens when you ask a child with ASD to “go play”?

• Stereotypic behavior

• Rote, repetitive play behaviors

• Isolated play

Why should we systematically teach children with ASD to play?

Opportunities to practice and learn:

• Communication/ Choice-making

• Motor development

• Complex, abstract thinking

Why should we systematically teach children with ASD to play?

• Builds skill repertoires that reduce anxiety and problem behaviors– Decreases opportunities for

students to “practice” inappropriate or nonfunctional play behaviors

– Decreases stereotypic behaviors (Lee, Odom & Loftin, 2007; Charlop-Christy, Claremont Autism Center Program Evaluation)

Why should we systematically teach children with ASD to play?

• Increases social opportunities and participation

– Social and play behaviors are intertwined

Mastered Play or Non-Play

Activities

Emerging Play Activities

31% of intervals

7% of intervals

The Importance of “Mastered” Play Skills

(Pierce-Jordan & Lifter, 2000)

Percent of Intervals where children with autism engaged in social interactions:

We recognize that structuring play time contrasts with the typical Early

Childhood approach

• It defies beliefs about what play IS

• …but even the NAEYC states that adults should take an active role in teaching children when they require the additional help

Developmentally Appropriate Practice National Association for the Education of Young

Children, 2009 (naeyc.org)

• “Teachers know how and when to scaffold children’s learning– that is, providing just enough assistance to enable each child to perform at a skill level just beyond what the child can do on his or her own, then gradually reducing the support as the child begins to master the skill, and setting the stage for the next challenge” (pg. 19)

Developmentally Appropriate Practice National Association for the Education of Young

Children, 2009 (naeyc.org)

• “Scaffolding can take a variety of forms; for example, giving the child a hint, adding a cue, modeling the skill or adapting the materials and activities. It can be provided in a variety of contexts, not only in planned learning experiences but also in play, daily routines, and outdoor activities” (p. 19)

What does this have to do with us?

Why Would you Want to Limit Free Play?

• Children have free play time at home and in other environments; we have them in school for only short amounts of time

• As we mentioned before, children with ASD are typically not using free play time as effectively as other children– Deficits in imitation skills– Low motivation– Lack of experience

IN SUM: We want to maximize

Learning Opportunities

Maximizing Learning OpportunitiesFocus Area 1:

Increasing Learning Opportunities in Play through General Classroom Structures

Organizing Play Areas

Organizing Play Areas

• Limit the number of students in each play area

• Limit available play materials in the area

• Identify or create enclosed spaces – create logical barriers

Organizing Play Areas

• Use visual cues in the play area• Use bins or tubs with pictures that make clean

up easy

Using Centers & Adult Support

Possible Play Centers

• Game Center

• Dramatic Play Center

• Blocks, Building Toys, Figurines

• Sensory/Art Center

Blocks & Building Toys Center

Games Center

Dramatic Play Center

An Example of Play Centers:

Red Circles = adults

Yellow Circles = students

Reminder…

• Exposure to play activities does not mean children with ASD will learn to play appropriately; these students may need additional supports to learn to play

• One solution: identify people to increase adult-to-student ratios so that play skills can be taught and supported

Increase Adult Support to StaffCenters

• Adult volunteers – Parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles

• High-school volunteers– Honors students, alternative education

students

• Push-in ancillary services– Speech, OT, PT can be provided in the

classroom; ancillary staff may support a play-based center or run their own center while classroom staff support a play center

Push-In Ancillary Services

Training is Important

• Without training, extra bodies can be more problematic than helpful…volunteers might be able to keep children in the proper area, or prep materials, but they can also:– Inhibit social interactions– Increase problem behaviors through reinforcing

negative child behaviors– Neglect to implement strategies to teach and

support play

Blanc et al., 2005:• The effects of adult guidance during

play were beneficial for children with ASD, children with CI and for typical children, but more particularly for children with autism.

• Children with autism showed more complex, and higher developmental levels of play when they were supported/ prompted by adults.

Adults Supporting Play

Adults Supporting Play

All adults working in the classroom should be trained to effectively support students during play:– Station adults strategically– Assign adults to particular students

during play– Train adults to use effective

prompting and teaching strategies

Developing Goal Cards

Developing Goal Cards

Another way to support adults in each play area:– Create Goal cards so that all staff/volunteers

know how to target goals and implement learning opportunities during play

– These are like the goal cards we discussed in the general classroom training, but they focus on play activities

REVIEW (Spaced Learning)

What does the acronymCLAMS stand for?

