One way to incorperate pretend play is to focus on imitation with two types: substitution and imaginary. Substitution would be pretending a pen is a banana, a block is a truck etc. see if you can get her to copy you "peeling" the banana or "driving" the truck. imaginary is w/ an absence of concrete objects. pretending to ride an invisible horse, or acting like you are a dog. stuff like that. i have some students that cant even sustain functional play, so congrats on that! i like to push the pretend stuff around school-age, because thats when alot of children form bonds with peers through shared imaginary scenarios.
Yes you can work on it, get down on the floor and show her how an object can be used to represent something different ... as kher what she thinks it could be ... how she could use it differently.
My son (NT?) can think of a MILLION unconventional ways to use anything! Turn your rockinghorse on its side and it becomes a chair, that sort of thing.
Functional means she uses objects functionally, for what they ARE, instead of as something else. A car is a car, a chair is a chair, neither is transformed into a castle or something else ... like my daughter's toy horses are recently "standing in" as lions.
Repetitive means that she does the same things over and over. Perhaps reenacting the same scenario.
Functional means she uses objects functionally, for what they ARE, instead of as something else. A car is a car, a chair is a chair, neither is transformed into a castle or something else ... like my daughter's toy horses are recently "standing in" as lions.
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Got it thanks! Should I worry about this? Is that something that I could work with her on or is that just something they either get ot don't get? She seems to have a very good imagination based on her drawings.
Also my dd is only three, her play seems age appropriate to me, am I wrong about that?
Thanks Norway Mom, that link was very helpful. She's about three and a half right now I think she's somewhere VII and VIII, which is a little behind the age appropriate level however she just doesn't play like this that much. She is mostly wants to use the computer, draw, pretend to read or do puzzles. She completely lost interest in doll babies before the age of two but will play with stuff animals or Legos or Mega Block figures, mostly princesses or Little Mermaid, so I'm not sure what to think.
The other day my DD noticed the cooking direction on the side panel of a box of mac & cheese, since the directions also had pictures she figured out what the pictures represented and insisted on helping me make the mac & cheese. She added the milk, butter, sauce packet and stirred with my help. I'm wondering if this activity would qualify for kitchen pretend play, or would this just be too functional? I'm guessing it's too functional but I think it's pretty good that she could figure it out and wanted to participate.
EXCELLENT -- it may be too functional -- but it is still wonderful interactive play, in my book.
Now, try making some pretend cookies the next time, with some pretend or imaginary ingredients ...
OK I'll try that. I never thought I would have a child who we actually have to work at getting her to play.
Kind of funny.
http://www.autismteachingtools.com/page/bbbbfg/bbbbtj