I had the opportunity to play with the most gorgeous 6 year old boy from Scotland this morning in The Son-Rise Program Intensive.
This boy was incredibly exclusive to begin with, busily arranging plastic letters, musical instruments and balls on top of the trampoline that we have in the playroom. During this time, he rarely looked at me and merely used me as a means to get things by trying to climb up me to get to items on the shelf.
After about 25 minutes of doing this, we went in the bathroom where he proceeded to pull me into the bathtub with him and wanted me to tickle him. It was amazing how connected he was during this activity, he was looking, giggling and pulling me toward him as he squealed with delight at the tickles.
I believe that being in the small, enclosed space of the bath was helpful for him and he was able to eliminate all stimulation happening outside the bathtub and focus in on me. The bathtub was the ultimate non-distracting environment.
When you are working with your special child, experiment with using a tent, play tunnel, blanket or curtain and see how connected your child is.
THank you for this suggestion. I will forward this to my son. My 2 year old grandson is in the process of being diagnosed with autism. I think he will fall somewhere in the Asperger's Syndrome spectrum. I attended a Son-Rise seminar with Raun Kaufman here in Kansas City. He was awesome. Bless you for the work you do to help parents of autistic children.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky:-) You're so right! The bathtub is a non-distracting place, I see it like a HUGE box-like sound proof,fresh place. My son Antonio Jose loves his tubby! I make him BIG bubbles & he asks for tickles as well! I get a lot of eye contact there :-)
ReplyDeleteHe remembers you so very much and says "amiga Becky". Thanks for playing with him & being his friend in such a loving way at the Intensive!
Ivonne Peña-Baquerizo
Guayaquil,Ec SA
Hi Becky! Tks for the tip of the play tunnel. I have one, but did not think of using it in the playroom. I will use it immediately in my next playroom session. I started my sonrise playroom with my 8 year old son based on what I learned from the ATCA website. Im going to do the startup in june, and Im so exited about it. Tks so much for all the great idea's!
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