10/14/17. Supporting Intentionality Through the Language of Toys. An OT Primer. Activity Analysis. Why Play?

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1 7 th Annual NY/NJ Conference Relationships: The Key to Progress Empower Parents, Promote Sustainable Outcomes, and Unlock Potential for Individuals with Autism and Other Mental Health Challenges Supporting Intentionality Through the Language of Toys Presented by: Rebecca Berg, MA OT Kristin McNally, MS OT The question is not whether children with autism can play, but what challenges might get in the way and how to strengthen and increase the child s abilities for pretense. Date: October 25, An OT Primer Activity Analysis n OT is more than just swings, sensory diets, or fidgets n Really! n OT is predicated on the belief that there is inherent value in the participation in meaningful activity by: developing or remediating the skills necessary creating compensatory supports to bypass missing skills modifying the activity or environment to make it happen. n The systematic process by which OTs identify and assess the variables between the individual, activity, and environment is Activity Analysis Sensory processing Visual reception Auditory Tactile Proprioceptive Vestibular Input Olfactory Gustatory Recognition Form Constancy Spatial Relations Position in Space Sequencing Solving problems Making decisions Level of arousal Orientation to person Orientation to place Orientation to time Orientation to situation Attention Span Motor Control Praxis Body Scheme Fine motor coordination and dexterity Visual motor integration Crossing midline Right left discrimination Laterality Bilateral integration Learning Memory Concept formation Categorization Spatial operations Generalization Initiation Time management Termination Coping skills Self control Social conduct Postural alignment Postural control Depth perception Body strength Range of motion Strength Endurance Stereognosis Kinesthesia Figure ground Topographical orientation Self concept Self expression (Buckley and Poole, 2004) 4 Why Play? Sensory development: calibrates the sensory system and fills the pantry with the ingredients of future actions Motor development: calibrates the actions and operations of his/her body and how it can interact with objects and the physical laws of the world Cognitive development: create ideas, sustain attention, inhibit impulses, problem solve Emotional development: explores problems and situations in a safe, controlled environment Play flexes every developmental muscle Why Prioritize Play for Neurodiverse Kids? n Play fosters the development of regulation and self-efficacy. Foley (2017): Children who are positively stimulated by the challenge of exploring, negotiating, and discovering novel circumstances, objects, and environments in play are apt to experience them as positive stress responses (i.e., sources of zestful arousal, mastery motivation, and perseverance). n Play supports emotional development. Wieder (2017): In all its forms, symbolic play offers a safe way to practice, reenact, understand, and master the full range of emotional ideas, experiences, and feelings. n Play actions are inherently communicative. Kelly (2015): Though typically considered more primitive or general than language or gesture, manual actions, especially when they are used communicatively, are one of the most ubiquitous and commonly occurring forms of visual input during social interactions

2 Defining Play Gray (2008) defines play: 1. Self-chosen and self-directed* 2. Activity in which means are more valued than ends 3. Having structure, or rules, which are not dictated by physical necessity but emanate from the minds of the players 4. Imaginative, non-literal, and mentally removed in some way from real or serious life 5. Involves an active, alert, but nonstressed frame of mind Activities are actions whose meaning is imposed by the adult. The first point is that the characteristics of play all have to do with motivation and mental attitude, not with the overt form of the behavior. Two people might be throwing a ball, or pounding nails, or typing words on a computer and one might be playing while the other is not. To tell which one is playing and which one is not, you have to infer from their expressions and details of their actions something about why they are doing what they are doing and their attitude about it. -Peter Gray Play is meaningful action created by the child. 7 8 *Adaptable Choice n King and Howard (2016) proposed replacing free choice with adaptable choice, finding that as long as the children who participate perceive they enjoy some element of choice in the matter, they can feel (to a greater or lesser extent) that they are still playing. n The children s perception of choice was influenced by: Size and nature of play space Resources available Proximity and involvement of others Rather than creating an activity, how do we invite participation in play? n It s not really about the toys. There is no right answer. n We re not teaching the child to play with this toy. n Instead, we invite you to ask yourself: What does this toy or play object afford? How do those affordances interact with the child s profile of individual strengths and differences? How can you use this information to create an environment where the child is able to more readily engage in play, to show and to share their ideas? 9 10 Affordances n James Gibson: The inherent perceptual properties of objects or environments of an object that invite or constrain action n Donald Norman: The action or use suggested by the particular combination of design attributes. Affordance theory begins to explain how we re able to interact with our environment quickly and efficiently. It s how we re able to problem solve, by taking that object s primary function or purpose

