Mike's Blog

Imaginative play can help children with autism and other disabilities understand concepts and relate information into meaningful contexts.

Role play and playing with puppets can facilitate creativity and spontaneity in kids on the autism spectrum.  By enabling students to take part in scenarios that help them understand how the world works, imaginative and symbolic play can help students who think in concrete terms understand abstract concepts and relationships.

Because children with autism often have a difficult time learning concepts and ideas, it is believed that acting out situations using puppets, toys, and other three-dimensional objects can lead to greater spontaneity, less scripting, and ultimately a more meaningful social experience.  It is believed that reciprocal social interactions and the use of spontaneous, meaningful language can also be enhanced through the use of imaginative and symbolic play.

To read the rest of my article on examiner.com, click here.

Tags: autism, imaginative, puppets, social skills, symbolic play

This entry was posted on September 18, 2011 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Autism, Disabilities, Examiner.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.