Theory of Mind and Autism

photo credit: Olaf_S via photopin cc

When I was first learning about Theory of Mind, I was told a little scenario to help me understand.  It went something like this.

Two children are in a room with an adult.  The adult puts a teddy bear in a red box.  Child 1 leaves the room.  Child 2 watches the adult move the teddy bear from the red box to a green box.  Where will Child 1 think the teddy bear is?

A young child (usually 0-3 yrs old) will say that Child 1 will think that the bear is in the green box because they know that's where it is.  A child who has developed theory of mind will know that Child 1 will still think that the bear is in the red box because Child 1 did not see the adult move the bear.

Children with autism, oftentimes have a very difficult time with Theory of Mind.  This is one of the reasons that participating in pretend play, and talking about emotions and feelings is important for children.  However, developmentally, a child needs to be ready to participate in pretend play...trying to get a child to participate in pretend when they are not at that functional developmental level yet,  will not be beneficial.

Here is an article that I enjoyed about Theory of Mind.

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Intervention Treatment for Children With Autism

photo credit: Olaf_S via photopin cc

When I was first learning about Theory of Mind, I was told a little scenario to help me understand.  It went something like this.

Two children are in a room with an adult.  The adult puts a teddy bear in a red box.  Child 1 leaves the room.  Child 2 watches the adult move the teddy bear from the red box to a green box.  Where will Child 1 think the teddy bear is?

A young child (usually 0-3 yrs old) will say that Child 1 will think that the bear is in the green box because they know that's where it is.  A child who has developed theory of mind will know that Child 1 will still think that the bear is in the red box because Child 1 did not see the adult move the bear.

Children with autism, oftentimes have a very difficult time with Theory of Mind.  This is one of the reasons that participating in pretend play, and talking about emotions and feelings is important for children.  However, developmentally, a child needs to be ready to participate in pretend play...trying to get a child to participate in pretend when they are not at that functional developmental level yet,  will not be beneficial.

Here is an article that I enjoyed about Theory of Mind.

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Intervention Treatment for Children With Autism

Types of Play & How it Relates to Autism

There are different phases of play that a child will go through as he/she is developing.  How long a child stays in each phase is dependent on the child, but each stage is important because a child will learn valuable skills as they learn to play and play to learn.

In general, there are 6 different stages of play as defined by Mildred Parten.

1. Unoccupied Play-this is when a child is not playing, but may be observing others.  The child may stand in one spot or perform random movements.
2. Solitary (Independent) Play-this is when a child can focus and pay attention to the activity they are involved in.  They are usually unaware or uninterested in what others are doing around them. The child explores and usually experiments with cause and effect behaviors.
3. Onlooker Play-this is when a child may observe what others are doing and may make comments to those participating, but does not actually join the play.
4. Parallel Play-this is when children may play next to each other with like materials, and may imitate each other's actions, but they are not necessarily playing togethers.
5. Associative Play-this is when children may be interested in each other and socializing together but they do not have an organized activity they are participating in together.  They may be in a group interacting, but they are all doing their own thing.
6. Cooperative Play-this is when children are interested in each other and in the activity they are doing together.   They will have an organized activity with assigned roles as they work together cooperatively.

So what does this have to do with autism?  Well, no matter who the child is and what his/her strengths and weaknesses are, these stages of play are still important in their development.  Some children may get stuck at one level or another.  There are many children who do not know how to participate in solitary play because they get stuck in the Unoccupied Play stage.  There are others who are stuck in the stage of Onlooker Play.

Some children need more assistance and encouragement to move forward through these stages, and as parents, family, educators, therapists, etc., we have the great privilege of helping these children by teaching them how to play!

I love that I get to teach kids and parents how to play.  Sometimes when there is a skill (like playing) that usually comes natural to children, it can be tricky figuring out how to break things down to teach that skill to a child.  That's one of the reasons I love the P.L.A.Y. Project, it gives families the methods and techniques they need to help their child progress through those developmental stages that every child needs to go through.

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Intervention for Children with Autism

photo credit: RESchroeder via photopin cc

There are different phases of play that a child will go through as he/she is developing.  How long a child stays in each phase is dependent on the child, but each stage is important because a child will learn valuable skills as they learn to play and play to learn.

In general, there are 6 different stages of play as defined by Mildred Parten.

1. Unoccupied Play-this is when a child is not playing, but may be observing others.  The child may stand in one spot or perform random movements.
2. Solitary (Independent) Play-this is when a child can focus and pay attention to the activity they are involved in.  They are usually unaware or uninterested in what others are doing around them. The child explores and usually experiments with cause and effect behaviors.
3. Onlooker Play-this is when a child may observe what others are doing and may make comments to those participating, but does not actually join the play.
4. Parallel Play-this is when children may play next to each other with like materials, and may imitate each other's actions, but they are not necessarily playing togethers.
5. Associative Play-this is when children may be interested in each other and socializing together but they do not have an organized activity they are participating in together.  They may be in a group interacting, but they are all doing their own thing.
6. Cooperative Play-this is when children are interested in each other and in the activity they are doing together.   They will have an organized activity with assigned roles as they work together cooperatively.

So what does this have to do with autism?  Well, no matter who the child is and what his/her strengths and weaknesses are, these stages of play are still important in their development.  Some children may get stuck at one level or another.  There are many children who do not know how to participate in solitary play because they get stuck in the Unoccupied Play stage.  There are others who are stuck in the stage of Onlooker Play.

Some children need more assistance and encouragement to move forward through these stages, and as parents, family, educators, therapists, etc., we have the great privilege of helping these children by teaching them how to play!

I love that I get to teach kids and parents how to play.  Sometimes when there is a skill (like playing) that usually comes natural to children, it can be tricky figuring out how to break things down to teach that skill to a child.  That's one of the reasons I love the P.L.A.Y. Project, it gives families the methods and techniques they need to help their child progress through those developmental stages that every child needs to go through.

