Independent Activities 45

You will also have to work up to increase the amount of time that the child can
play alone. Keep this in mind so you don’t have unrealistic expectations. This is a
gradual process. Immediate removal of an adult’s presence might result in the child
using the toy in a stereotypic manner or in a lack of play altogether. Box 3.2 lists the
steps to teach simple imitation of functional use of toys.

Box 3.2 Teaching Independent Activities

Teaching independent activities
1. Present a toy(s) to the child and give an instruction such as “Time to play
by yourself.”
2. Gradually remove your presence from the play environment by imple-
menting the following fading procedure:
(a) After instructing the child to play, scoot your chair back a foot or so.
(b) After instructing the child to play, stand up next to your chair.
(c) After instructing the child to play, stand by the door.
(d) After instructing the child to play, open the door and stand in the
doorway.
(e) After instructing the child to play, open the door and leave the room.
Leave the door open so that you can observe the child and he can see
you.
(f) After instructing the child to play, leave the room, closing the door
behind you. Observe the child through the one-way mirror.
3. Gradually increase the amount of time the child plays independently.
Initially, trials may be 30 seconds long. Gradually increase trials to 45 s,
then a minute, a minute and a half, and so on until the child is playing
appropriately without your assistance for up to 5 min.
“Rules of thumb”: Advice for teaching independent play
• Because you are teaching independent play, it is vital that you gradually
remove yourself from the play situation as soon as possible. Otherwise the
child would not really be playing independently, but rather would be play-
ing with guidance and attention from you! Remember that prompts should
be faded as soon as possible, and you must then gradually fade your pres-
ence from the play environment.
• Always provide praise and reinforcement for good playing. Eventually the
play activity will become reinforcing to the child, particularly if he is inter-
acting with a preferred toy. However, initially the child needs encourage-
ment and reinforcement to let him know he is doing a good job and to keep
him motivated.
• Provide opportunities to play with a variety of toys. This will help prevent
the child from becoming bored with the activity, keep him motivated, and
aid in generalization of play skills.
46 3  All Children Can Play: Prompting and Modeling Procedures to Teach Play…

Cooperative Play

Essentially, any play activity that requires that the child take turns constitutes coop-
erative play. Thus, there are numerous activities you can use to teach cooperative
play, using the following turn-taking procedure such as playing catch, doing a puz-
zle, or playing a board game. Box 3.3 lists the steps to teach simple imitation of
functional use of toys.

Box 3.3 Teaching Cooperative Play and Turn-Taking

Teaching cooperative play and turn-taking
1. Sit facing the child, with the play activity placed between you. If you are
playing catch/roll, stand or sit at a close distance, no more than four feet
initially.
2. Provide a cue that it’s time to play by saying something like, “O.K. Sally,
let’s play!” When a child is first learning to take turns, you can initiate play
by saying, “Your turn” or “My turn.” An alternative initiation phrase is
“Go” or “Go Johnny.” This phrase is good to use when first teaching turn-­
taking to a child who does not know pronouns yet.
3. If it is your turn, take your turn, and then say, “Your turn,” or “Go,” to the
child. The child should take his turn, and then look at you and say, “Your
turn” or “Go.” The game should continue on in this manner until the end,
or the puzzle is completed.
4. If the child does not take his turn, prompt his response using the following
prompt fading procedure:
(a) Place the child’s hand on a puzzle piece, spinner, playing piece, etc.,
and guide his hand through the appropriate play motion.
(b) Place the child’s hand on the game piece. Initiate the motion and let
him finish it unassisted.
(c) Place the child’s hand on the game piece.
(d) Lift the child’s hand. If necessary, point to the game piece. As with all
prompt fading procedures, start at the point where the child requires
assistance. For example, if the child can spin the spinner unassisted, or
knows how to put the puzzle piece in, skip steps a. and b. and start at
step c.
5. If the child takes his turn, but does not indicate to you that it is your turn,
prompt his response using the following prompt fading procedure:
(a) Model the phrase. For example, say, “Go Jose.”
(b) Provide a partial model of the phrase (e.g., “Go” or “Gah”).
(c) Say, “Whose turn is it?”
(d) Provide a time delay prompt after the child has completed his turn
Group Play 47

6. If you are playing a board game where one of you “wins,” have the child
indicate who won. For example, if the child wins, he should say, “I win!,”
whereas if you win, he should say, “You win!” with equal enthusiasm. It is
important not only to teach play skills, but to teach good sportsmanship as
well!
7. Always provide reinforcement for good playing

Group Play

Group games play an important role in the daily social interactions of children.
Children participate in group games during P.E. and class and at recess. Most group
games, such as baseball, soccer, and basketball, require the child to use multiple
complex skills, including social interaction skills, attention to the environment, and
knowledge of the rules of the game. These types of games might initially appear to
be overwhelming for a child with ASD. However, children with ASD can and do
learn to play in group settings and enjoy group games. Recommended games to
teach include baseball or tee-ball (depending on age and ability), soccer/kickball,
and basketball. Games can be easily modified to match the child’s level and motor-­
coordination skills. Box 3.4 lists skills for each of the group games. These are the
skills to model, prompt, and reinforce during play. The bottom half of Box 3.4 also
provides some simple rules of thumb for teaching group game play.

