Floortime Examples for the Sensory Seeking Child {GUEST POST WITH SARA ROBERTS}

Do you know how to play with children on the spectrum? 

Playing with a child that barely or doesn’t at all acknowledge your presence can be intimidating. It can make you feel lost. 

I’ve seen many adults (myself included at one time) try to interact by asking questions and get absolutely no where. 

“You’re playing with the animals?” ... No response. 

“Which one is your favorite?” ... No response. 

“Can I have a lion?” ... No response. 

Strategies such as Following the Child’s Lead, Parallel and Self Talk, and Expansion are KEY to working on joint attention, engagement, as well as language and play development.  

Here’s an example of what this looks like in action: 

A child was playing with toy animal figures by silently standing the animals up and knocking them down repeatedly. I copied what he was doing while I modeled the words “up” and “down” both verbally and on his Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device (AAC). He didn’t pay too much attention to me but he let me do it and he was being exposed to language (win!). Then I added to his play idea by getting really animated when I said “down” and crashed the animals all over the table. This made him smirk and look up at me. We did the routine again and this time he imitated my crashing motion. After a few repetitions, I added the idea of the animals jumping over each other and he imitated that too! My hope is that he remembers this expanded play idea the next time the animal bin comes out and he will use the language I modeled for him. 

Now what do you do with a child that doesn’t play with toys? 

These children take a little more creativity. Here’s an example: 

A child was wandering the room and spinning around in circles. I copied him by spinning too while I modeled the word “spin.” After a few moments, I said “stop” loudly while I stopped spinning and put my arms up in the air. I kept repeating this, hoping that the child would establish eye contact with me and/or copy my action. He didn’t, so I copied his spinning and then fell to the floor while I said the word “down.” He never looked at me directly, but eventually he fell to the floor too! We kept repeating this until he let me hold his hands and we were playing a modified version of Ring Around the Rosie.

What about children who tend to focus on tactile stimulation? Here are some suggestions:

Let’s say a child is running his fingers along window blinds. First, copy his action by running your own fingers along the blinds next to him. Then narrate what you’re doing with simple language such as “up, down” or “open, close.” After a few repetitions, expand on this idea by adding one new idea. For example, when the blinds close, you can say, “Goodnight!” and pretend to sleep. When the blinds open, you can say, “Good morning!” with an exaggerated stretch and yawn. 

Let’s say another child is running his fingers over a bumpy surface. Copy the action then narrate such as exclaiming, “Bump!” or saying, “bumpy, bumpy, bumpy” in a sing song voice.  Then add a new idea such as introducing a toy car and having it drive over the bump.