Jane is busy make a big mess with the felt tip pens and the colouring books she got in her stocking. David was looking at a small book collection nearby. I thought I would try to engage him by picking up one of the books and looking at it.
But David wasn't interested in me having a book, in fact me having a book meant he abandoned them altogether and started playing with the felt tip pens. Reading the book I had in my hands was no good, I was only able to engage him when I started to help him line up the pens.
I asked him which colour he would like next? And he responded until we had lined up the pens a few times.
Only by following David's agenda did I manage to engage him and get him to communicate with me. Lucky me!
Have a look at our Bauble babbles from the beginning, an idea a day while the holidays were here.
From Monday, back to our regular blog posts, the random ramblings, thoughts and info from me, a mum of autistic and neurotypical kids. See you then.
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It's funny the things you end up doing to engage them. Right now Bear is playing with the Duplo he insisted he wanted out. He's not building with it or playing with the people, he's spinning round on the big Duplo board (obviously getting a good sensory experience from the little bumps under his feet). I am required to look surprised every time he turns towards me. It's not exactly a conventional way of playing with Duplo but it's engaging him and making him laugh.
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You are so right. I tried so any times to engage my big lad in play and steer him away from screens. I drove him and me totally mad. Now I have relaxed so much more and our play is better for it. I know that I sometimes intervened out of parent guilt that I wasn't engaging enough rather than for his benefit!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I find it's best (and easier) to follow my kids leads. To see what they're interested in and go from there. Great post. #ToddlerApprovedTuesday
ReplyDeleteGreat post highlighting the importance of following a lead rather than overtaking all the time. Thanks so much for linking up to #ToddlerApprovedTuesday
ReplyDeleteFab lovely! Sometimes I get this so wrong, on both sides, on one I try to push an activity, on the other I think he just doesn't want to interact. When I do get it right though we both get so much enjoyment out of our activity. There is a technique lots of people suggest to help encourage kids to follow adult agenda called intensive interaction (I think!) It is supposed to be really helpful in creating interactive play rather than isolated play. Thank you so much for linking up to #spectrumsunday again this week! Hope to see you again next time :) xx
ReplyDeleteWe do intensive interaction too. It's literally intensively following the child. Usually it's mirroring them or copying them. So if they are looking in the mirror and making faces sit next to them and copy them exactly. Today in the bath it was copying David's mouth, copying his noises and then when he noticed I opened when he opened and then curled my tongue when it did. When I paused the then vocalised 't' for tongue. Brilliant. The bath is a great place for this, it's a captive audience!
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