Box 3.4 Suggested Target Behaviors for Group Games

Game Target behaviors (steps)

Baseball/tee-ball Hold bat correctly
Stand at plate
Watch pitcher/ball
Swing bat
Drop bat
Run to base
Wait at base
Watch next batter
Run bases after ball is hit
Run to home plate
High five at home plate
Soccer/kick Use only feet to maneuver ball
Kick ball to another player
Chase missed balls
Stop ball from another player
Maneuver ball past other players
Kick ball toward goal
48 3  All Children Can Play: Prompting and Modeling Procedures to Teach Play…

Game Target behaviors (steps)

Basketball Dribble ball
Aim ball at basket
Retrieve missed balls
Pass ball to another player
Catch ball tossed by another player
High fives for baskets

“Rules of thumb”: Advice for teaching group play

• Each child receives individual attention during play. That is, one therapist
is assigned to assist the child and reinforce specific skills. Thus, one thera-
pist is usually assigned to teach each separate set of behaviors. A therapist
might be assigned to batting behaviors, where he/she would model, prompt,
and reinforce the behaviors listed above. Therapists standing on the first,
second, and third base would assist the child through base running behav-
iors, while another therapist, standing at the home plate, would assist the
child in the scoring behaviors.
• At first, outside reinforcers may be necessary for the children to help them
go through and learn the steps of the games and to reinforce their patience
while waiting their turn.
• Make sure directions and instruction are as clear and understandable as
possible.

Prompts for group game play may be physical (manual) or verbal. For example,
a manual prompt to support playing tee-ball might include holding the child’s hands
over the bat and guiding him through hitting a ball off a tee. Spoken reminders for
specific behaviors (e.g., “Look at the ball”) are forms of verbal prompts that are
used with nearly all children as they learn organized sports and may be particularly
necessary with children with ASD.

Middle School-Aged and High School-Aged Children

For these children, independent play is typically referred to as leisure skills, although
cooperative play, group play, and so on are still considered play. Adults play, but we
tend to call it a hobby or leisure activity. So for the older children, we will likely
teach them how to play video games, drawing and painting, looking or reading
books and magazines, and other activities that can be done independently. We would
like to avoid, as much as possible, providing lengthy amounts of time of watching
TV/movies, sitting and eating snacks, or being idle. These are not productive. Many
older children with ASD do not have any leisure skills because they have not been
References 49

taught any. In addition, many children do know that some of these leisure activities,
once learned, may be quite enjoyable. So, like any other task or lesson, we need to
teach them the leisure activity as a skill. Once learned, they then can choose what
they want to do. Some leisure activities initially may be more difficult to learn than
the leisure activities they already know how to do. For example, it is much more
difficult to learn how to draw or trace their favorite superheroes than it is to watch a
video of the superhero. So, we must be patient and view the teaching of an appropri-
ate leisure skill such as drawing pictures or tracing pictures or even coloring super-
heroes as something that the child might find less preferable than just kicking back
and watching TV. However, once the child learns to draw (if drawing is for them),
he/she might find it an entertaining hobby, and it may reveal a talent that no one
knew about.
It is also important to teach the children a variety of leisure skills. For example,
for the child who wants to spend most of his free time with his object of obsession,
Batman, it will be important to teach him various ways to do so instead of just
watching a video. In addition to drawing Batman, there may be Batman cards that
the child can use to play a version of “Solitaire” involving matching up the numbers
on the cards. Or, they can look at Batman comic books. Even if they are not actually
reading the comic books, they may enjoy looking at the pictures. There also may be
a Batman pencil that the child can use to do homework. Perhaps the child would be
more likely to shoot baskets or bounce a ball if it was a Batman ball. These are all
ways to initially use Batman to teach new leisure skills. Then, we would want to
promote generalization to other stimuli so we may want to have the child use other
stimuli (another superhero or just a plain ball, etc.).

Conclusion

Basic modeling and prompting procedures are generally used to teach functional,
cooperative, and independent play. These procedures are used to teach the more
basic building blocks or foundation of play. Instructions for teaching more sophisti-
cated forms of play such as pretend play or sociodramatic play procedures are dis-
cussed in later chapters such as Chap. 5 on Video Modeling and Chap. 6 on Visual
Strategies.

References

Baker, M.  J. (2000). Incorporating the thematic ritualistic behaviors of children with
autism into games. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 2, 64–84. https://doi.
org/10.1177/109830070000200201
Bijou, S.  W. (1975). Development in the preschool years: A functional analysis. American
Psychologist, 30, 829–837.