CATS Play Skills Program

Learning to play is the beginning of social skills development. It is a critical aspect of learning and should occur in the early years of a child’s life. Engaging in play teaches the young child about the environment and so much more. Play is believed to contribute to cognitive, motor, and social development, as well as advancing the growth of perception, attention, memory, problem-solving, language, creativity, emotion regulation, and self-regulation.

 

“Typically developing” children seem to have an innate interest in interacting with adults and engaging in play with other small children. This appears to be effortless, and they slide into the give and take pattern of play with little if any coaching. For the child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), however, play skills often require great effort and may not develop at all without explicit instruction. Even when a child with ASD does show an interest in other young children, he does not appear to know how to engage with them and, therefore, fails to join in group-play.

 

Similarly, while typically developing children learn by imitation: imitating dad shaving; imitating big brother playing ball; imitating a peer pretending to talk on a ‘telephone’; children with ASD often fail to imitate unless they are explicitly taught how to do so. Children with ASD also have difficulty engaging in creative and imaginary play and may have a limited understanding of fantasy, which impacts their ability to recognize and understand the social experiences of others.

 

For example, your child has difficulty engaging in ball playing with other children, the following sub-skills can be taught:

• Imitation of one-step toy manipulations (precursor skill)
• Imitation of nonverbal one-step play gestures (precursor skill)
• Imitating ball manipulation
• Following receptive commands for ball manipulation
• Practicing basic sports skills (e.g. bouncing, catching, throwing)
• Engaging in reciprocal ball playing

The CATS Play Skills Group Program has been designed to directly address play skill deficits (inability to imitate, engage with other children, participate in parallel, cooperative, and fantasy play, and more) and to provide children with ASD with the skills and experiences they need to become successful at playing with peers.

About The CATS Play Skills Program:

• Play Skills are learned best when they are practiced in a variety of different settings and with different people.
• CATS will provide the instruction, group training, and programs necessary for developing Play Skills, but we cannot do it alone.
• In order for your child to be successful, these Play Skills must be practiced and performed, requiring the participation of parents, family members, and caregivers.
• All skills are taught using Applied Behavior Analysis based techniques, which use a special set of teaching tools that are particularly helpful in teaching children with ASD.
• Children are matched for age and functional level prior to the start of the program.
• Groups are kept small to allow for maximum interaction and practice by the children (minimum 2, maximum 4).
• Since interaction between children is critical for success, failure to attend a scheduled session will negatively impact not only your child but also the other children within the group. Therefore, a monthly commitment is required.
• Parent-training session will be available but must be arranged for a week in advance.
• Short homework exercises will be sent home each week, which will require parent participation. These exercises are designed to provide practice with the Play Skill currently being learned and will help the child to maintain the skill from one weekly session to the next. It is critical that the parent help the child with the assignments each week.
• Costs of the program:
• Play Skills Assessment: $150.00, includes:
• Parent Questionnaire
• Child Observation
• Development of Individualized Treatment Plan
• Weekly One Hour Social Skills Training Sessions: $40.00 per child, payable in advance monthly.
• Parent Training Sessions: $100.00

If you are interested in having your child participate in a Play Skills group, please fill out and return the Registration Form. As soon as we have an appropriate number of children in your child’s age range, we will schedule a group.