of related interest
Autism Heroes
Portraits of Families Meeting the Challenge
Barbara Firestone, Ph.D.
Forewords by Teddi Cole and Gary Cole and Catherine Lord, Ph.D.
Photographs by Joe Buissink
ISBN 978 1 84310 837 5
eISBN 978 1 84642 696 4
Small Steps Forward
Using Games and Activities to Help Your Pre-School Child with Special Needs
Second Edition
Sarah Newman
Illustrated by Jeanie Mellersh
ISBN 978 1 84310 693 7
eISBN 978 1 84642 837 1
Fun with Messy Play
Ideas and Activities for Children with Special Needs
Tracey Beckerleg
ISBN 978 1 84310 641 8
eISBN 978 1 84642 854 8
Create a Reward Plan for Your Child with Asperger Syndrome
John Smith, Jane Donlan and Bob Smith
ISBN 978 1 84310 622 7
eISBN 978 1 84642 755 8
The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome
Tony Attwood
ISBN 978 1 84310 495 7 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 84310 669 2 (paperback)
eISBN 978 1 84642 559 2
Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autism Spectrum
A Practical Resource of Play Ideas for Parents and Carers
Second Edition
Julia Moor
Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia
First published in 2008
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Julia Moor 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
All pages marked
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Moor, Julia, 1966-
Playing, laughing and learning with children on the autism spectrum : a practical resource of play ideas for parents and carers / Julia Moor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84310-608-1 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Autism in children--Treatment. 2. Autistic children--Rehabilitation. 3. Play therapy. I. Title.
RJ506.A9M66 2008
618.92'85882--dc22
2008005994
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84310 608 1
eISBN 978 1 84642 824 1
To my husband Chris,for his loving support and dedication and for being with me on the journey every step of the way.
Acknowledgements
With thanks to the members of the Leeds and District ABC Group (Autism, Behaviour and Communication) who completed my survey and shared their valuable ideas and experiences.
Thanks also to Joanne Sandiford, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, and Terence Gaussen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist (Belmont House Child Development Team Leeds), for their time and comments in the production of this book, and for their invaluable input post-diagnosis to our son’s (and our own!) early learning.
Thanks finally to the adults with learning difficulties who attend my art groups and have taught me as much about their thoughts, feelings and experiences as I have taught them about creativity.
Introduction
When our son was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder at the age of two and a half, like thousands of parents before us we roller-coasted through the typical emotional responses: dismay, grief, fear for our future, but finally relief. We conclusively had a name for this condition that was filling our little boy’s life with distress, impossible, repetitive and meaningless routines and such a reluctance to respond to us that we were sure he was deaf.
At the age of two, the world and people around Robin were mainly there to be avoided. His focus was only on ‘parts’ with no motivation to seek out the meaning of the ‘whole’: wheels on cars; strings on pull-along toys; lids on containers. Direct intervention, overly enthusiastic voices and physical encouragement to ‘play properly’ were met with hysterical screaming.
When we were given the diagnosis, upsetting as it was, it felt like we’d been given a map not quite to get out of the maze but at least to understand where we were in it.
As well as dealing with the challenges of obsessional behaviour, inflexibility, anxiety and frustration, my biggest concern was how to engage my son in meaningful activities at home – how do I help him play? At the time, there was lots of information available on autism, there was help with his speech and behaviour and health, but I simply found very little on how to play with my son – what to fill his hours with. Having studied child development in the past, coupled with my gut instinct as a mum, I knew that he was missing a vital part of his childhood; and watching his meaningless rituals and being constantly shut out were breaking my heart.
For 12 months my main focus had been getting through the day without distress, but I wanted more than this for my son and felt angry with the autism for robbing him of what I felt was his birthright. It seemed that so many things were off limits; his world (and mine) was getting smaller and smaller; at an age when curiosity was meant to urge him forward – to explore,