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Intervention for Children with Autism

photo credit: RESchroeder via photopin cc

Eye Contact

It's really quite amazing how much we use our eyes to communicate.  We can know if someone is happy, sad, annoyed, tired, mad, etc. all by looking into someone's eyes.  We can point with our eyes, we can show interest in something (or someone), we can say "come here", we can say "help", we can say a lot with just a tiny movement of our eyes.  Our eyes are not only used to be able to see the amazing things in our world, but also to express how we are feeling about our world.

There are many individuals with autism who lack eye contact.  It can be difficult for those trying to communicate with these individuals, and they may feel that they are being ignored or that the individual is not paying attention or is distracted.  That's usually what we would think if someone is not looking at us when we are speaking to them.  There may be various reasons why someone with autism may not give eye contact, but it's not always because they're ignoring you.

So, the question is...should we force eye contact?  Should we focus on making a child give us eye contact when we're talking to them?  There may be some that disagree with me, and that's fine, but my answer would be no.  The eye contact is not the underlying issue, communication generally is.

I'm not talking about speech here, I'm not talking about being able to form words with our mouths, I'm talking about back and forth interactions, gestural communication.  

As we focus on those back and forth interactions, you will usually find that eye contact improves.  I'm not saying it's going to be perfect, but it will generally increase.  As a child starts to find you more interesting, realizes that their actions and words have power, and that they want to see your reactions, you'll see that they will look to you more often.

Need some ideas on where to start?  There are a lot of place you can start, but here's just one idea.  Try interacting using sensory motor activities.  Activities/toys that involve a lot of visual stimulation can be very difficult to compete against, you want to make the environment a place where YOU are more exciting than the flashy toys around you.

Here are 10 sensory-motor activities you can try starting with

• wrestling
• jumping together (on the trampoline, couch, bed, where ever)
• burrito wrap - get a large blanket, roll the child up, then start adding "topping" and give him/her a lot of deep pressure, then "eat" him/her up.
• bury him/her with pillows
• throw him/her onto the couch and wait for him/her to ask for more
• chase
• build a tower of pillows and run together and knock it down
• play stop and go while you spin him/her on an office chair
• swing him/her in a blanket
• crawl through a tunnel (this blocks out other distractions and they can look at you at the end of the tunnel as they crawl towards you)

Find an activity that your child will want more of. Play, play, play, and then pull back a little to see if your child will initiate more.  Don't force him/her to say more, watch their gestures and take them as cues.  Don't discount gestural communication, it's the beginning of communication skills and it's part of the foundation that they need to strengthen.

Joy Mano

Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant

Early Childhood Autism Intervention

It's really quite amazing how much we use our eyes to communicate.  We can know if someone is happy, sad, annoyed, tired, mad, etc. all by looking into someone's eyes.  We can point with our eyes, we can show interest in something (or someone), we can say "come here", we can say "help", we can say a lot with just a tiny movement of our eyes.  Our eyes are not only used to be able to see the amazing things in our world, but also to express how we are feeling about our world.

There are many individuals with autism who lack eye contact.  It can be difficult for those trying to communicate with these individuals, and they may feel that they are being ignored or that the individual is not paying attention or is distracted.  That's usually what we would think if someone is not looking at us when we are speaking to them.  There may be various reasons why someone with autism may not give eye contact, but it's not always because they're ignoring you.

So, the question is...should we force eye contact?  Should we focus on making a child give us eye contact when we're talking to them?  There may be some that disagree with me, and that's fine, but my answer would be no.  The eye contact is not the underlying issue, communication generally is.

I'm not talking about speech here, I'm not talking about being able to form words with our mouths, I'm talking about back and forth interactions, gestural communication.  

As we focus on those back and forth interactions, you will usually find that eye contact improves.  I'm not saying it's going to be perfect, but it will generally increase.  As a child starts to find you more interesting, realizes that their actions and words have power, and that they want to see your reactions, you'll see that they will look to you more often.

Need some ideas on where to start?  There are a lot of place you can start, but here's just one idea.  Try interacting using sensory motor activities.  Activities/toys that involve a lot of visual stimulation can be very difficult to compete against, you want to make the environment a place where YOU are more exciting than the flashy toys around you.

Here are 10 sensory-motor activities you can try starting with

• wrestling
• jumping together (on the trampoline, couch, bed, where ever)
• burrito wrap - get a large blanket, roll the child up, then start adding "topping" and give him/her a lot of deep pressure, then "eat" him/her up.
• bury him/her with pillows
• throw him/her onto the couch and wait for him/her to ask for more
• chase
• build a tower of pillows and run together and knock it down
• play stop and go while you spin him/her on an office chair
• swing him/her in a blanket
• crawl through a tunnel (this blocks out other distractions and they can look at you at the end of the tunnel as they crawl towards you)

Find an activity that your child will want more of. Play, play, play, and then pull back a little to see if your child will initiate more.  Don't force him/her to say more, watch their gestures and take them as cues.  Don't discount gestural communication, it's the beginning of communication skills and it's part of the foundation that they need to strengthen.

Joy Mano

Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant

Early Childhood Autism Intervention

Blog

Hi!
I've decided to start a blog on my website to give information on things like early intervention, preschool, autism, special education, community activities, and general childhood development.  If you have requests on topics you'd like me to post about, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks!

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Childhood Autism Intervention

Hi!
I've decided to start a blog on my website to give information on things like early intervention, preschool, autism, special education, community activities, and general childhood development.  If you have requests on topics you'd like me to post about, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks!

Joy Mano
Utah P.L.A.Y. Project Home Consultant
Early Childhood Autism Intervention