When teaching a child with autism to engage in interactive play, it's important to consider whether or not the child is likely to seek out similar interactions on his own. On one hand, a child may not interact with others because he hasn't yet learned specific ways to interact (e.g., by imitating others, by responding to other's questions or comments, etc.). On the other hand, a child may not continue to seek out similar interactions on his own if he does not find the interactions naturally reinforcing.

Below are five of my favorite early play activities that teach a child to participate in a short play scenario with an adult.

Avalanche!

• Instructor: "Let's play avalanche!" while the instructor starts to pile up pillows.
• Child: The child also piles up pillows and then lays directly beneath them.
• Reinforcement: Instructor says "Oh no, avalanche!" tips pillows over onto the child, and then searches through the pile to find the child.

Make a Taco!

• Instructor: "Let's make a taco!" while spreading out a blanket.
• Child: Child lays down on blanket.
• Reinforcement: Instructor covers child with other materials while saying "cheese" (e.g., tissue paper), "tomato" (e.g., a few pillows) "and meat" (e.g., stuffed animals). She then wraps up the child and pretends to eat!

Night Night!

• Instructor: "Let's play night night" while placing a pillow on the floor.
• Child: The child runs over to the pillow and lies down.
• Reinforcement: The instructor covers the child with a blanket, says, "night night," lightly covers the childs eyes and makes snoring sounds. The instructor then makes a sound like an alarm and tickles the child away while saying "Good morning!"

Lion's Den!

• Instructor: "Let's play lion's den" while the instructor hides in a corner, behind a pillow, or next to a wall.
• Child: The child comes over to the instructor and knocks on the wall or other hard surface.
• Reinforcement: The instructor bursts out and chases the child.

Train Ride

• Instructor: "Let's play train ride" while spreading out a blanket.
• Child: The child gets a pretend train ticket from the floor and sits on the blanket.
• Instructor: "Tickets please" while the instructor holds out their hand.
• Child: The child hands the ticket to the instructor.
• Reinforcement: The instructor pulls the child around on the blanket, making train sounds.

There are a number of reasons I like these activities:

1. They teach a child to take part in initial, short play scenarios that do not require a lot of effort on the child's part.
2. Many children laugh and smile during the reinforcement and then seek out the play at other times.
3. The beginning of all the activities include a standard instruction, "Let's play..." Children who demonstrate interest in the activities can request for the activity again using this short standard phrase or by just naming the activity.
4. Many activities include a visual cue. Nonverbal children can request for the activity by getting the material for the activity.

Teaching play skills to children with autism is a vital component of ABA therapy. I'm interested if anyone else can think of other early play activities that teach a child how to participate in a short scenario and are likely to be requested again by the child.