Dr. Grant serves as a mentor to the Southwest Autism Network of Missouri. He owns a private practice located in Nixa, Missouri and offers a variety of therapies designed to treat autism spectrum disorders, behavioral disorders, and other mental health conditions for families, children, and adults. SWAN is grateful to Dr. Grant for the time, encouragement, and support that he so generously donates to our families and children. If you have a question about a behavioral challenge your child is facing, or if you have a question about other types of relationship issues you may be encountering with your child, or other family members, you can use the link provided below to send it in to Dr. Grant. Your personal information will not be shared.
If you were unable to attend Dr. Grant's seminar in February on Navigating Autism Treatments, or would just like to have additional copies of the handouts, simply click on the images below to download the file.
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Dear Parent,
Q: Do children with Autism play? A: I am always surprised when I hear someone tell me that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) cannot play. In my work with children with autism, which is predominantly play based treatment approaches, I see children play all the time in all kinds of ways. Some children with ASDs may not play in traditional or conventional ways but they do play. I am reminded of a young boy with autism who came into my office and always wanted to go to a specific play therapy room because it had a storage closet in it and he wanted to play with the vacuum cleaner. He rarely ever played with or noticed any of the toys in the play therapy room, but he played with the vacuum cleaner regularly. He played many different games with the vacuum and through his “vacuum play” we worked on skill development and had great success. Many successful Autism treatments are play based. Floortime, The Play Project, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), and Replays, are all common approaches to working with children with ASDs and all are play based treatments. The trend seems to be moving toward a play approach when working with children with autism. Evidence based treatments such as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) are using play to help reach behavior goals. Some of the more popular ABA based approaches such as Pivotal Response Training and Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment for Young Children (CBTYC) focus on and use play to implement ABA procedures and accomplish treatment goals. Integrated Play Groups (another evidence based treatment approach) focuses on play groups that have one or two neurotypical peers involved in social play with children with autism spectrum disorders. Play Therapy, a treatment approach that involves using play to treat a variety of issues and disorders, has many directive approaches and elements that can help children with ASDs to gain needed skills. Emotional regulation issues and social skills deficits are common with children with ASD’s. Play therapy approaches are designed to work on these deficits in a way that is natural, playful, and engaging to both the child and his or her parents. Directive play therapy techniques help children practice and learn skills and can be learned by parents and implemented at home for repetition and a greater retention of skill development. Although symbolic and metaphor play is typically something that children with ASD’s struggle with, through treatment, children with ASD’s can begin to play symbolically and use and understand metaphor in their play. Regardless of symbolic play levels, children with ASD’s still play, and want to play and long for group and social play. For most of these children, the issue is not knowing how to engage or “play” not a lack of desire to do so. Play is a child’s natural language, even children with ASDs. When working with a child with an ASD, it is important to remember that a label does not define or dictate what a child can do. Diagnosis can greatly assist in helping with understanding and creating treatment plans, but what a child with an ASD can do, accomplish, or become is undetermined, and it is essential that we never cap the process so that we can leave the playful possibilities wide open. Please keep your questions coming! Dr. Grant | ||||||
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Dr. Grant works with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. For more information about the therapies and treatments he provides, click the picture to connect to his website. You may also connect with Dr. Grant via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.