CLAMS CardsC –

L –

A –

M –

S –

CLAMS Goal Card for Dramatic Play Movie Theater

C: Communication goal– Student says, “Let’s go to the movie”; requests “popcorn”

L: Literacy goal– Follows steps depicted in visual script/routine

A: Academic goal– Matches coins or dollars to pay for movie theater tickets

& popcornM: Motor goal

– Picks up pretend popcorn (packaging peanuts) using pincer grasp and pretends to eat (or does same with real popcorn); sits with feet on floor in “movie theater chairs”

S: Social goal– Waits in line for tickets; passes popcorn to friend

CLAMS Goal Card for :Building Center Blocks

C: Communication goal– Student requests block; says “uh-oh” when tower falls

L: Literacy goal– Places name card next to completed tower

A: Academic goal– Identifies pattern of blocks (red, blue, blue, red, blue,

blue); counts blocks

M: Motor goal– Coordinates motor movements to build tower

S: Social goal– Hands block to peer; says “look what I made”

CLAMS Goal Card for:Game Center Candy Land

C: Communication goal– Student says, “it’s your turn” to peer

L: Literacy goal– Reads names from cue cards when staff holds up card and

says “whose turn is it?”A: Academic goal

– Responds to questions, “what’s this? (color)” “where’s the ____?”

M: Motor goal– Uses pointer finger to point to color; uses pincer grasp to

place game pieceS: Social goal

– Student claps for peer who wins the game

Incorporating Student Interests

Developmentally Appropriate Practice National Association for the Education of Young

Children, 2009 (naeyc.org)

Teaching to enhance development and learning• “Developmentally appropriate teaching

practices provide an optimal balance of adult-guided and child-guided experiences… child-guided experience proceeds primarily along the lines of children’s interests and actions, with strategic teacher support” (p. 17).

Incorporating Student Interests

If the child’s interest is Star Wars• Building activity: Legos mixed with

Star Wars figures• Dramatic play: Star Wars costumes

(borrowed from parents or made during art activity)

• Figure play: Star Wars figures and vehicles

• Other: Star Wars games, puzzles and art projects

Incorporating Student Interests

If the child’s interest is water play• Building activity: build towers with

plastic blocks, animal “dives” from the tower into an adjacent sink or bowl filled with water

• Dramatic play: Fishing, swimming• Figure play: Marine animals in the

water table• Other: Class-wide beach day with

water activities, finger-painting, other sensory activities

Discussion:Incorporating Student Interests

What is an interest area demonstrated by your target student?

How could you incorporate this interest area into a center or a theme?

Comments / Thoughts on Focus Area 1:

General Classroom Structures??

Maximizing Learning OpportunitiesFocus Area 2:

Increasing Learning Opportunities During Specific

Play Activities

Games

Games

• Identify games from simple to complex– Simple: Connect Four, Barnyard Bingo– Complex: Go Fish, Memory, Uno

• Give the child exposure and opportunities

• Teach the skills, rules

Make sure Adults know the expectations during Game Play

• Set up the environment to maximize the student’s ability to stay at the table/game area

• Adult may need to hand out pieces 1 at a time• Adult prompts student to pass game to peer• Provide visual scripts (your turn, my turn, here)• Teach acknowledgement of play partner• Teach cheering/high fives/ social commenting• Model student language• Reduce prompting as quickly as possible while ensuring

success• Teach game concepts (matching ingredients or matching

shapes and color); this should be differentiated to the learner’s ability level

Level 1 Games: Basic Cause & Effect

• Examples: Connect Four or Kerplunk

• Targets: sitting oriented to a peer, waiting, turn-taking, participation

Level 2 Games:Games that Require Greater

Attention to Detail

• Examples: Cookie game or Ark 2 by 2

• Targets: Sitting oriented to peer, waiting, turn-taking, participation, matching, game concepts

Level 3 Games:Games that Require Active

Listening• Examples:

Penguin Pat or Hullabaloo

• Targets: Sitting oriented to a peer or standing prepared

to move, waiting, following auditory directions, demonstrating understanding of pre-academic concepts (counting, shapes, colors, animals, food, musical instruments)

Differentiating a Game

Ned’s Head:Pick a card from deck

– Student 1 chooses matching item from a field of 2– Student 2 chooses matching item from container of all

items

Feed Ned the item

Dramatic Play

Supporting Dramatic Play

• Provide props and materials for dramatic play scenarios – these may be connected with themes

• Again…vary and rotate the materials

Preteaching Dramatic Play

• Read books about the dramatic play activity

• Act out the dramatic play scenario in a large group, guided by the teacher, then make materials available during play time

Preteaching Dramatic Play: Matt & Molly Stories

Supporting Dramatic Play Visual Supports: Scripts

• Provide props; create brief scripts about the play activity

• Add visual cues (photographs, board-maker pictures) to the script, as necessary

• Teach the script; prompt language and actions

• Vary the script to reduce rigidity• Pair the child with a competent

peer; prompt and support

Look, it’s a fire

Help!

