Pretend Play
James has been doing more pretend play recently.
For example, James has a Scooby-doo ghost catcher set, complete with Shaggy, Scooby, and ghost action figures. Yesterday he jabbed quite a bit about who was driving the Mystery Mobile. He gets a little scared when I pretend that a ghost is coming. When I ask him to catch the ghost, he tells me to do it and stops playing until I've locked the ghosts up.
He usually likes to pretend that one of the action figures is driving. He still prefers to manipulate the objects and gives narratives about what they are doing rather than speaking for them or pretending to be one of them. They often go to places he has been, sometimes taking actual routes that he has memorized. Still, he talks about what they are doing in a creative context, which is good. He also made the keen observation that "It's [Shaggy and Scooby are] like Wallace and Grommit."
Unfortunately, this morning I found that he had torn the doors off the van. We have boxes full of broken toy cars. I've shown him how to use transparent tape, glue, and construction paper to symbolically "fix" or customize his toy vehicles, so it's not a total loss.
For example, James has a Scooby-doo ghost catcher set, complete with Shaggy, Scooby, and ghost action figures. Yesterday he jabbed quite a bit about who was driving the Mystery Mobile. He gets a little scared when I pretend that a ghost is coming. When I ask him to catch the ghost, he tells me to do it and stops playing until I've locked the ghosts up.
He usually likes to pretend that one of the action figures is driving. He still prefers to manipulate the objects and gives narratives about what they are doing rather than speaking for them or pretending to be one of them. They often go to places he has been, sometimes taking actual routes that he has memorized. Still, he talks about what they are doing in a creative context, which is good. He also made the keen observation that "It's [Shaggy and Scooby are] like Wallace and Grommit."
Unfortunately, this morning I found that he had torn the doors off the van. We have boxes full of broken toy cars. I've shown him how to use transparent tape, glue, and construction paper to symbolically "fix" or customize his toy vehicles, so it's not a total loss.
posted by Paul Short at 7:39 AM
5 Comments:
hi there.. i can relate. my younger brother is also an autistic. you can read my post about him here:
http://fieryairah.blogspot.com/2005/10/wonder-who-she-is-read-on.html
have a nice day! *hugs*
Hi Paul -
My name is Randi, and I work for IEEE Spectrum Magazine, the flagship publication of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers). We are currently working on a News piece about Autism and are looking to speak to and possibly photograph a parent who has an engineering/technical background that has a child with autism. I came across your blog in the process. If you would be open to this, please contact me for more information: r.silberman@ieee.org
Thank you!
Randi
It's good that your son is being creative though. Most autistics are, butthey do not always express their creativity outwardly.
You might want to listen to "Autism on the Homefront: Parenting Autistics" at www.mic.mypodcast.com . Those and other podcasts might be of assistance to you in helping you and other parents to understand how autistics think.
The podcasts are free by the way. Midnight In Chicago puts them out.
My son is doing more imaginative play lately as well. It's great to watch him. He too likes to "drive" things and pretend with objects. He very occasionally will pretend to be a fire fighter or pirate.
In spite of the minor setbacks, it sounds like he is making progress. My son is 11 and has yet to show signs of imaginative play.
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