Helping children with autism become more social : 76 ways to use narrative play / Ann E. Densmore ; foreword by Edward M. Hallowell ; foreword by Margaret Bauman ; drawings by Edgar Stewart and Zachary Newman. [print]

Foreword Edward M Hallowell --- Foreword Margaret Bauman -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Caveat -- Introduction -- Phase One: First Contact -- Language -- Play -- Narrative -- 1: First contact -- Joining the child where he is -- Strategy 1: Experience what the child experiences -- Strategy 2: Move into the child's play space -- Strategy 3: Listen to each detail of the parents' stories -- Strategy 4: Interrupt the child's fixed patterns of play -- Strategy 5: Help the child to feel the presence of others by using the environment -- Encouraging speech -- Strategy 6: Show the parents details that indicate a child wants to play -- Strategy 7: Set up a plan for play practice with the family -- Strategy 8: Move to the child's eye level -- Strategy 9: Teach sound combinations and word approximations for speech production through play -- Strategy 10: Encourage the family to use their native language -- Encouraging flexibility -- Strategy 11: Create play narrative themes related to the child's interest -- Strategy 12: Identify the methods that a child uses to retreat from others -- Strategy 13: Change the child's narrative to encourage flexibility with peers -- Strategy 14: Be direct and teach the child about the other child's feelings -- Chart: Progression of a child with autism from a non-social world to a more social world through narrative play therapy -- Phase Two: Joint Attention -- Language -- Play -- Narrative -- 2: Joint attention -- Follow child's interest in natural things -- Strategy 15: Help a child visualize a new idea to disrupt old patterns -- Strategy 16: Join the child and listen to his complaints -- Strategy 17: Help the child visualize new options -- Strategy 18: Draw on the child's interests in visualizing objects and places -- Joining a peer in play -- Strategy 19: Reduce the child's distractibility by engaging him in sensory breaks -- Strategy 20: Name the child's feelings of frustration and anger -- Strategy 21: Follow a child's lead toward things of interest in a natural setting -- Strategy 22: Echo the sounds and point out the environment -- Creating narratives with a peer -- Strategy 23: Emphasize to the child the main Gestalt and abstract concepts of natural events instead of focusing on all the tiny details -- Strategy 24: Take the child to an event more than once to teach abstract concepts -- Strategy 25: Facilitate language by prompting one peer first and then supporting the other -- Strategy 26: Create a reason for the characters in the two play sets to be together.

Strategy 27: Develop a narrative with an orientation, a sequence of actions, and an ending -- Planning and solving problems -- Strategy 28: Help both children plan a play sequence together -- Strategy 29: Create repetitive problems to solve with options for solutions -- Strategy 30: Describe and model a high point in actions and an ending in the child's story theme -- Phase Three: Child-Initiated Reciprocity -- Language -- Play -- Narrative -- 3: Child-initiated reciprocity -- Bringing the child together with a peer -- Strategy 31: Connect with the child's peer and engage both children in the ideas of the play -- Strategy 32: Narrate in detail the child's and the peer's actions within the natural play interaction in order to reinforce the child's intentional play -- Strategy 33: Engage a peer to motivate the child to play, and to move the child past his repetitive actions and fixed mental images -- Strategy 34: Model symbolic play with objects that have meaningful relationships in the child's life and that relate to the ideas in the child's play -- Strategy 35: Ask the peer relevant questions directed at finding out the next sequence in the story and the object's destination -- Building trust by listening -- Strategy 36: Use gesture and body language with meaningful language, pointing out what the peer is doing, and making suggestions to the child for actions that will connect to the peer's actions in play -- Strategy 37: Once a child consistently looks at a peer in a quiet office setting, follows a peer's point toward an object, and watches the actions of a peer, take the child to an outside location to work on joint attention in play -- Strategy 38: Coach the child's parents, teacher, and aides to run with the child, to move in his rhythm, and to point out actions in the environment -- Strategy 39: While watching an artistic event or using art materials, join the child in what he is experiencing by describing the feeling, sounds, and images of the natural situation; encourage the peers to participate in the conservation as well -- Strategy 40: Use child-directed conservation that builds trust by remaining calm and attentive, listening to the emotional state of the child, and suggesting language to validate the child's feelings -- Strategy 41: Listen, wait, and be available to respond in a calm, neutral voice when a child expresses anger and disappointment, offering concrete solutions not only to validate the child's feeling, but also to shift her focus on what to do next.

