Object play as a mediator of the role of exploration in communication skills development

Infants who develop autism show smaller inventories of deictic and symbolic gestures at 12 months of age

Gestures are an important social communication skill that infants and toddlers use to convey their thoughts, ideas, and intentions. Research suggests that early gesture use has important downstream impacts on developmental processes, such as language learning. However, autistic children are more likely to have challenges in their gestural development. The current study expands upon previous literature on the differences in gesture use between young autistic and non-autistic toddlers by collecting data using a parent-report questionnaire called the MCDI-Words and Gestures at three time points, 12, 18, and 24 months of age. Results (N = 467) showed that high-likelihood infants who later met diagnostic criteria for ASD (n = 73 HL-ASD) have attenuated gesture growth from 12 to 24 months for both deictic gestures and symbolic gestures when compared to high-likelihood infants who later did not meet criteria for ASD (n = 249 HL-Neg) and low-likelihood infants who did not meet criteria for ASD (n = 145 LL-Neg). Other social communicative skills, like play behaviors and imitation, were also found to be impacted in young autistic children when compared to their non-autistic peers. Understanding early differences in social communication growth before a formal autism diagnosis can provide important insights for early intervention.

Play therapy in children with autism: Its role, implications, and limitations

Play is a pleasurable physical or mental activity that enhances the child’s skills involving negotiation abilities, problem-solving, manual dexterity, sharing, decision-making, and working in a group. Play affects all the brain's areas, structures, and functions. Children with autism have adaptive behavior, adaptive response, and social interaction limitations. This review explores the different applications of play therapy in helping children with autism disorder. Play is usually significantly impaired in children with autism. Play therapy is mainly intended to help children to honor their unique mental abilities and developmental levels. The main aim of play therapy is to prevent or solve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal child-healthy growth and development. Play therapy helps children with autism to engage in play activities of their interest and choice to express themselves in the most comfortable ways. It changes their way of self-expression from unwanted behaviors to more non-injurious expressive behavior using toys or activities of their choice as their words. Play therapy also helps those children to experience feeling out various interaction styles. Every child with autism is unique and responds differently. Therefore, different types of intervention, like play therapy, could fit the differences in children with autism. Proper evaluation of the child is mandatory to evaluate which type fits the child more than the others. This narrative review revised the different types of play therapy that could fit children with autism in an evidence-based way. Despite weak evidence, play therapy still has potential benefits for patients and their families.