I’ll help you

Thank you

Supporting Dramatic Play Visual Supports: Scripts

Ganz & Flores (2008)• Taught scripts to 3 preschool-age children with

ASD playing in integrated groups; results:

– Scripted verbalizations increased

But more importantly,

– Context-related, unscripted comments also increased

Supporting Dramatic Play: Other Visual Supports

• Create picture schedules of play scenarios with sequenced steps

Get cupcakes

Share with Jaden

Eat them up – YUM!

3-Step Sequencing

Cards:

Cooking

Supporting Dramatic Play Other Visual Supports

Going Fishing

Put on hatPut on boots Get bucket and fishing pole

Catch a fish

Computer Book for “Going on a Picnic”

Supporting Dramatic Play Other Visual Supports

Let’s lay a blanket on the ground so we can sit. “Sit in the chair!”

Supporting Dramatic PlayVisual Supports

Incorporating socialization• When creating visual supports it’s helpful

to incorporate social components within the visual sequence– Examples: kissing baby, sharing with the

bear, sharing with peer

Supporting Dramatic PlayVisual Supports

Visual supports can be modified to target the skills and needs of different students– Number of pictures can be modified– Complexity of pictures can be modified– Complexity of language can be modified– Prompting/adult support in using the visual

cues can be modified

More Complex Dramatic Play

• Create more complex scripts that fit well in a routine

• Choose activities that are either high interest or will be reinforced in the natural environment

• Model, prompt, reinforce, fade (visuals are helpful too!)

In your Handouts:Dramatic Play Script Examples

• Pizza Parlor

• Grocery Store

Recess

Recess

What are appropriate recess activities?

• Activities with playground equipment (sliding, swinging, climbing)

• Playground games (freeze tag, chase, red light-green light, catch, kicking a soccer ball, T-ball etc.)

Preteach Skills

• Preteach play skills that are useful during recess and outdoor play

TeachGroup Playground Games

Some Recess Games• Tag • Kickball• Red light/green light• Follow the leader• Duck, duck, goose• Hide & seek• Animal charades• T-ball

Group Playground Games

• Introduce structured group playground games– First 5 minutes of recess may be a group

game supported by staff– May choose to implement the same game

for several weeks

Use Visual Supportson the Playground

• Use visual supports to cue the student to engage appropriately with playground activities

Visual Supports

First: Sandbox Then: Swing

Engage Studentson the Playground

• Set a goal:– Every student who needs support receives at

least _____-min of 1:1 adult engagement on the playground.

– This time can be used to teach skills, prompt the child to complete a playground schedule, facilitate peer play, encourage communication, etc.

Adult Support on thePlayground

• Interrupt & redirect – Get in the way!– Make the path to the desired item or

equipment through you

• Prompt and reinforce the student for appropriate play

Comments / Thoughts on Focus Area 2:

Specific Play Activities?

Maximizing Learning OpportunitiesFocus Area 3:

Increasing Learning Opportunities in Play for

Individual Students

Think about the students in your classroom

• What skills are your students learning and using during play time?

• Which of your students are making good use of play time? Which students are not?

Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Draft Statement, National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008 (naeyc.org)

Teachers plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child’s learning and development.

2. “Teachers present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices, especially in child-choice activity periods. They assist and guide children who are not yet able to enjoy and make good use of such periods.” (p. 18)

Identify a Target Student who is an Early Learner

• Shows limited awareness of the environment

• Shows restricted toy play skills or rigid, routinized or inappropriate interactions with toys

• Has limited language ability

• Requires prompting to complete activities, even when visual cues are provided

and… Identify a Target Student who is a

Transitioning Learner• A student who is preparing for transition to

kindergarten or an integrated placement

• Uses emerging language or more consistent use of language for labeling and requests

• Demonstrates awareness of others in the environment

• Responds favorably to visual supports and cues

Strategies for Teaching Play Skills

• Increasing Motivation for Social-Play

• Direct Teaching of Play Skills

• Teaching Imitation

• Video Modeling

• Peer Play

• Examples of Domains of Play Skills

Increasing Motivation forSocial-Play Activities

If you…

• Have children who avoid adults• Have children with low motivation for play

activities• Have children with low imitation skills• Have children who don’t choose to play with

others (adults or peers)

