Meaningful Play

[katiekat]

I know that some of you know kids with Aspergers so I have a question. Like I said before things that the psych. said are "trickling" back into my memory. He said that the reason he did not believe Sean has Aspergers is because he observed meaningful play while we were in the office. He had a toy box there and while we talked Sean went through it. He mostly took out a bunch of plastic dinosaurs and lined them up but he did also have the dinosaurs "fight" with one another. The Dr. said because of this "meaningful play" he cannot have Aspergers.

[jj]

I found something a bit interesting: Scroll to the bottom of this article where it talks about meaningful play.

www.childadvocate.net/aspergers.htm

[misty]

JJ, could you quote the meaningful play part?I can't seem to find it.

[charliegirl]

Thats a great article JJ! I find it interesting that kids with aspergers are more likely to have family members who are bi-polar.

Me nephew has aspergers and he also could engage in what appeared to be meaningful play. Something they don't take into consideration is that holding two toy dinosaurs together and having them fight is something he has seen on tv and in movies. It doesn't mean he is thinking creatively and causing social interaction. (Thats my theory anyway.)

Did Sean meet the other criteria? I found it interesting in that article that all the kids who had been diagnosed as aspergers were actually clinically able to be diagnosed as autistic. It points out that psychs are looking for all the symptoms of autism before they will consider aspergers. A child with aspergers won't meet all the criteria for autism. I'm wondering if that was what the psych you saw was doing.

[katiekat]

I don't know what he was doing but I will find out soon I suppose. He is sending us a copy of whatever it was he was writing and also a copy of whatever he sent the school. He said the schools don't like him because he always recommends sending kids out of district. Like I said he told us to look at that school-which I think is a bit drastic because I am familiar with it since kids I worked with were sent there. They were autistic kids who were completely non-verbal. While I do want Sean to get the help he needs this school is not the place for him.

[jj]

misty said:

JJ, could you quote the meaningful play part?I can't seem to find it.

Misty, It doesn't say those exact words "meaningful play" but it means the same thing. Like I said, scroll to the bottom.

4. lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level