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Step 2:
Choose an activity
- Does your child like a certain toy or object? Do not
limit your choice to things your child already likes. One of your
objectives is to help expand the different toys your child can enjoy.
- What types of toys do his peers play with? Ask other
parents with children the same age what their children like to play
with. Observe other children your child’s age at play. What do
they do? What toys do they seem to enjoy?
- Choose toy/item that is readily available. Do you
have it in your home/class?
- Is it a toy that can be readily accessed by the child?
- Does your child like a certain object or toy?
Example:
Jon is in a preschool setting. One of the toys that his
same-aged peers seemed to enjoy was the farm set. The farm set was already
set out in the classroom. We felt that teaching Jon to play appropriately
with the farm would allow him a better opportunity to play next to his
peers. It would also give him an appropriate way to occupy himself during
unstructured play.
Step 3:
Set up a structured playtime
- Provide a setting that is free of distractions.
- Break the task down into small steps. A simple way
to do this is to play with the toy yourself. What things do you do
with it? Make a list of the things you did and use it as a guide for
your teaching.
- Teach one step at a time.
- Provide reinforcement and prompts as needed.
- Fade prompts as soon as possible.
Example:
We set up a structured teaching time for Jon to learn
to play with the barn. First we made a list of different things we did
or observed other children do while playing with the farm. The following
is an example of the list we came up with:
- Put animals in barn (open and close doors)
- Put chicken in hayloft (open and close doors)
- Build a fence
- Put animals inside the fence and close the gate
- Put farmer in tractor and drive (with car sound)
- Put animal or food in wagon
- Feed animals (make eating sounds)
- Put animals in fence
- Make animal sounds
After our list was completed, we took Jon to a quiet room
with few distractions. Then we brought the farm set from the classroom.
We taught Jon to imitate an adult doing such things as putting the animals
in the barn, building a fence, and having the farmer drive the tractor.
We taught him one task at a time. Reinforcers and prompts were used,
as needed, to elicit imitation of play skills. Once Jon had successfully
imitated an adult in this quiet setting, we moved the farm back into
the classroom and had him practice his skills by imitating an adult
in the classroom. This allowed Jon to play next to his peers, practicing
the play skills he had learned.
End of lecture. Select your next place from the Jump
Pad.
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