• You may want to begin with strategies to increase engagement and interest

Pairing to Increase Motivation

• For children who have low interest in others in the environment:– Pair the adult with high interest toys,

particularly those that the adult can control (e.g., spinning toys, toys with lights or sound)

– Focus on rapport-building with fun activities (swinging, tickles, spinning chair)

– Reduce demands temporarily

Pairing to Increase Motivation

The goals:• To help the child view others as “fun”

through co-participation in engaging activities

• To help the child view others as valuable-- the adults are key to accessing interesting items

• To break any prior negative pairing of “adults” with “demands”

Direct Teaching of Play Skills

Basic Toy Play Skills

• Early Learners may not have functional toy play, or may have a limited repertoire of play activities

• For these students, toy play skills may need to be explicitly taught

Teaching Basic Toy Play

• Adults set up specific, structured learning opportunities to teach basic toy play skills using the 3Rs. For example:– “Put on” (blocks)– “Shake” (maraca) – “In the car” (put boy in car)– “Throw the ball”– “Scoop the sand”– “Eat the apple”

Teaching Toy Play-Video

• Dariel put in video

Activity based instruction (ABI) with embedded discrete trial

teaching (DTT)

Adding instructional trials to a play situation increased:

• Teacher obligatory and non-obligatory statements

• Student engagement and correct responses to target objectives

McBride and Schwartz (2003)

Teaching Imitation

Through imitation, children learn

many play skills

Imitation is often an area of deficit for children with ASD

• This may be due to impairments in joint attention

• Like other early learner skills, imitation may need to be systematically taught

Preparing to Teach Imitation

What if a student is not attending to others in order to learn imitation?

Reciprocal Imitation

Studies show that some children will respond to others who are imitating them by increased looking and social engagement;

this is called reciprocal imitation

Reciprocal Imitation

Why does it work?

•This is what we do with very young children when they are developing social interaction skills

•Also, try imitating anyone and see what happens

Reciprocal Imitation:What toys work best?

• Toys that make music or sound (not electronic devices)

• Toys with big pieces and not too many pieces (e.g. food sets, bus and a few figures)

Reciprocal Imitation

Don’t imitate problem behaviors

Teaching Imitation

If the child is attending but does not imitate others naturally, you will need to

use direct teaching of imitation.

Direct Teaching of Imitation using the 3 Rs

• Adult: Pushes a toy bus and says “Do this”

• Child: Does not respond or gives an incomplete response

• Adult: Physically assists child to push the bus and says “This is pushing the bus”

Embracing Play Video

• Note that many of these examples show both “imitation” and “following directions” simultaneously

• Imitation is a skill that needs to be taught independent of following directions

Direct Teaching of Imitation What Does it Become?

Continue to teach imitation skills such as:• Put the boy in the bus• Drive the bus to the school• Honk the horn on the bus (beep beep)• Take the boy off the bus and go to school

• The targets are sequenced to become a meaningful play activity. The toys are made available in the classroom play area and visuals are provided along with adult support to implement the play sequence in another setting with other children.

Guidelines for Teaching Imitation

• Identify toys that are interesting to the child. Don’t over-persist with toys that are of little or no interest

• Stick with a few toys to achieve competency and fluency

• Teach a set of target behaviors that lead to a meaningful play sequence or could eventually become part of a sequence

Guidelines for Teaching Imitation

• Imitative play may occur on the floor or at a table depending on the child

• Have matched toy sets if possible to allow for immediate imitation

Prompted Imitation using Modeling

• Once the child can imitate through direct teaching, move to imitation using matched toy sets.

• Model the action and use verbal or gestural prompts as needed to help the child follow your actions.

• Peers are great as models. An adult can prompt or you can teach peers to prompt.

Prompted Imitation using Modeling

• Video of Josie prompting Nick to play with Mr. Potato Head

Observational Imitation

• Goal is to teach students to learn observationally, or learn from the environment– Children with ASD should be taught to watch peers or

adults and imitate their behaviors

Observational Imitation

• If the child shows some skill and interest in watching others, set up play situations with matched toy sets and have an adult or competent peer model appropriate play with toys.