Strategy 42: Suggest some concrete motor activity that not only encourages eye contact and turn-taking, but also involves a simple skill that the child can perform with ease -- Strategy 43: When a child feels angry at herself, suggest activities that can be accomplished with little effort, stay close to the child, and remain silent at times to allow the child to express her feelings -- Strategy 44: Introduce simple, concrete games that require reciprocity and provide opportunity for language and conservation in close proximity -- Strategy 45: When a child cries, stay nearby and be patient, sensitive, calm, and attentive -- Narrating actions during play -- Strategy 46: Select high-interest activities that address not only learning difficulties-such as word retrieval problems and memory deficit-but also the child's sensory needs -- Strategy 47: Listen to the child's feelings in an interaction with others, noting ambiguous terms or figurative language that may be linguistically confusing to the child -- Strategy 48: Shift the focus in therapy from asking for direct responses from the child to "narrating" the child's, peer's, and objects' actions and feelings in order to motivate the child to express spontaneous ideas and to notice what is happening in a shared event -- Strategy 49: Observe the child in social interactions and intervene only when needed by suggesting language scripts that include supportive comments to the child while he is involved with peers -- Bringing language to sports activities -- Strategy 50: Teach language skills-idioms, figurative language, word retrieval, retelling, and sequencing-through sports activities on the playground or at parks with visuals called "floor maps" to support the child's understanding of rules as well as abstract reasoning -- Strategy 51: Model the relationship between tone of voice and the meaning of the words in an interaction for the child with autism so that he can experience how his tone of voice affects the meaning of language; first, use play figures inside in a quiet setting, and then role play outside with a peer on a playground -- Strategy 52: Model the relationship between the loudness of a voice and the distance between the speaker and the listener for the child so that he can experience how intensity affects what a listener can hear in various situations -- Strategy 53: Minimize the number of objects in a play set with two peers and organize play activities with high interest, simple themes, and concrete action -- Strategy 54: Use concrete activities such as "Gertie" ball to teach language reciprocity and to acknowledge the child's need for physical activity -- Strategy 55: Assist the child and a peer to negotiate over tangible objects in play and share play sets -- Strategy 56: With the child and a peer, create and practice social scripts, called "options," which are language-based and solutions to social problems that occur in the child's home or at school -- Phase Four: Social Engagement -- Language, play, and narrative -- 4: Social engagement -- Helping the child fit in -- Strategy 57: Validate and acknowledge a child's feelings by listening attentively when she is disappointed by inappropriate comments from others or feels isolated from peers -- Strategy 58: Join the child in reflecting back on her initial therapy sessions to understand the progress she has made -- Strategy 59: Recognize the child's awareness of not fitting in with a peer group; talk alone with her about new conservation strategies as well as subtle gestures she can use to signal the therapist that she needs help -- Strategy 60: Understand the difficulties and characteristics of the language disabilities that accompany autism and impair a child's social interactions, writing, and perceptual motor skills -- Limiting a child's monologues and encouraging listening -- Strategy 61: Join the child at lunchtime or recess time to help her practice social skills with peers by introducing simple, concrete conversation topics -- Strategy 62: Stay close with the child on the playground; as she interacts with her classmates, function as both a "peer' and a conservation "coach" and then fade back to observe -- Strategy 63: Model language facilitation for specialists and teachers by joining the child, making comments, and using gestures as needed in an outside situation -- Strategy 64: Practice with the child with autism and one peer the technique of using an "A B C conservation" to limit monologues and help her to respond with relevant conservation -- Creating visuals to redirect repetitive thoughts.