3 generalizing that gestalt function to new problems. Toy Selection What does this toy afford? What does this toy require? An unexpected gift Keeping pens at hand Quickly watering a wilted plant If it fits it sits. n Perceptual/Motor n Praxis (ideation/ sequencing) n Conceptual n Emotional It s Not Working Perceptual & Motor Affordances M, 18 months If one dimension of the toy is too complex, that frustration and disregulation can inhibit the child s ability to persist in play In this case, I m able to co-regulate, holding him in the moment by giving meaning to his frustration and support him to persist in problem solving. It s not about finding the ideal play object, but deepening your understanding toys as an extension of the therapeutic environment Donnellan, et al. (2012): We have proposed that many other individuals with the autism label may be challenged by sensory movement differences in starting, stopping executing, combining, and/or switching actions, thoughts, emotions and speech. These symptoms have been described in the literature for many years but generally not integrated into our descriptions or understanding of autistic behaviors Motor Affordances: Do the demands of the toy invite frustration or mastery? Perceptual Affordances: Do the perceptual features support or distract from the idea?

4 Ideational & Planning Affordances: What ideas might the toy inspire? Does the toy limit or expand the child s play? Ideational & Sequencing Affordances: Can the complexity of the sequence be graded? Are there opportunities to expand the range of ideas? Conceptual Affordances: Foley (2017): Conceptual Affordances: What meaning does the play object have for the child? As a child s play develops toward greater pretense and abstraction, it is informed primarily by ideas and language, with literal enactment in actions and objects increasingly serving a supporting, affirming, and validating role. Thus, when abstraction fails, the child can fall back on the concrete to scaffold confidence in abstraction via language and symbol use. When pretending that a jungle gym is a rocket ship becomes too great a stretch for imagination alone, for example, children might search for a toy replica of a rocket ship to validate and embellish their imaginative play Conceptual Affordances: What roles or concepts do the play object s actions suggest? Emotional Development Will Guide You Hierarchy of Symbolized Affects 23 Dependency - Feeding - Cooking - Fixing, Doctor, Mechanic, Builder - Joy, Love, Safety Transition - Separation - Disappointment - Anger - Loss - Jealousy - Sadness - Fears Assertiveness/ Aggressive - Control - Power - Competition - Conflict Abstract - Fairness - Kindness - Empathy - Justice - Morality Serena Wieder, Ph.D. 4

5 Emotional Affordances: What emotional themes are invited by the toy? Emotional Affordances: Which play materials match the child s emotional regulatory capacities? An Adorable Note of Caution B, 4 years S, 2 years Though a toy may afford complex representational or symbolic play of a particular type, ONLY THE CHILD CAN IMBUE THE TOY WITH MEANING. B, 4 years References: Buckley, K. & Poole, S. (2004) Activity Analysis. In J. Hinojosa & M.L. Blout (Eds.) The Texture of Life: Purposeful Activities in Occupational Therapy, 2 nd Ed. Bethesda, MD: American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. Donnellan, A.M., Hill, D.A., & Leary, M.R. (2012). Rethinking autism: implications of sensory and movement differences for understanding and support. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 6, doi.org/ /fnint Foley, G.M. (2017). Play as regulation: Promoting self-regulation through play. Topics in Language Disorders, 37(3): Gibson, J.J. (2015). The Theory of Affordances. In The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Classic Edition. New York, NY: Psychology Press. Gray, P. (2011). The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children. The Journal of Play, 3:

6 References: Gray, P. (2008). The Value of Play I: The Definition Gives Insights. Retrieved from Kelly, S., Healy, M. & Özyürek, A. (2015). The processing of speech, gesture, and action during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 22: King, P. & Howard, J. (2016). Free Choice or Adaptable Choice: Self Determination Theory and Play. The Journal of Play, 9(1), Norman, D.A. (1998). The design of everyday things. London: MIT. The Science. The National Institute for Play. Retrieved from: Wieder, S. (2017). The power of symbolic play in emotional development through the DIR lens. Topics in Language Disorders. 37(3): Connect With Us Follow profectumfoundation Join Us Profectum Foundation 31 6