Setting Up Observational Imitation

• Identical toy sets• Model how to play with the

toys slowly and systematically

• Use repetition early on• Limit number of toys

initially• Sit across from each other

and limit space between

Observational Imitation in the Natural EnvironmentCircle Time “Charades”

Child Task

Child A Pulls picture from surprise box, imitates action depicted in picture

Child B Imitates Child A when prompted to “do what (Child A) is doing”

Child C Answers questions: “what are they doing?”

Video Modeling

Video Modeling

• Multiple studies have shown that video modeling has positive outcomes (Delano, 2007; Maione & Mirenda, 2006; Reagon et al., 2006)

– Play– Commenting during play– Social interactions

Video Modeling

• Can also purchase pre-packaged videos that have been created for these purposes– Teach2Play– Model Me Kids

Video Modeling:Guidelines for Implementing

Shukla-Mehta, Miller & Callahan (2009)

1. May need to add prompts, reinforcers and error correction procedures

2. Make video length and content based on knowledge of the student’s skills in attending, imitation, and visual processing and comprehension

3. Children who are able to attend for 1-min are more likely to benefit

4. Keep the videos brief; more viewings are better than one time

5. All types of models seem to be effective

Peer Play

Peer Play

• The strategies in the Peer Play slides may be useful for both Early Learners and Transitioning Learners– Early learners can benefit from participation

with trained peers who support them during play activities

Access to Typical Peers

• Evidence– National Research Council Report (2001)

– Rogers & Vismara (2008)

– Many More

Options for Peer Access

• Reverse inclusion

• Coordinating with a partner programs (Headstart, Great Start, Regular preschool)

• Sharing time with another program (e.g. morning ASD class / afternoon regular preschool)

Key Reasons to Emphasize Peer Support

• Adults don’t know how to play as well as kids– Bob the Builder and Jacob

• Kids may respond better to peer prompts– Visual supports study and Isabelle

• You won’t have to work on generalization later

• Trained peers support their friends with ASD (and future students with disabilities)

Peer Support

• During play, pair the student with a competent peer who is trained to interact and support appropriate play

Integrating Peer Support duringPlay Activities

• Notice how peers can support students during each of these 3 activities: games, dramatic play, and recess

How would each of these scenarios looked with an adult?

FiremanWhack a mole

Sandbox play

Peer Training

• Teach peers to understand, initiate to, and engage with the student with ASD

• Train peers to initiate play, comment, and join– Read children’s books about friends with ASD;

have follow-up discussions– Use prompting and modeling to support peers– Use pictures or written cues for peers as

reminders of how to engage the child with ASD

Shared Activity/Medium of Exchange

• If you want young children with ASD to be interested…

• If you want young children to persist with their friends with ASD…

Give them something very interesting that both will enjoy and provide lots of

reinforcement

Peer Training

• To get your friend’s attention, talk to him and hand him a toy

• Play with the toys your friend is playing with

• When your friend talks, you say something too

• Ganz & Flores, 2008

Examples of Instruction Cards Used to Train Peers

Peer Training

Examples of Instruction Cards Used to Train Peers

Praise“That’s great!”

(Picture here)

Show me“Let me see”

(Picture here)

Take a turn“My turn”

(Picture here)

Make a choice“Which one do

you want?”(Picture here)

Play Skills with Peers

• As students are preparing to transition to Kindergarten and other integrated placements, they need to be taught skills to facilitate play with peers

Play Skills with Peers

Phrases to use with peers– Examples: “can I play”, “here,” “what’s next?”, “not

right now”– Support students with visual cues, as necessary, to

use these phrases

• The names of key classmates and teachers in the integrated setting

• Social behaviors– Ex. Sharing (Sawyer et al., 2005)

Play Skills with Peers

• How to play with toys in the integrated classroom– Borrow toys (dress-up clothes, kitchen

set, blocks) to increase the student’s skills and familiarity with the materials

• How to make play choices– Choosing a center tag, placing on the

board

These can be taught using Direct Teaching, Imitation Prompting

Strategies, Video Modeling or by Using Peers

Domains of Play Skills

Domain: Early Toy PlayActivity Examples

Put together/ Take apart

•Nests cups•Completes simple inset puzzles•Puts shapes in shape sorter•Stacks rings

Put in/ Take out •Places varied items (blocks, bears, cars, etc.) in and out of containers (baskets, boxes, bags, etc.)