Strategy 65: Through role-play and visuals, practice listening for "key words" with the child and one peer -- Strategy 66: Create small books with photographs and/or the child's drawings; add dictated writings (child tells the therapist what she needs to write underneath the photo/drawing) to help the child redirect and eliminate invading thoughts about unrelated subjects -- Strategy 67: Develop visual materials to preteach a child about the sequence of an event or field trip; use these materials later to develop a narrative about the trip -- Strategy 68: Help the child watch others interact on the playground by pointing out the peers' behaviors in the interactions; later create drawings with the child to talk about how to read subtle language cues such as facial expression, gestures, and body language -- Strategy 69: Teach the child about a peer's perspective in an angry interaction by creating a visual list of the peer's feelings as well as the child's feelings -- Strategy 70: Teach the child with autism to interpret a peer's discomfort and pain by comparing the painful or sensitive situation to the child's feeling in a similar incident -- Developing strategies for negotiation and reasoning -- Creating strategies for beginnings and endings -- Strategy 71: Help a child with autism illustrate and outline steps that will logically help him draw inferences from abstract texts as well as ambiguous words in classroom projects and concepts related to his curriculum -- Strategy 72: During a conflict or a negotiation, teach the child with autism to identify shared interests with others through six stages of negotiation by modeling and questioning both children in an interactive play situation -- Strategy 73: Introduce creative and high-interest activities in outside settings that are linked to the child's natural experiences with family and friends -- Strategy 74: Create natural situations for play-dates/free time with peers and provide an "overall" structure that is predictable -- Strategy 75: Support the sibling as much as possible in natural situations -- Strategy 76: Create natural situations for ending therapy with children and help them to look forward to new relationships -- Appendix 1: Facilitating language in play dates for younger children: suggestions for parents, specialists, and teachers -- Appendix 2: Playground program for peers at recess in school: suggestions for teachers and specialists -- Appendix 3: Working with siblings: suggestions for parents, specialists, and teachers -- Appendix 4: Social language scripts for unstructured time in situations at playgrounds/parks: suggestions for teachers, specialists, and parents -- Notes -- References -- Index.

From the Publisher: Autism has been identified as the fastest growing, serious developmental disability in the United States, where nearly 2 million people are affected. One of the most frustrating aspects of autism and similar disorders is that affected children affected do not interact with others and often seem unaware of the people and the environment around them. Therapist Densmore takes us with her as she works in a remarkable program she has developed to lead such children into the social world. Allowing readers to look over her shoulder during sessions, Densmore explains Narrative Play, her approach to inspiring social contact. The work includes interviews with parents of children with autism and will be of wide interest to professionals, teachers, parents, and family members who can use the approach to help a child move into the social world. The book, and the theory it promulgates, will also interest students of psychology, special education, pediatrics, neurology, and speech. Autism has now reached epidemic proportions. It has been identified as the fastest growing, serious developmental disability in the United States, where nearly 2 million people are affected. For parents, therapists, and teachers, one of the most frustrating aspects of autism and similar disorders is that children affected are not social. They do not interact with others-even parents and siblings-and often seem unaware of the people and environment around them. In this work, therapist Ann E. Densmore takes us with her as she works with children with autism in a remarkable program she has developed to lead such children into the social world. They travel to farms, ponds, playgrounds, and other natural settings where they interact with peers and siblings, and with the novel therapist whose play therapy has brought remarkable results for many children. Using a conversational style that allows readers to look over her shoulder during sessions, Densmore explains her approach to inspiring social contact, Narrative Play. A child moves through four stages in this approach, finally combining language, play and narrative skills to interact with others. The work includes interviews with parents of children with autism, and will be of wide interest to professionals, teachers, parents, and family members who can use this approach to help a child move into the social world. This work, and the theory it promulgates will also interest students of psychology, special education, pediatrics, neurology, and speech. Provides ways for professionals, therapists, teachers, parents and peers to help children with social-language and emotional disabilities-particularly autism-to become more social.

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