Why Teach Play?
Play is how most children learn about their world and how they practice social and communication skills. Children with autism often show differences in play, such as repetitive use of toys, limited pretend play, or difficulty joining others. Teaching play is not about forcing a child to play in a prescribed way; it is about expanding the repertoire of play behaviors so the child can access more enjoyable activities and interact with peers. For BCBA candidates, play programs illustrate many core concepts: prompting, fading, shaping, reinforcement, imitation, and generalization.
Step 1: Assess the Current Play Repertoire
Begin by observing the child during free play in a natural setting. Take note of the following:
- Toy preferences: What items does the child choose and for how long?
- Play types: Sensory or exploratory play, functional play (using an item for its intended purpose), constructive play (building), pretend or symbolic play, and cooperative play.
- Variability: Does the child repeat the same action, or does the child vary the actions?
- Social behavior: Does the child play alone, alongside others, or with others? Does the child respond to or initiate interactions?
- Prerequisite skills: Imitation, joint attention, and responding to instructions.
Use standardized assessments such as the VB-MAPP (which includes independent play and social play domains) or the ABLLS-R to guide goal selection. Include caregiver reports to capture play in the home.
Step 2: Choose Targets and Materials
Select targets that are developmentally appropriate and aligned with the child's interests. Begin with items the child already likes so that the toys themselves are reinforcing. Expand gradually to related toys, and then to new toys.
Sample Sequence of Play Targets
- Exploratory play with multiple items.
- Functional play: rolling a car, stacking blocks, putting a doll in a bed.
- Constructive play: building with blocks, completing puzzles, drawing.
- Symbolic play: using one object to stand for another, pretending to feed a doll.
- Sequenced pretend play: a series of linked actions such as cooking, serving, and eating.
- Parallel play: playing near a peer with similar toys.
- Cooperative play: turn taking, sharing, and joint construction.
Step 3: Teach Play Using Evidence-Based Procedures
Prompting and Fading
Use the least intrusive prompts that produce correct responses. A model prompt, such as showing how to push a car down a ramp, is often paired with a gestural or verbal prompt. Fade prompts over time. Reinforce with natural consequences such as the car rolling, and add praise or other reinforcers as needed.
Video Modeling
The child watches a video of a peer or adult performing a play sequence and then is given the opportunity to imitate it. Video modeling has strong support for teaching play and social skills to children with autism. Variations include video self-modeling, point-of-view modeling, and video prompting, in which the video is paused after each step. Fade the video over time and probe for generalization to new toys.
Script Fading
Scripts can be written, auditory, or pictorial. A child may be taught to say, "I'm making dinner," "Here is your food," and "Yum." Over time the script is faded from the end backward until the child produces the play language independently. Scripts are especially useful for building verbal behavior within play and promoting variation.
Shaping
Reinforce successive approximations of a play behavior. For example, a child who only lines up cars may first be reinforced for pushing a car a short distance, then for pushing it along a track, and then for including a driver figure.
Chaining
Many play activities are chains. Create a task analysis for a sequence such as building a tower and knocking it down, or setting up a tea party. Teach the chain with forward or backward chaining, using prompts and reinforcement.
Incidental Teaching and Naturalistic Strategies
Follow the child's lead. When the child shows interest in an item, arrange the environment so that the child must make a request, such as asking for a block, and expand on the child's response by adding a play action. Naturalistic strategies keep motivation high and support generalization.
Peer-Mediated Instruction
Train peers to initiate and respond to the child with autism. Peers can be taught to offer toys, invite the child to play, and keep the child engaged. This promotes social interaction and generalization in the natural environment.
Step 4: Increase Variability and Flexibility
Restricted and repetitive play is common, but it should not be treated as something to eliminate entirely. Preferred routines may serve as reinforcers. The goal is to add new behaviors, not take away existing ones.
- Reinforce novel or varied play responses. Use lag schedules, in which reinforcement depends on the response being different from a certain number of previous responses.
- Rotate toys regularly to prevent perseveration on a single item.
- Introduce a new play action within a familiar routine, then expand.
- Use multiple exemplars during teaching to encourage generalization.
Step 5: Teach Independent Play
Independent play allows the child to occupy time without constant adult support. Teach it by setting up a visual schedule of play activities, such as a series of bins, and reinforcing task completion. Gradually reduce adult proximity and the density of reinforcement. Activities that provide automatic reinforcement, such as building or puzzles, are particularly useful.
Step 6: Teach Social and Cooperative Play
- Begin with parallel play, in which the child plays beside a peer with similar toys.
- Teach turn taking with a simple game, using a visual timer or turn card.
- Teach requests and responses within play: "Can I have the red one?" "Your turn."
- Teach joint attention skills such as looking at a peer's activity and commenting.
- Introduce cooperative games with shared goals, such as building a tower together.
- Fade adult prompts and reinforce peer interaction directly.
Promoting Generalization and Maintenance
- Practice with multiple toys, settings, and play partners.
- Include siblings and caregivers in training.
- Reinforce play skills in natural settings such as playgrounds.
- Probe skills periodically to ensure maintenance.
Data Collection
Choose measures that match the target. Use percentage of independent steps for chained play, frequency of varied play actions per session, duration of engagement with toys, or the number of peer initiations. Graph data and review regularly to decide when to change prompts, add new toys, or move to a new target.
Ethical Considerations
- Respect the child's preferences. Do not remove all preferred activities, especially those that serve a self-regulatory function.
- Choose goals that are meaningful to the child and family and based on the child's age and interests.
- Avoid forcing eye contact or specific social behaviors that do not benefit the child.
- Make sure that peer-mediated approaches do not place undue burden on peers.
How This Appears on the BCBA Exam
You may see a scenario of a child who plays only with one toy in a repetitive way, and be asked which procedure would increase variability (lag schedule, shaping, or video modeling). You may be asked how to promote generalization of play skills or which prompting procedure is appropriate. Remember that play skills illustrate imitation, chaining, shaping, and stimulus control.
Key Takeaways
- Assess play and select targets based on the child's interests and developmental level.
- Use video modeling, scripts, shaping, chaining, and naturalistic teaching.
- Reinforce variability and plan for generalization from the start.
- Respect the child's preferences while expanding the repertoire.