One action sensory toys

•Uses toys that pop up or light up when a button is pressed•Plays appropriately with jack-in-the box•Turns/shakes snow globe, wave bottle, lava lamp, or rain stick•Drums with drumstick

Domain: ImitationActivity Examples

Single actions with play objects

•Rolling a car•Banging a drum•Feeding a doll

Single actions without props

•Waving•Pretending to sleep, drink, stir (without props)

Single actions not connected with toy function

-Brush hair with a block

-Put toy shoe on head

Use lego as cell-phone

Imitates play actions by peer

•Pushing car•Making play-doh snake•Putting animal in barn•Flying a superhero

Domain: Pretend PlayActivity Examples

Pretends with play objects

•Pretends to drink from teacup•Pretends to lick plastic ice cream cone•Voicing may be used (eg., sipping sound, “yum”), but is not required

Pretends with two play objects

•Brushes teeth of teddy bear•Covers figurine with blanket for bedtime•Voicing may be used (e.g., “brush your teeth”, “time for bed”), but is not required

Pretends an object is something else

•Pretends a block is an airplane•Pretends a sticker is a band-aid•Pretends a lego is a telephone•Voicing may be used, but is not required

Pretends without props

•Stirs in a pretend bowl•Pretends to sleep•Voicing may be used, but is not required

Domain:Play with Blocks & Manipulatives

Activity Examples

Builds/connects using manipulatives

•Stacks blocks•Puts together train track•Strings beads

Builds with manipulatives to make pretend objects

•Makes “train” with 4 blocks•Builds a tunnel with bristle blocks•Makes snake from strung beads

Builds with manipulatives to make pretend objects and voices or labels play

•Creates “train” from 4 blocks and says “choo-choo”•Builds a rocket ship from bristle blocks and says “Psssh” or “blast-off” as it shoots into space

Builds with manip’s to make pretend objects and adds figures/toys

•Makes bed from blocks, puts figure to sleep (“shh, good night”)•Builds tunnel, drives car through (“vroom”)

Domain: Play with VehiclesActivity Examples

One action play with vehicles

•Pushes car/train on ground•Flies airplane in air•Voicing may be used (“choo-choo”, “vroom”), but is not required

Plays with vehicle in a scene

•Plays with cars on road mat (drives car, parks)•Pushes pirate ship through the water•May practice crashing, sinking, filling with gas, picking up passengers, towing, etc.•Voicing may be used (“crash”, “I’ll help”), but is not required

Plays with vehicle in a scene, voices, involves others

•Narrates or comments while playing•Involves others (adults or peers) in play scene

Domain: Play with Figures or Stuffed Animals

Activity Examples

One action play with figures or stuffed animals

•Feeds baby doll•Swims dolphin in water•Voicing may be used (e.g., “mmm,” “whoosh”), but isn’t required

Plays with figures or stuffed animals in a scene

•Creates zoo with animals•Sets up birthday party for stuffed animals•Voicing may be used (e.g., “tiger,” “Happy Birthday”), but isn’t required

Plays with figures or stuffed animals in a scene, voices, involves others

•Narrates or comments while playing•Involves others (adults or peers) in play scene

Domain: Dramatic Play

Activity Examples

Child acts out multiple steps with props and supports

• Firefighter• Pirate• Cowboy• Grocery store• Doctor• Vet• School • Dentist• Fishing• Picnic• Cooking• Etc.

Domain: Board Games

Activity Examples

Child participates in board games with peers or adults; supports may be used

• Connect Four• Barnyard Bingo• Don’t Break the Ice• Hungry, Hungry Hippo• Memory• Candy Land• Chutes and Ladders• Uno• Go Fish• Etc.

Domain: Movement Games

Activity Examples

Child participates in movement and social games with peers or adults; supports may be used

• Tag• Follow the Leader• Duck, Duck, Goose• Red Light, Green Light• Hot Potato• T-ball• Simon Says• Etc.

For More Information onBasic Play Targets

• Teach 2 Play http://www.teach2talk.com/teach2talk-teach2play-series.html

• Smith, M. (2001). Teaching playskills to children with ASD

• The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS)

. .

• With your team, discuss your Early Learner and Transitioning Learner Target Student

• Discuss – Are there ways to implement play time more

effectively for these students?– What strategies, materials, and steps will you need?– Would it be useful to use the Play Skills Assessment

& Data Collection Targets form for either of these students?

Add to your ACTION PLAN

THANKS!!Jamie Owen-DeSchryver, Ph.D.

Grand Valley State Universityowendesj@gvsu.edu

Amy Matthews, Ph.D. Grand Valley State University

matthewa@gvsu.edu

Linda Elenbaas, M.A. Ottawa ISD/Spring Lake Schoolslelenbaas@springlakeschools.org

Please fill out your evaluation!