parents | play | synchronous
This review article describes the importance of playing with objects, and using nonverbal communication as a first step towards teaching a preschool-aged child with autism to speak.
The authors note that, despite therapy, approximately 50% of children with autism have difficulty speaking. One study found that an effective way of teaching a child to speak is to have the parent talk about whatever their child is actively engaged in at the moment. Parents can provide this synchronous talk while a young child is playing for a long time with one object, or is moving from playing with one object to playing with another object. The authors go on to discuss three well-designed studies that describe how therapies can be used to promote play skills in preschool-aged children with autism. These studies found that therapies can improve play skills, especially if the therapies are targeted at play skills that are at the child's level of development and not ahead of the child's level of development.
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