As this may seem to be the case to an outside observer, all that play actually has a very important therapeutic end goal!
See those cute animals?
With those animals, and through play, I will be targeting several language, speech and communicative goals with my little 3-year old friend who has autism, who is not yet using much functional language, and likes to play in a repetitive, stereotypical way.
So through play with these toys, I will be targeting :
Sound imitation
Motor imitation
Vocabulary
Size concepts
Spatial concepts
Following simple directives
Engagement
Turn Taking
Play skills
Joint Attention
Reciprocity
Comprehension of simple questions
So yes, I’m a speech-language pathologist, and yes I do play a lot (which is a pretty awesome career move if you ask me), but through that play, specific goals are targeted, and strategies to reach those goals are implemented, throughout every single minute of that play time.
So go ahead, play and learn!
Sharon Burgess
M..H.Sc., SLP, Reg. CASLPO
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