As a parent, your greatest desire is to sit on the floor and play with your child, make eye contact, and initiate a joyful interaction. However, when autism spectrum disorder is involved, the relationship between autism and play can sometimes become complex. You may observe your child playing in their own world, simply lining up toys side by side or spinning their wheels.
Play, which forms the foundation of pre-verbal communication skills, is the most powerful key that opens the doors to your child's social world when supported with the right techniques. So, how will you unlock that door?
How Do Children with Autism Experience Play?
Every child plays differently. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder tend to demonstrate less complexity and fewer multiple play actions compared to their typically developing peers. They generally show a greater tendency toward sensorimotor and repetitive play actions. For example, instead of driving a toy car along an imaginary road, they may spend hours simply spinning its wheels. At this point, rather than trying to draw your child into your play, it is a far more effective strategy for you to join their play.
The Path to Your Child's World: Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT)
One of the most evidence-based approaches to increasing social engagement is Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT). RIT is a naturalistic and behavioral imitation training method aimed at fostering the child's interest and participation within adult–child interaction.
Rather than taking the toy from your child's hand and showing them how to use it, in this approach you pick up the same toy yourself. This method involves an interaction in which the adult directly imitates the child's actions and vocalizations.
How Is It Applied? If your child is banging a wooden block on the table, pick up a block and bang it on the table yourself. If they make a sound while driving a toy car, make the same sound.
What Is Its Effect? When your child sees that their own actions and sounds are being imitated by you, they will turn toward you. This initiates the most fundamental social interaction and eye contact between the two of you.
The Power of Joint Attention and Symbolic Play
The interaction that begins with reciprocal imitation gradually gives way to joint attention and symbolic play skills in autism.
Joint Attention: These are behaviors involving the individual and another person (a parent, educator, or peer) simultaneously focusing on the same object. The clearest example of joint attention is when your child looks at an object in their hand, then at you, and then back at the object.
Symbolic Play: This involves pretending to perform one or more actions — using figures or without figures imaginatively, or taking on roles with or without objects. For example, pretending to drink tea from an empty cup or pretending to feed a toy doll are examples of symbolic play.
Start Interaction at Home with Your Own Toys Through E-Rehabilitation
While initiating reciprocal imitation or achieving joint attention with your child may seem straightforward in theory, in practice you may need the guidance of a specialist.
e-rehabilitasyon.com live video sessions bring our specialists directly into your home environment — onto your child's play mat. Sessions are conducted not with unfamiliar clinic toys, but with the toys already in your home that your child shows interest in (or has become fixated on).
Our therapist provides you with real-time guidance from the screen: