EXAMPLE OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS-
APPROPRIATE PLAY WITH OTHERS

This is a selection of notes from over two years of behavioral intervention sessions with a young child who ultimately recovered completely from Autism. It includes many curricula ("drill sheets"), therapists' notes, and parents' notes, covering (in part) his development from no pretend play skills all the way to fully independent, spontaneous, creative play.

The notes are by the parents, Megan and Jim Sumlin (pseudonyms), who feel strongly that this information should be freely available to all who might benefit from it. They ask only that these drills belong in the public domain, and are not to be claimed or copywritten by any person who is or will in the future be seeking monetary gain for wide distribution of same. Feel free to re-distribute this document, but please include this entire preface.

These notes are just one part of a comprehensive program guided by a behavior analyst; there were other parts of the total program, not included here, that were necessary to the child's development and eventual recovery. They are specific to one individual child. Use them as a resource to help you plan your child or student's curriculum. What works for one child will not work for all. While much of the material here addresses problems common to many or most children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, you will want to select carefully based on individual needs, learning style, and personality.

A few notes on terminology:

Discriminative Stimulus (SD)

This is the instruction given to the child.

Response

This is the response expected or desired from the child.

No-No-Prompt (NNP)

This is one specific technique for presenting the "Discriminative Stimulus," then prompting (providing the "R") if the child responds incorrectly.

Time Out

This is a brief removal of all reinforcement, where the child must sit and do nothing. This is meant to reduce certain unwanted behaviors but it has no moral or emotional overtones; it is not a punishment for "being bad."

Reinforcement

This is a reward for a correct response, which may be anything the child loves: a bit of chocolate, a piggy-back ride, an enthusiastic "You're so great!" Proper reinforcement is the key to learning.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

Much more common in these notes is Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior. In addition to reinforcement for getting the right answer, the child was frequently praised for unprompted appropriate behaviors (in place of undesirable, stereotypical behaviors). For example, when playing with dolls, the therapist may say, "I'm glad you're not banging the characters together," or as the notes say in many places, "DRO'd flexibility"--unprompted spontaneity. Remembering to "catch 'em being good" takes a lot of practice, but it is essential to the development of a truly natural repertoire of age-appropriate skills.

USING APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS FOR APPROPRIATE PLAY

This drill is to develop appropriate play with other, once he is narrating well during play. There is no need to narrate anymore. He usually begins stimming in play so this drill will address that.
1. Use about six animals and play with him.
2. Do not allow him to place these animals in a herd.
3. Let the stim begin then shut the drill down briefly, debrief and resume drill
4. Stay in character and gently require this of him.
• Do not shut the drill for this, our main focus is the stims... we'll get this later.
• Gently No (equivalent) and de-brief
5. Idiosyncratic play - Gently require as above.
6. Don't let him get distracted by concrete objects and events around him.
De-brief if he goes off task because he hears his brother or a TV in another room.
If he changes the grass that the cow is eating back into a table top, re-direct him back into play
e.g., "The only thing you should think about is what you're doing"
7. Leave the toys around when you're done, to give him a chance to get into solitary play.

Therapist & Parent Notes (P.N.)

With [playdate]. Played "Beauty & the Beast" w/figures. Great job. He looked at me a couple of times as he was starting to do something strange. DRO'd this with reference to controlling himself & using grown-ups to help him do this. Followed [playdate] beautifully. He tried to go o/o character and told [playdate]'s character that the glasses were for [playdate's actual name] and she said "There's NO [her name] here!" I used this to talk about the meaning of "pretend". Throughout remainder of session he needed lots of intervention during solitary play. DRO'd appropo play intermittently. Stopped play that had grunting & strange banging together of animals. He handled the debriefing well & I was able to get out of the way quickly & let his resume. Only needed stop & de-brief once for herding.
We played with "Toy Story" figurines (3) and animals (3). "TS" figs stayed in character & animals as well. Woody ([name]) intro'd Buzz to all the characters reminding him all the while that animals couldn't talk. This allowed him to stay in character beautifully. When he played on his own he needed intervention. "Woody" intervened & reminded him to be nice to them & to play nicely w/them.
6 animals. Narration great. Needed T.O. Closed activity a couple of times due to strange mouth stuff (e.g., hoofs in mouths of other animals, etc.). Followed my narration & lead well. I often hung back & followed his lead & he was able to maintain action well. Needed prompt to not involve himself in play. During Solitary play he needed lots of intervention for strange holding, flying, noises, biting, but on the bright side, he was able to get a few minutes of appropriate play in first.
Put out 6 animals. He used about 4. Nice job staying in character. Easily redirected when he wanted to use "Simba". Told him to try some new animals. DRO'd flexibility. On his own I let whatever seemed like a stim -- i.e., frog on the horse tail -- play out. He stopped himself & moved on to another constructive conversation i.e., - frog: I have to get to the lake....I'm dry. At the end I praised him for great play. Didn't notice any weird things. Narration was great.
6 animals - He didn't stim at all when we played together. He had some trouble staying in character at times but did so w/gentle reminders. When he played on his own he needed some intervention but I saw an improvement.
Woody, Buzz & 4 animals -- Coop Play - Still some strange play, even when with me. Some putting things in animals mouth in stimmy way. Also strange hand stuff with Woody doll. Closed down drill & debriefed. Also did this for out of character. Independent Play is still peppered with stimmy stuff. He keeps putting objects on himself. Has hard time keeping himself out of play. DRO when he stopped himself from doing something strange. Using looking at grownup to help control himself. Looking at sides of toys & squinting at them. Shut down & debriefed.
P.N. - Watch for putting things in animals' mouths. Shut down drill & debrief for this.
Ind Play - Squinting & looking at sides of toys like w/[ther]. Shut down & debriefed. No putting things in animals' mouths but moving dolls strangely & calling it dancing. I joined him & if he cont'd I shut down & debriefed. Coop - we played with two Woody dolls (one was Woody's brother who he named "Jode"), Rex and three animals. He did great job. Played appropriately the whole time. DRO'd his staying in character throughout.
Question - Does this drill always have to involve animals? I used little figurines today. He was fine, staying in appropo character. Teacher and a boy & girl. We took turns. We did a school throughout entire narration -- really nice -- no weird behaviors w/his play. DRO & praise.
P.N. - We need to have animals 90% of the time since he stims on animals more than on people dolls & because there always seem to be 6-8 animals out at school and he always gravitates towards them. We need to desensitize him to this. Watch for EYEING objects please. It's up! Thanks.
6 animals. He used 1-2 at a time. Stayed in char beautifully with no strange looking. DRO. Needed activity shut down & debriefing for stimming with animals on his toes. Directed play away from his body. Nice job. Indep play is going for much longer before he needs intervention. Nice.
P.N. -- Great...Please note (as above) whether the independent play is lasting longer.
Lots of moving -- had six animals out. Had to shut down activity & debrief a few times b/c he was stuck on making the giraffe fly. Shutting down & restarting worked ok. He didn't really do any solitary play today.
6 animals out -- Had to intervene a couple times when he did Solitary Play b/c tiger was turning into human climbing on bed & pillows as well as making weird noises. Intervention & debriefing worked to get him back in animal role. Had some grimaces throughout play -- while he made noises. Tried to reference this to mean tone & mean-looking face.
He needed lots of redirection during Solitary Play b/c of weird noises & smashing animals together. Doesn't last long b/c he does this. During Coop Play he didn't do this but wasn't staying in character. Didn't respond to gentle redirection. DRO for not squinting/eye stuff w/animals.
P.N. - Please start listing approx. how long he engages in "good" solitary play before a meltdown. We need to begin DROing "playing nice" for longer periods of time -- this has to be shaped similar to the way we used to time "being good for a long time" and shaping -- Notes please.
Set up 6-7 animals on table. Started out playing w/him. He had choice of which 2 animals he could be. Chose a big & little rhino. had trouble handling them 1 at a time. Kept holding both together in one hand, always moving. Had to stop a couple of times & start again b/c he would keep them on the table. Worked a bit. He was good at monitoring my face for reactions to his play! DRO'd that. Solitary Play - Interrupted about 3x -- less than one min b/c he babbled & switched the characters of animals. After third time he was able to sustain decent play for about 1 1/2 minutes. Had a bit of a nasty tone when I interrupted. Used his No-No-Point finger to make excuses about what he was playing. Labeled this nasty.
P.N. - All read previous page re: solitary play & shaping. We're at 1 1/2 minutes.
SOLITARY PLAY RULES --
1) Only 1 toy allowed in each hand
2) No toy touching
No clicking together
No rubbing together
No banging together
3) No stuffing toys into each other [many of our animals were large furry puppets]
4) No Babbling/Word Salad
Played with dinosaur game pieces. Needed prompting for holding 1 toy in ea hand, banging when playing w/me. Stayed in char well. Played w/Toy Story chars throughout session independently. Used "personal space" as a way to get him to keep chars away from ea other & not click/bang, etc. DRO'd space betwn chars. No babbling/word salad - DRO. Able to play for approx 1 1/2 min w/o intervention.
P.N. - As a DRO be sure to tell him he was able to play a little longer w/o your help.
Played with Toy Story chars, then animals & trains. He was able to play for 2 min w/o intervention. I DRO'd this & referred to the face that he was able to play longer & control himself. Still needed personal space reminders.
Played w/animals. While I was w/him nice attending & appropo animal play -- a couple of glances reminded him to play nicely. Great job. Solitary Play - lasted about two minutes (not fully) before he "babbled" a bit. He caught himself & looked at me. DRO'd his gaining control right away & playing longer than last time. Pretty good.
We played w/two Toy Story char & 6 animals. He did wonderful job. Never have seen him better. W/Solitary Play he played nearly three minutes w/one toy in ea hand w/no clicking/touching, etc., after he initially did w/toy story char. I labeled it "destructive play" (like the Joy Berry book "Being Destructive"). This seemed to hit home. It was incredible. Tons of praise for playing so beautifully. Related it to school. Said sometimes he plays destructively in school but he won't do it anymore (yeah right... we can only hope). Lots of DRO for letting me help him be good.
Played with 6 dinosaurs. He was using storyline of "land before time". Discussed how he can take ideas from movies and change them and think about other things that may have happened. We did one "act" together where dinosaur that didn't share decided to share instead. DRO play that wasn't destructive Only made about 2 min solitary b/c of clicking animals together. Debriefed. One instance of looking at side of obj. Closed down & debriefed. DRO appropo play.
He was clicking & tapping after about 3 min of playing. Labeled destructive & he stopped. DRO. When he continued at various times during session I closed down & debriefed.
Played ok for about 2 1/2 minutes then said something incoherent. I labeled it a babble after he refused to tell me what he'd just said. He was upset ... said I was "in the water". Told him you should have said that while you played & when I asked you. Debriefed & started again. Did better job. About 2 good minutes. Kept looking at me. Labeled this as good self-monitoring (adults helping him).
Really nice today - I played w/him for a good 5 min. Stayed in character, followed my lead and then directed his own play a lot. Did well b/c he involved my animals. Solitary Play was also good -- about 2 minutes before he put characters together (it wasn't that bad). Nice looking up for conformation of good vs. not good play.
Played nicely on his own for nearly 3 min. (DRO) before toys touched, then I joined him. He had some probs looking at me & not touching doll strangely. N/C stopped this & reminders to act like he does in school. DRO when he played well.
Fine job. Used puppets today. He had some nice narrations w/butterfly and frog. DRO'd absence of "babbling" w/o me telling him. He had some mouth clicking. Challenged him to remember not to do it; he remembered two times -- DRO for not forgetting. Sitting was great too!
Played 6 figures (3 animals). His play is getting much better. Solitary Play continued for over 3 minutes w/o needing intervention. I DRO'd before he needed intervention. Really nice. He caught himself & looked at me when he babbled. Praised his catching himself & said I bet next time he'll be able to catch himself before he says strange things.
Used 3 trains & 6 animals. At first didn't want to give him trains but he asked nicely (and longingly) for them so I let him use them. Still had to handle only two items. Coop Play was very good. Excellent conversation & sitting ...DRO. On his own (needed some persuasion for Solitary Play) he did ok for about 2 1/2 min before he began crashing trains -- not too much. I allowed this to continue to see what would happen. He saw me looking & stopped. DRO'd him for self-monitoring. Had to interrupt play when he kept singing [-----] lyrics very strangely and made faces and said "Do you expect to find me...." He knew why I took toys away.
6 animals out together - this was great. Excellent conversation. Worked off my lead & direction. Played at the table. Very flexible. Really creative & animal appropriate behavior on his own. Pretty nice job. Used a quiet voice betwn animals & had nice theme running throughout his story - e.g., dark forest (scared). DRO'd nice sitting & self-monitoring. Played solitarily for about 4 minutes. Great job! Discussed school & being grown up.
Played w/Toy Story chars & dinosaurs. At beg of session there was a lot of clicking together. I targeted this heavily & his Solitary Play kept improving. Up to almost 5 minutes indep. DRO. Coop play is much better; much less stimming. Really able to follow another's lead & stay in char.
Excellent Coop play. However Solitary Play was hard b/c he didn't want to do it. He was "stuck" on playing w/me. Kept asking "please play w/me..." etc. Was doing very nice so I cont'd as long as I could. Later in the session he picked up some puppets (dogs, lion, etc.) & played on his own. No babbling. Very nice quiet play for over 4 minutes. Lots of DRO> I observed from a distance and tried to only encourage self-monitoring by looking for eye-contact if he felt he was going towards an inappropriate behavior.
[Brother] joined us at the beg. [Name] was totally in control. Tons of DRO for no touching & playing nicely. Ref'd to school. Great Coop Play even with [brother] drifting in & out of play. Lots of praise. Indep Play was shaky at first. Needed interv. for space & clicking approx every 2 min. Debriefed. Able to eventually get up to 5 min with intermittent reinf. Nice job. No noises or faces for the most part. He was really in amazing control.
Coop Play needed a little debriefing b/c he kept getting into human characters & assigning the animals these characteristics. needed about 2-3 interruptions before he remained in animal character. Lots of trouble getting him to to Indep Play! Wouldn't do it...asked to play w/me. Tried to make this a positive experience by saying thanks for asking but I can't. He took it the wrong way, got bossy & upset, wouldn't do indep play at all. Talked about listening to grownups.
Coop Play only - He was been very creative w/play, even though animals aren't always being just animals. Megan/Jim are going to ask [consultant] to move this drill along so that he can assign other characteristics to animals after all (we ARE making them talk!) His play seems to be very age appropriate & normal; we may be discouraging him b/c we keep telling him to stay in character (not much to do w/being just a pig, cow, calf, etc....)
P.N. - Let's loosen up a little & let the animals stray o/o character (as long as it's not psychotic!). Let his creativity w/play flow more. Just don't allow him to bring HIMSELF in as a character.
Played with trucks. Worked on appropriate truck play, construction, etc., instead of his personification of the trucks where they fight. (I know we're supposed to loosen up but it looked sorta weird. I just wanted to give him an alternative script). Talked about how other kids in school play, modeling. Play was much better. No noises or faces for the most part. Some saliva swishing but he quickly stopped. 7 minutes without an intervention!
P.N. - Loosen up with animals BUT trucks, planes (all vehicles), etc., should NOT ACT as people. All read [ther notes/date above]. This is correct way.
Used animals. I tried to be pretty flexible about which animals he wanted to be. Very hard time listening to me first time. Was stuck on wolves in the forest (even though we had no wolf out); tried to quickly incorporate his wolf fantasy into the play and move on. Didn't work too well. Stopped activity a few times to debrief about switching attn. & not getting stuck -- improved slightly. With Solitary Play he cont'd the same theme. Had animals on top of ea other too much and started to get carried away. Stopped activity and debriefed on what he did wrong. He became a bit argumentative -- had mad face, etc. Took away the animals as aversive.
He was great w/Coop Play until he started his wolf theme as w/ [above ther]. He made Buzz Lightyear a wolf. Debriefed but he continued so I took animals away. Took them out again later & he didn't bring up the wolf thing. Lots of DRO for not getting stuck.
Took out various animals. [Brother] joined us too. He was rabbit. Did pretty good job asking ?s Used him as model. He liked what [brother] was saying. Went along w/him for while but of course the forever famous good wolf Balto reared his ugly head in! Tried to keep the focus on [brother]'s conversation. When he kept on with wolf theme, stopped activity, debriefed & went back. Did it once more despite my firmness. Remaining neutral I stopped the drill.
Small trucks - needed debriefing about them talking, then DRO'd using them as vehicles WITH DRIVERS OPERATING THEM. Intermittently DRO'd theme of truck clearing snow. Played for 15 min. w/o any intervention. Discussed with lots of praise. Animals - played for 7/8 minutes independently -- no wolf discussion/theme.
He played appropriately for only about 2 min at a time [this ther was around the least & wasn't in good spirits throughout these months. He usually gave her the most trouble]. Lots of noises noises & rolling on floor. I intervened. Play together was fantastic. Lots of DRO. No wolf stuff.
Did this for quite a while using dinosaurs & then water animals. Aggression was a theme. He did some Solitary Play for about 3 min and then started having "sharks" eat every other animal. This lasted about 2 min before I intervened. Discussed how once the shark eats the animal (alligator), that's it. Shark should move on to do something else, etc. Started Solitary Play again & looked up to me when he was eating alligator. He put alligator down & moved on to other play. Huge praise for self-control. Told him looking at me helped him to remember, etc. Nice play lasted for approx. 10 min w/continuous referencing to me.
He still has some trouble thinking up story lines. Able to do 3 min with his own material. I started him on a new story line & he was able to do 4 1/2 min indep. Coop Play is great, although he needed some prompting/close down play to remember to keep figures still & not cover their faces w/his hands.
P.N. - It's OK to give him a new story line and BACK OFF as above.
Nice Coop Play -- got stuck w/wanting Woody to fly even when I changed story line & direction stopped & discussed. Did much better when we went back. Praise & DRO. Behavior was great. Solitary Play - very nice for about 4 min before he had Woody flying a bit too wildly on a plane. He looked at me & got into control. Tried to divert his behavior by asking him what Woody is about to do, etc., then he cont'd (a little bit more calmly) to play for another 3 min.
His Coop Play was great. He didn't stim & was flexible w/story & play themes. Solitary Play wasn't as good -- needed to be shut down/debriefed. Problem with clicking toys together. After I joined him & backed off he had about 3 great min of Solitary Play.
Great job w/Coop Play - very flexible & had some great themes. Worked on this for about 15 min before he did Solitary. No weird behaviors. Great play continued great themes and calm, appropo play for about 7 min. Lots of praise. DRO'd for playing appropriately.
Had had trouble w/space between figures during Solitary. Only able to do 4 min w/intermittent DRO. Also stimmed during Coop. Some touching/clicking - stopped & debriefed. DRO'd appropriate participation.
Sorry did this (I wasn't assigned to but I thought I saw a [initial] next to it). Anyway, he was able to sustain Solitary Play for about 5 min w/o clicking toys. DRO for good play before that. Coop was wonderful. Lots of DRO for this.
Great job. Played w/bugs & animals. Very good Solitary. Didn't mush animals together, click, etc. Nice use of words & good themes w/animals. Coop Play was just as good. Very flexible w/my leads. DRO.
P.N. - Don't forget to include how long he was good for.
Played w/dinos & animals. Kept appropriate space betwn animals. DRO. Needed to be stopped for word salad. About 4-5 minutes independently. Coop Play is good. Only problem is holding animals. Too much touching & not holding still. Stopped & debriefed.
Used animals. Very nice Coop Play. Needed a little reminder to hold still. Didn't want to do Solitary Play. Made up a rule about the sign on T.V. (No Toys) to not playing with animals. Tried to explain that this was different b/c we were practicing good play. Lasted 2 min before he got stuck on forests & wolves. Stopped & debriefed. Played another min before he clicked animals & cont'd w/the same theme.
He played well on his own for 5 min. He didn't know I was watching him. Had to intervene when he clicked toys together. Coop Play was great until he held 2 animals in one hand. Stopped & debriefed.
First had him do Solitary. He got carried away banging gorilla on table. [Brother] was around & did the same. Debriefed him about inappropriate modeling. "See what he did b/c you were a poor example?" I then played only w/[brother] and he had to watch. He had difficulty doing this; wouldn't listen the first time. Got upset (seemed jealous of [brother]!). Grabbed animals, started to cry, etc. Labeled his emotions. He denied & didn't want anyone to say what he was feeling. Calmed down a little later & acknowledged feelings! Coop Play a little better. Later on stuck on which animals I should use, etc. Had to remind him to be more flexible. Sitting needed reminder as well as looking.
He had hard time with Solitary Play - "word salad" again. Only 3 min before I had to intervene. DRO'd appropo play intermittently. Coop play was great. We played for 10 min & I stopped & ended on a good note. DRO. Told him it was so much fun to play w/him. Ref to school.
Coop Play - Nice job. Worked on the floor, used props - e.g., blue cloth for ocean, bucket turned over for mountain. Did mini scenes involving turn-taking. Used much more action, less emphasis on language. Had trouble making animals interact (The ones he held) kept wanting to talk to my animals. I modeled a lot for him and then told him animals in ocean can't hear the land animals (there he was forced to have a convers w/his own animals). Good job. Needs practice. About 7 min. Solitary play only 2 1/2 min on his own. Started to babble & make spitting/chucking noises. All weird. Shut down & debriefed. Compared it to school.
Coop Play was good. No prob w/turn-taking. Nice creativity. Worked heavily on holding animals still. At beg I was shutting down Coop Play & debriefing every 30 sec or so, then heavy DRO for holding it still. Indep Play - not bad. I gave him some lead-ins & had him pick some props (not airplane). Lasted about 4 1/2 min. No strange sounds.
P.N. Cooperative Play: Fade out sooner; more give & take in your "scenes". Solitary Play: - Use imaginative props (community locations...bowl as pond, blocks, etc.) to increase d----- [???] - Keep verbal interactions to a minimum - More actions - use props to elicit action. - Shoot for 3-5 min consistently & shape toward 7-10 min. - Can add story lines to increase d ------
For both he must use his "real" voice.
Turn-taking good in Coop Play scenes. Set up situations w/props for Solitary (e.g., airport, hospital w/blocks, hospital beds, carpet as runways). He played nicely for 3 min, then went to see if his lunch was ready. Needed one reminder to use his "real voice". Set up storylines in ea. e.g., plane crash, take people to the hospital. During Coop Play needed only one shutdown & debrief to keep animals still.
I used pond we drew as a prop. Worked nicely. He was much less fidgety w/animals. A few prompts to use his own voice. Coop Play was pretty good. Used lots of action. Solitary Play was much better too! Less movement w/animals today. Lasted 2-3 minutes before he "babbled" something -- debriefed -- went back to it and shaped for longer play using more coherent actions & language.
Coop Play - first. Nice play, lasted about 6 min & then left him to do Solitary Play. He didn't want to at first. I just told him he needs to do it on his own for a while. He began - did a nice job - gave me constant glances as if to see if he was doing his play well. If he was working well I nodded w/approval or a smile. He cont'd nicely for a solid 5 min. and then he broke down a bit with babbling....went on a bit too long. Interrupted him & debriefed about overall play. Used multiple props -- mat for desert and the pond we drew last time.
Wanted to use drawn pond -- seemed a bit stuck. I took out Dino checkers and made them tar pits and mixed animals w/ Disney & Ses St figurines. He had a hard time. Played well cooperatively for about 5 min. Solitary Play about 2 1/2 - 3 and then lots of foot stuff. Shut down & debriefed.
Coop Play - 5 min. Very nice. We used figurines from doll house he hasn't seen for long time and animals. Big treat for him. Solitary Play - 6 min. Very nice job. No babbling. Was upset when I finally said we have to move on -- it was getting late. Told him we may do it again another time.
Coop Play - Stuck on Tyran Rex. Shut down & debriefed. Went back to playing & DRO'd getting in control & focusing on what my chars. were saying. Still needed intervention to hold chars. still. About 8 min. Coop Play. Solitary Play - needed lots of prompts for REAL voice. Redirection from chars. eating ea. other. Only about 3 min. solitary.
Coop - 10 min. Needed shutdown 3x in beginning b/c he kept moving them too much (flying, jumping, etc.). Debriefed & began again. Used props (basket paper mache & box for environment setup - i.e., sand cave, etc.) Did some "wandering" w/convers and needed help in staying on subject. Solitary Play - 3-5 min. Some refusal at first - wanted me to play. He decided to "sink" all the animals in the sand and then use dinosaurs. I thought he was creative so let him go on. Needed a few prompts to only have one animal in ea hand. Play was non-aggressive (DRO). Conversation script wasn't clear. Themes kept jumping around from brother-sister animals being afraid to "let's have a mean saber-toothed lion or a shark," etc....
P.N. - To Review Your notes should reflect these elements: COOPERATIVE - Characters go places & do things - Minimal dialogue - Give & take w/actions (almost turn-taking/conversational) SOLITARY - More Material/Props - Story Lines as Props Your notes should reflect these elements
Coop - 12 min. Used props all over the place. Much better today at going places & doing things. Props definitely helped as well as setting him up with a situation or "scene" - i.e., volcano about to explode, baby dinosaur is stuck at foot of mtn. He worked well with this. Solitary - 7 min. Again, props helped. I faded myself out of coop play and he cont'd w/themes already in progress. Needed verbal prompts not to have more than one animal in ea hand & they had to stay grounded (too much waving in air). Also needed prompt to leave animals in appropriate character -- he made a shark fly. Debriefed about it, cont'd nicely afterwards.
Coop Play - Used chair as volcano plus Lego house. Prompted turn-taking w/actions [arrow drawn by us between the word "volcano" here and the one that's in last entry w/another therapist just to alert them that they may not have read last entry well and in any case the same thing shouldn't be done two sessions in a row w/our son who tended to perseverate]. Solitary - Used these materials & rug for beach. Gave story lines. He needed prompts continuously and shut down/debrief for toy banging & noises. 2 to 2 1/2 min w/no prompts.
Coop - 10 min. Needed many prompts to "go places and do actions." Very hard for him NOT to start some sort of convers. I tried to keep it strictly ACTION packed using verbal prompts: "Come on, let's go to the meadow...," etc. Used props all over. Solitary - Just getting him to do it took 5 min - lots of debriefing about listening to adults. Tried to make it appealing to him. He "messed" up props (i.e., a barn we made for farm animals). Worked patiently w/him & got him to build his own version. I fed him story lines and got him interested. Played about 3-4 min before intervening about using "real voice." DRO'd when he played nicely.
Solitary - Started this first on his own. He actually told me "You can play with me if you want, but if you don't want to, it's ok." !!! (Cute, sweet and manipulative.) Huge praise and DRO for not insisting on having me play w/him (usually the case). He set up his own prompts - ocean, land, etc. Played for a solid 15 min. I had no reason to interrupt him. Used animals (jungle) & a couple of dinosaurs. Play was good, focused & no babbling. Did nice actions. At end of 15 min he started to fade, not using his own voice. One prompt helped him gain control - started to get a bit aggressive when I came in for Coop Play - Really nice. 17 min. Fed him some play themes and he took right to it. Great behaviors. DRO & praise. Used props he had made up from Solitary Play.
Solitary Play - 10 min at height. At beg 3 min & then needed intervention for babbling. Narratives are getting much better. Coop Play - Lots of stimmy touching & body movement. Made it through about 8 min at best. Turn taking with narrative is fine.
P.N. - [pointing to "turn taking w/narrative" above] This is exactly what we AREN'T looking for. Please reread #2 (Appropo Play) on [date] notes. The give & take is supposed to be w/ ACTION and NOT "narrative". We need to keep verbal interactions to a minimum w/more actions. The School Psychologist noted that his playing is "immature" in the way he narrates his stories. The Brigance book also notes that cooperative play should be "conversational" in that children age 5.0 play off ea other, almost like musicians improvising. They're keenly aware of ea other's actions & play off them w/o necessarily saying much -- he needs this desperately.
Sorry - action turn-taking was good too.
Coop Play - 8 min. Needed prompts about handling animals w/ various actions - i.e., walking had to be on floor/ground and not in the air. Also he was making his props (i.e., doghouse) TOO magical - i.e., flying house. Debriefed about this. Houses can't fly, etc. (DRO'd in the beginning about animal flexibility - wanted to use dino checkers. Told him we're using farm animals today.) Solitary Play - Sort of the same problem in handling animals. Actions were too exaggerated. Lasted 6 min but w/interruptions about behaviors - i.e., flying horse, etc.
Solitary Play was completely narrated by him and they ended up in a big pile b/c they were "fighting the alligator". Redirected. Used paper towel w/print on it as animals' food & house blanket for other props. He was very aware of my being in the room & kept looking towards me for approval. He picked up things (e.g., pen) to use as props himself and played this way for 12 min w/the one interruption for piling the animals. Coop Play - used actions. When he tried to narrate I did things he had to pay attn. to & do an action on his own (e.g., shark was after his best friend). Tried to get him to "play off" my actions.
Solitary Play - Lots of talking betwn animals - Needed prompting at beg to steer him away from destructive play & towards more action (but positive action) 12 min after prompted to come up w/positive actions. Debriefed about more action. Coop Play - 20 min - Dinosaurs put on a show for the mammals. Lots of movement - like a circus - lots of praise for following my characters & creating his own acts.
Coop - 22 min. Used animals I wanted (as punishment he couldn't choose what he wanted b/c of the way he behaved in school today). Play was good - followed lead & created his own story line. A few prompts needed not to touch other animals i.e., what wasn't out. Solitary - 9 min. Needed prompts not to lay all over floor. Needed some ideas to work w/ i.e., farmer working w/ animals. Used props nicely & creatively. DRO & praise. Body was very calm.
Needed lots of work on non-aggressive/destructive play. He was resistant to accepting nonviolent themes. DRO'd cooperative (figurines) and friendly actions. Coop Play was constantly being stopped for aggressive beh - shaped positive interactions - 8 min max. Solitary play w/theme given. Serving dinner at birthday party lasted 9 min.
Coop Play - 7 min. He needed work on aggressive play. When he was leading actions I let him & [brother] play for last few vignettes.
Coop - 7 min. Hard time taking storyline suggestions. Very stuck on triceratops & T Rex having to fight, etc. Took away T Rex & gave him themes having to do w/mammals finding a lost friend (stuck in cave). Wouldn't accept changing topic. Worked on lots of actions but he was full of conversation. Hard to get out of it. Solitary - 5 min. Same "aggressive" problem with dinos & couldn't really accept storyline. Wanted to change it into something aggressive - closed it down & debriefed. Also hard time suggesting props or taking my suggestions.
Coop - trains & blocks - 15 min. Great turn-taking. DRO'd for elaborating on what I said & also adding him own creative thoughts. Only needed glance to stop himself from holding trains too closely. Solitary - 12 min. w/trains - Added to story line given to him & elaborated appropriately. Nice job. Intermittent DRO.
Coop - 9 min. He was fine w/storyline suggestions & led some action on his own. Solitary - 7 min. had to be shut down for aggressive play - throwing toy. Debriefed. Made use of props ON HIS OWN. e.g., globe as volcano. Lots of praise.
P.N. - Solitary Play can now be a part of Independent Work Drill. Huge DRO if this is not his first choice.
Coop Play - 19 min. Very good. Nice use of props. Focused listening to storyline I set up. One reminder needed for voice, otherwise fine; relaxed & calm body. DRO. Ref'd listening to me & focusing to school and friends. Solitary Play - 2 reminders to use his own voice & 3 to sit up while playing. Keeps lying down & it leads to stimmy behavior w/ feet when he's touching something. Used two dinos & three dogs. Play was incoherent. He was silent at times. Tried to prompt him by saying "go on", etc. Once he settled on a "storyline" -- dinos bothering dogs -- he got stuck on it. A bit aggressive and lots of weird, silly noises. I transitioned him to another drill not part of work choice.
Solitary Play 1st - He chose this 2nd (after music) DRO! I put props on the side of the animals. He needed a prompt to use them, but once he started he was able to go for 5 in w/appropo play. Lots of DRO. Coop Play - He had trouble using animals to move props (dinosaur bones) - Got caught up in making the bones talk and lost focus. Shut down, refocused & discussed. Coop - 6 min. Big prob cleaning up 'cause he wanted to play more. Used nasty tone. Apology and debriefing with ref to school. Megan also debriefed. Lots of work on listening to teacher 1st time & being respectful.
Coop - 12 min. Nice & calm, very good taking leads today & using props. A couple of prompts were needed for real voice, otherwise nice work. Less verbal interaction, more action-oriented play. DRO. Solitary - Indep Work - used Barbie dols. He dressed them up nicely & changed clothing -- a little strange when brushing hair and huge prob cleaning up. Had to debrief him at the end. It took him longer to clean up than to play. 10 min cleaning time. Worked on laziness in circle time.
Indep Work - 1st choice Solitary - Needed prompt (shut down & debriefed) b/c he was putting his head on the floor to look at objects on the side. Debriefed w/ref to school. Also needed prompts to used relaxed voice. Needed prompting & storyline to use trains as trains & not introduce himself as a wolf into the storyline. 3 min. Coop - His actions occasionally strayed very far away from my lead, but for the most part it was good. Still needs to be directed to use props & concentrate on actions. 8 min. Clean up was problematic again, but he got in control (DRO). DRO'd listening quickly (though not 1st time) and heavily DRO'd 1st response to shape fast listening & compliance during clean-up.
Indep Work - 1st choice Solitary - 3 min. Needed to shut down & debrief b/c of noises and clicking toys together, strange voice, singing, talked about appropo place. Coop - 7 min. He wouldn't play off my actions & kept wandering away. Debriefed & talked about leaving activity. Cleanup was great today - 1st time listening. DRO'd.
Solitary - 8 min; Coop - 9 min. Coop - Went off-topic a lot -- he tried making up lots of excuses-- to use other animals & rationalize the behavior of his animals (wow). I set up theme in a castle w/animals going there to perform. He had trouble staying with theme & playing off it. Needed lots of prompts to do actions, especially follow them through to the end. Tends to want to skip steps - i.e., animals had to walk to back of the line when they finished doing a trick. He would throw or fly them back. Solitary - sort of the same problem except actions & verbal stuff seem to be equally the same in frequency. Tried to have him do more actions using verbal prompts - i.e., Are they all swimming across the river?
Coop lasted 5 min then he went off on his own thing, smashing toys. Debriefed. Solitary Play - After 2 1/2 min began subtle clicking but stopped himself - DRO, and then played for 3 min nicely. [this is problem --at that time-- therapist]
Solitary Play - Used 6 animals and two trains w/train set. Gave him a script/theme to play along with. Scene was bad weather - rain, snow, windy, etc. and train is traveling from one city to another and the bridge is shaky and may collapse at any minute and train may derail, etc. His behaviors were good when he was calm. No singing. DRO. Needed a few reminders to also include the animals in his play. DRO'd when he did. Play was solid 10 min & he carried a nice theme throughout. Coop - 12 min. Very relaxed & calm - huge DRO. Also no singing - DRO. Followed theme nicely. A few reminders needed not to skip action movement and was able to follow this through. DRO.
Coop - 9 min I tried to model a very quiet tone. He needed lots of prompts to keep loud voice down. He was good about sticking to theme after first few prompts. Prop use was ok but needed 1 reminder to use what he set up - i.e., mountain. Solitary - Flexible w/using fewer animals - he chose like 10 when I told him he could only have 6 or 7. Listened right away. DRO. Got a little too fancy w/play - i.e., animals were watching TV. Told him that isn't what animals do. He was reluctant to take prompts. Also needed reminder about voice. 7 min.
Solitary Play - not part of Indep Wk. Set up 3 props on his own. DRO. Used 6-7 animals. Voice was normal. A few reminders about following a theme were needed -- tried to prompt him by providing a script. Lasted about 6 minutes.
Indep Work 2nd choice - DRO not choosing 1st. Used vehicles and Buzz L. 2 min on his own w/o a script - When I gave him a starting script he was able to do 5 min. DRO quiet voice. Coop - Needed prompt about voice (strange sounds), otherwise followed & shifted actions well after reminder to focus on action. 6 min.
Not part of Indep Work. Coop - 7 min - He was resistant to using small animals but then listened & was very flexible. Got to use his big animals as reward. Stressed that he got them b/c he listened to a grownup. DRO'd quiet tone, no weird voices. Solitary - 1 min w/o intervention. Then began fighting w/T Rex and stegosaurus as usual. Gave him script and played 4 min.
Solitary - 1st choice indep wk. Small figures & doll house & big object from manipulatives. Told him he has to use both places & he could decide what the object was. Still not a lot of action difficulty sequencing events and going from one place to the other but seemed to do better when directed to use the objects & asked what will they do next (or some leading questions) -4 min. DRO.
No indep work drill. Doll house & dolls. Sort of reinf for him for being so good. He asked for it. Played nicely...lots of praise. Hard to transition him to Coop Play (8 min) and then did well. Went back to Solitary, cont'd to do great job and listened when I interrupted him to eat dinner. Big DRO.
Nice & calm - very good e.c. & attn. Did Coop first - 9 min. Paid attn. to script & followed leads nicely. Came up with some creative props & ideas for storyline. Solitary - 7 min. A few prompts to play on his own. He kept looking to me for conversation at first. Did really well w/actions. No weird/loud noises. DRO'd calm appropriate play. Good clean up.
Coop - used dollhouse. 12 min. Lots of prompts needed initially b/c he tends to want to start out narrating his play right off the bat. Prompted him to "act" everything out. This seemed to be quite effective. It resulted in his doing more actions w/figures & storyline developed spontaneously as we worked off each other. Some prompts needed to hold figures still once he gets to a destination or completes an action. Solitary - not part of indep work - 9 min. He rolled right into some nice play (acting) w/dollhouse. Good actions - DRO. Some prompts to hold figures still (as in Coop). Overall he was calm - no weird behaviors & accepted subtle suggestions nicely when he seemed "stuck". DRO for good cleanup.
Before he started, I reminded him that he has to act things out. Prompted him to set up scenes 1st. Set up grassy area & water & trees for animals. Played for 1 min., just verbally. I redirected him to scenes & reminded him about action. 6 min. Coop - Animals & dollhouse. DRO'd action. He had some nice, creative ideas involving props & actions (rhino taking a mud bath in the tub). Shifted action well. Big problem cleaning up. Got T.O. Refused to take it and said "I mean it" and threatened to get worse. Talked about it being his responsibility. Megan had to come in and help with T.O. and we worked on remorse/apologizing.
Solitary - 6 min (not Indep Wk). He played w/animals & dollhse creatively & calmly for 1st 2 min. Then he needed a prompt to quiet his voice down and 2 xs not to click animals together. DRO for appropriate play. Coop (Indep Wk - 2nd choice) Needed prompt for singing & prompt for transitioning. Got nasty & said he wanted to take a break and he meant it & I better listen to him! I got stern & he gave me an apology. Then did it again. I got another apology and then he moved on - 5 min. Coop play w/[playdate] - he needed to be prompted through entire thing. Noises & singing interfered for 2 min. Disappointing. Debriefed.
He played with animals (Solitary) - 4 min. Needed prompt not to play rough. Initially did nice job acting out. DRO for this and quiet tone and being gentle after prompt. He didn't answer me at first but I got firm & corrected. Played for 3 more min. Didn't get Cooperative Play.
Solitary and Coop - not part of Indep. Wk. Coop - 8 min. Tried to set up and play. He didn't need prompt to come over to play but I had him "ask me" for practice and ref'd this to school situation. He had a hard time following my "acting" at first b/c he kept "telling" & narrating what the animals should be doing. He didn't bring up any "Lion King" and dinosaur themes. DRO'd. Solitary - 6 min. Better job acting out a "helping" theme. I set up for him. Heavy DRO and I prompted out specific behaviors and acting he did with animals. Hopefully it made impression for next time.
P.N. - For COOPERATIVE PLAY, have some of the animals out that would be in "Lion King" or some of the dinosaurs which would be in "Land Before Time". YOU start playing with these animals BUT using a DIFFERENT theme than "Lion King" or "Land Before Time"
Prompt him to ask "Can I play with you?"
DRO big if he joins your game on his own & doesn't change it to the usual
DRO big if he injects HIS OWN ideas/themes that are not the usual (watch for & write down something you've seen him do with you or others so YOU can hit it. He needs to LEARN what repeating and getting "stuck" means and how it FEELS. He really doesn't get that yet. For him it's still natural to repeat and we have to let him know and DRO his not following that tendency.
-- Please try hard to begin YOUR play w/the animals/ dinosaurs WHILE he's involved with some other activity. This will make it more analogous to school where kids will be playing something and he will (hopefully) learn how to notice and join them.
--Lots of notes on the above.
Solitary (Indep Work - 1st choice). Gave him kitchen set & dolls. He went to play w/dolls when all the pieces were scattered all over the place. I prompted him to set up first & then play w/dolls (thought maybe this would help organize him). He was very calm & spoke in a calm voice. DRO'd a lot - 6 min until he started making strange sounds w/the dolls & holding them in stimmy way. Coop - I set up dinos, lion, blocks, alligator. He walked over, grabbed a dino & began on his own storyline. Redirected & reminded him that it's my game & asked what he needs to do. He correctly asked "Can I play w/you?" DRO. He joined my story after a redirection and prompt "What's happening?" - DRO Once he was involved in my story (animals working together to build a bridge to reach the alligator), he was able to generate his own actions. DRO nice job. Clean up was a little more rigid. Needed redirection. Didn't listen 1st time. Worked on apology. Needed prompt to apologize and for e.c.
Coop - Put out big LEGOs, some dinos and animals. At beg I started playing. He walked over & just grabbed animal. Vague prompt worked for him to ask me if he could play & another prompt to ask me what was going on. We worked together to use blocks to build a ride for animals. He did nice job picking up action & alternating action. Followed along well. - 12 min. Solitary - Used LEGOs as props. More action than usual. DRO 7 min. DRO'd action & quiet tone. Great job!
Coop - I used Tyco blocks, dinos, lion & lioness w/Gak. He needed prompt to ask if he could play (he just joined in at first and said "let's pretend this guy...etc."). I stopped him & prompted him to ask me what I was playing. We had a dinosaur trapped in quicksand (Gak) w/hungry lions about to eat him. The other dinosaurs had to climb a mtn to save him. We built stairs & then he brought dragon into the game who flew over & saved dinosaurs. He played really well. DRO for ideas. Solitary - Played nicely building w/LEGOs & using dinosaurs. He pretended the LEGOs were a "magic machine"! The dinos climbed it, fell down, helped ea other in lots of action w/o getting loud & he kept his body calm. - 9 min. LOTS of DRO! Clean up caused him to talk back. T.O. Talked about apologizing 1st. Then cleaned up w/o a problem. ----He tried to make dinos have ride like w/[other ther] (see entry dated [date]). Told him I didn't want to and he was very flexible.
Coop - 10 min. I set up figures & used animals to play. He came over quickly. Needed prompt to ask to play (he grabbed an animal & just began on his own). Discussed "asking" as related to other kids. Sometimes they may say "yes" and sometimes "no". Needed prompts to use lower tone & his own voice. DRO'd when he listened "now".
Solitary - 7 min. Cont'd with what was already set up. Needed help w/carrying a theme across his play. Used actions but he exaggerated too much - i.e., elephant has heavy walk and he banged it up and down (s) for effects. DRO'd the action but tried to have him tone it down a bit.
Coop - 9 min. Hard time starting out b/c he was stuck on wanting to use certain animals & certain props. I suggested we use new props. Pretended to make a volcano w/sheepskin mat & red paper around it. He got stuck on wanting to use sheepskin only as cold place where polar bear lives. Once this got resolved, he did better but still needed prompts to use more actions & act out the scene. Animals are trying to get safety before volcano eruption. Solitary - 5 min. Cont'd on Coop Play theme. I set up situation for him. The land has been burned b/c of lava & animals had to find new land to live. He did ok except for loud voice & very exaggerated animal behaviors - i.e., elephant jumps across mtns.
Coop - 12 min. Helped to set up props. Nice job; DRO. Took my suggestion to use new props. Came up with some original ideas - i.e., smock was water b/c it was blue. Worked on actions and needed lots of prompts to keep it on the floor and not in the air. VOICE was off the wall. Lots of reminders to keep his own voice & to ACT and not TELL the story. Improved slightly towards end. Solitary - 9 min. (Part of Indep. Wk. - 1st choice) Asked him to tell me what the "scene" was before he began. Couldn't really articulate what he intended to do. Helped him set up a situation (animals looking for sweeter grass). He tried to follow through but needed reminders to stick to story. Body was fidgety & not using his own voice. I modeled gentle tone & tried to DRO him whenever he used good voice. He put animals away ritualistically, banging on toy chest and then putting them into a box. Made him do it again right way and he didn't like it but did it anyhow. DRO'd listening to adults.
Coop - Tyco blocks & animals. Built store where animals went shopping. Great participation. Still needs prompt to ask to play. Good following my actions w/his own shifts - 15 min. DRO'd staying w/what we were doing & not getting carried away. Solitary - Indep Wk choice #1. Only 2 min at a time before it involved clicking together, rhyming or noises. Stopped & debriefed.
Coop - at [playdate]'s. We used lots of stuffed animals. I tried to have her lead the play. She did pretty good job. Nice play. I followed her as a model for him. He followed leads at first but had a very loud tone. Sort of struggling to be "heard" b/c she kept directing her attn. to me. He wanted her attn.! I tried to make it so that they would be interacting. She naturally used her environment as props. He followed DRO. Needed some help to keep body clam, otherwise he did pretty well.
Solitary - dollhse. Play was poor. Lots of made-up words. Req'd constant stopping 1-2 min. Also clicking animals together. Coop - Shaped play using real words & proper movement. 5 min. We also watch [brother] play w/the dollhse and we together DRO'd his playing quietly and appropriately.
Coop - 12 min. Used dollhse. This was first drill we did today (he'd just woken up). He was calm, relaxed, and used a great gentle tone. Heavy DRO. No prob following lead and using toys appropriately. He "acted" out parts. Didn't "tell" the story - huge DRO at the end & intermittent DRO while playing. Solitary - Nice continuation from above. Really good playing. No weird noises, although he did overdo driving noises. DRO for not asking me to join back in (he usually does). Theme cont'd w/ school where he reconstructed his own life in the play -- i.e., boy was great in school, parents very proud, etc. Needed a couple of prompts to sit up. DRO'd gentle tone. Cleaned up right away when I asked (DRO - "now").
Solitary (Indep Wk 1st choice) - Before he started, reminded him about having a storyline, using betwn 6 and 8 animals and ACTING the story out. Really nice tone - gentle & didn't sing or growl. Heavy DRO. Followed a nice storyline about animals looking for water. Set up on his own. DRO'd. 1 prompt to not overdo diving in water. Play behaviors were mostly calm w/occasional "rough" fighting, which he didn't OVERDO b/c he was monitoring himself by looking at me once in a while. DRO - 11 minutes!!!! Nice job. Coop - 12 min. Not as smooth as solitary. Some trouble following leads - got stuck on having animals to only one action. Stopped & debriefed. Did lots of modeling which helped him to focus. Needed reminder to keep tone gentle. Much better towards the end - DRO. Had to be told 3x to "clean up". He was too stuck on trying to tell me what to do next (i.e., directing therapy). Used NOW as prompt for his cleanup and debriefed about listening to adults.
Solitary - Needed prompts at beg to develop a storyline. W/O prompts he was just sitting & feeling lion's teeth. Needed prompts not to lie on floor when playing. DRO'd quiet tone. Needed reminder to use structures he built w/animals. DRO'd quiet. Got 1 T.O. for singing. Cooperative - GREAT! Asked to play and what I would like to do independently. DRO'd. 15 min. Great shifting activity & following leads & creating his own activity. Needed prompt to clean up quickly. Listened first time. DRO.
P.N. - SHOOT FOR 12-15 MINUTES COOPERATIVE PLAY
Coop - [brother] in room. I started to play w/[brother] and [name] barged in. Stopped. Debriefed and reminded him about asking. Practiced this 2x. DRO for working on it and being flexible. Some trouble following my suggestions - I just kept moving on to see what he would do. When he didn't want "panda" to go up in the tree, his voice got louder b/c he was trying to CHANGE my actions. Stopped & debriefed about this. He got much more flexible later on. Nice personal space, esp with [brother] around -- made sure to hit this. [Brother] was good too! DRO'd him. 9 min.
Solitary - 15 min Really nice work. Gave him trains to play w/ and reminded him about "acting" out a story. Used props in their context - i.e., table chair, toy chest. Nice job. No singing or growling noises (probably b/c it wasn't animals). Body was calm and relaxed. DRO. Ref'd nice play to school & playdates.
Solitary only (ran out of time). 3rd area choice. 7 min & then had to go to bed (had him use name card). Needed prompt to "act" story out.
Coop - 15 min. Did good job shifting themes & following my shifts. DRO for maintaining good pers space. Needed reminder to use real voice. Solitary - 1st Area choice - He used themes from our Coop Play (is this ok?) P.N. - yes. Went to "Disneyland". Set up characters and had dolls visit. DRO for relaxed body & gentle tone.
Solitary - 7 min. Did "time to stop" He was reluctant to stop but gave in. DRO'd flexibility. A little prompt needed for growls, but once he started to play did great playing & following a storyline. DRO. Nice acting.
Coop - 17 min. Great job towards end. For the beg had to stop couple of times b/c of aggressive behavior w/characters (used little Disney chars). Once he started playing nicely he followed my leads which I switched constantly too! DRO - body was relaxed & e.c. was good.
P.N.
COOPERATIVE PLAY - Shape 12-15 minutes
- Keep shifting and getting him to shift with you (this is the ESSENCE of cooperative play)
- Keep starting with things he's familiar with and shifting away from his usual themes.
- Big DRO if he injects his own themes.
- Keep working on his asking to "play with you".
SOLITARY PLAY - Shape 7-10 minutes
Only Solitary today (ran out of time). 6 min w/animals. Needed prompt to use props. Trouble stopping when I asked him to. Got T.O. for talking back. Kept trying to explain. I told him he needs to sit quietly and not talk. I kept reminding him to sit quietly & escalated (T.O.) to me going to door of rm. He stopped talking, cried & apologized. DRO and debrief re: understanding his feelings.
Solitary - 6 animals. Debriefed about having a story & using props. Needed a couple of prompts to stop silly noises/talk. Asked him in serious voice - worked nicely. Had difficulty following the theme he set up on his own in the beg (animals searching for secret pond). Used time to stop once. I saw that he wasn't picking up other prompts to change story a bit. Lasted 8 min. Coop - 15 min. Nice job. I started a theme using Wizard of Oz/Snow White ideas.
Solitary - 9 min. Set up his own props, i.e., used chairs as volcano & bureau as safe mountain. Nice actions w/animals Need prompts about some noises -- easily redirected. Used a consistent theme throughout. DRO. Coop - about 10 min. Had some trouble paying attn. Needs lots of prompts and help with listening to Jessica and me. Did some wild behavior with characters. Listened when I told him to stop. Biggest problem was he didn't pay attn. to Jessica [playdate]. I tried prompting her a bit to talk to him. I guess she was shy a bit since this was the first time they met. Prompts were needed for personal space.
Solitary - 8 min. He did a nice job, esp w/gentle tone & quiet body. Lot of good action - DRO.
Coop - 23 min! I started this out on my own. Gave him a hard time b/c he was forgetting to ASK to join me. I wanted to see how long it would take him to figure it out. I had to prompt him after 5 min. Gave him amble opportunities to ask but he mistook my not wanting to play w/him as selfish. i.e., would tell him "hey, that was MY space!" or "this is a farm -- no dinosaurs allowed", etc. He seemed irritated and threatened to tell "mommy" that I was being selfish. Once I prompted him to ask . He was OK. Stopped a couple of times to debrief about "flexibility" (ref'd to children in school) of story & following other kids' suggestions. He tried to change story to his way. I pretended to treat him like other kids would (you can't play w/ me if you're not doing it "right", etc.) I didn't want to sound as if I were whining so once it didn't work I stopped the play. His actions when he didn't try to change story were great! He had a relaxed body (DRO) and voice & tone were at his best.
Solitary - used 8 animals. Set up props & animals on his own. DRO. I asked ?s about storyline to get him going. Needed prompt to act & use actions instead of telling the story. Theme was vague; wasn't really developing the story & kept requiring prompts to continue. lasted 7 min. Coop - 14 min. Lots of trouble doing actions. Kept trying to narrate. Stopped & debriefed. Got two T.O.s -- one for arguing about how the "wolf" should behave and one for interrupting me after I tried to talk about his feelings after T.O. #1. Told him to be flexible when other characters are saying the actions of other animals. Told him to listen to this b/c that's his cue to act i.e., here comes the farmer. He has to make the farmer come. This is a big prob for him b/c he always tries to do opposite the suggestion and thus not following the leads of other kids. Practiced doing just this. He did a great job. I pointed this out to him. BIG DRO. Used "time to stop" when he started getting into it. He was flexible. DRO.
Solitary - 6 min and then made up silly word/shut down & debriefed. Needed prompt to use new props I gave him to create a place. Still needs encouragement to concentrate on going places & doing things, but he'd getting much better at varying his stories. Coop - 10 min. Needed prompt to ask to play. Great job shifting actions. Somewhat hesitant to use the propellor (that he had used earlier as "food") as a tree, but he went along anyhow -- DRO!!
Solitary - Barbie post office - 14 min. He spent lots of time setting up pieces. Needed prompt to use the dolls to act stuff out, but did a great job when he started. DRO. Clean up was somewhat problematic. He kept getting caught up in playing with objects and not putting them away. Talked back. T.O. (went quietly). Debriefed w/validation of feelings & he returned to cleaning up well. DRO.
Solitary - 7 min. Then too loud. Talked about using "inside" voice. Needed to be guided to create theme, otherwise he stayed on same toys in same area.
Solitary - 8 min (1st choice indep play) - Again needed "inside" voice reminder and cross-talked. Debriefed. Did "time to stop" -- Needed T.O. (see "AREA DRILL"). DRO for quiet body & quiet inside voice after reminder. Needed to be prompted for apology after invaded my space. Started putting doll on my head. Cleaned up when I told him to. Lots of DRO.
Coop - 10 min b/c short on time. He needed guidance for story- lines & got stuck on playing w/Barbie's hair and "chasing" theme.
Solitary - 8 min dollhse. Had to set up. Needed 2 prompts to keep rooms separated. He was trying to act silly & join living rm & bathrm together. Set up took him 5 min. He was careful to organize pieces. DRO. Told him to use inside voice 2x and when he got really into play, told him "time to stop". I joined him Coop - joined him right after solitary play. Actions were pretty good todya. DRO -- some subtle voice reminders were needed. Otherwise he carried out theme well for 12 min. DRO -- body was relaxed.
Solitary - needed help in beginning b/c he was holding two or more animals in one hand. Had to stop & debrief about using only one in ea hand. Tried to make excuses that he wants animals to get away at the same time. Labelled it "excuse". Modelled appropriate play & told him he can't play if he doesn't do it right way. This worked & he got back in line & played for 8 min after this first intervention. DRO -- used actions & had a coherent story going. Heavy DRO.
Solitary - 11 min. Still needs help formulating props & keeping ction moving. Without reminders about action, play becomes monologue which moves into sounds/singing. He had hard time w/clean-up. Talked back & got T.O. Debriefed -- valid feelings. Needed reminders not to talk. Also problem going to T.O. .... picked up hands but controlled imself. Discussed. DRO'd "inside" voice. Coop - 14 min. Played w/animals. Animal races. Still needs prompts to keep action moving. Wants to interject his own monologues.
Built park for animals to play in. Coop - 12 min. Nice job shifting ACTIONS. DRO'd use of props & movement. Didn't get stuck in conversation. Very nice.
He did amazing appropriate play (1st choice). 15 min. w/shifting actions, inside voice, NO singing, a relaxed body. Tons of DRO. He kept going back to it during breaks as well (he was playing w/the BIG doll house). Gave redirection if stuck on monologue. Coop - 12 min. due to lack of time. Cont. w/doll house. At 1st he was reluctant to follow my leads, but then he did fine & initiated as well.
Solitary - 8 min. Set up props for play. Made a forest -- used 8 animals. Storyline was good. I kept probing him for details. Voice was great. DRO'd "inside" voice. Prompted him to perform more ACTIVITY instead of dialogue. Also needed reminder to handle 1 to 2 animals at a time instead of a bunch in his hands. Coop - 13 min. The best play I've seen in a long time! Really on w/actions & very gentle, totally playing off my lines. Heavy DRO. Didn't give me any qualms about ending play. Used "time to stop". DRO.
Coop - 10 min. This was the first drill we did. He was in constant motion, not focused, needed lots of prompts to pay attn. & listen first time to story & play off of actions. Had to stop him constantly. Solitary Play - 7 min. Much improved after debriefing about coop & constantly prompting in the beg. Listened 1st time & used actions. Body was calmer too. Used "time to stop".
Solitary - 9 min. Started out prompting for a descriptive storyline. Needed help keeping one animal in ea hand. Keeps wanting to horde 2 or more. DRO when he held one in each. Actions were low in comparison to conversational play. Prompted more action. Improved towards end. Coop - 13 min. Had to stop a lot b/c he wasn't accepting my storyline direction. He was rigid about it, constantly trying to change what I set up to do. Actions were good. DRO. Watch out for RIGIDITIES. He's using the animals as excuse to keep big lion & little lion or big tiger & little tiger together, as father & son, husband & wife, etc. For some reason he can't have 1 animal do something w/o consulting w/the other. I'm sure the skill will be useful sometime in his future, however it's not helping now. I debriefed about it & discussed potential play w/other kids.
Solitary 7 min. (2nd choice) - His body was really relaxed (DRO). Put out doll hse. He needed prompt when he got stuck on the clock. Did well moving the people around the house & going places, changing furniture. Lots of talking through it, but creating different scenarios. Coop 14 min. I joined him in the house. He refused a bit at 1st (in charge), but I stayed in character & insisted. He gave in. Needed one reminder.
Solitary - 1st area choice - 7 min. He needed prompts to create action. Needed reminder for inside voice. DRO when he moved figures around & created story. Coop - 13 min. Needed prompts periodically to act out stuff & not narrate. Also got pretty violent/aggressive against my figure. I shut down play & when we continued he played well. DRO.
Coop. 15 min. - Used dollhse. Animals seemed too rewarding today (especially b/c of school incident). Setting up was good. DRO. Body was calm. Needed prompts to stay w/story. Dinner- time ordering & trying new foods. Acting was good. DRO. [Brother] joined us for a few min. Used him as a model. [Bro] was calm & listened to me. Nice play. DRO. He got a little silly when [bro] played w/me. Told him to cut it out. It worked nicely.
Solitary - 7 min. I gave him storyline to follow & finish up play. He went on a tangent doing wild things with cat meowing all over. Stopped & debriefed, then started again following storyline. Right when he got into it, told him "time to stop" - Cleaned up nicely without clicking toys. DRO.
Coop - 14 min. Built forest together. Used 5 animals. He had hard time initially not orchestrating the entire activity. He was resistant to my characters' actions. Discussed this & he dramatically improved. Solitary - 5 min. & then strayed into violent play w/noises. Debriefed.
Solitary - Barbies & Kitchen set. He quietly set up kitchen & began playing w/utensils & not dolls. After about 1-2 min of this he moved to the dolls (DRO) 9 min. & then got stuck on silly piling up of dolls. Stopped play. Coop - 9 min. Needed prompting to stay in character. He had a hard time staying as the doll & keeping the action moving w/the doll when props were involved. Shaped focus on the doll as the actor. No violent play.
Solitary - 16 min! Pieces from alphabet hanging on wall. Excellent job. Needed no direction. Made up great action- oriented story lines. (Lots of DRO!) Coop - Used animals - play got violent. Redirected scenes. Kept going back to violent play. Told him I didn't want to play w/him anymore & time to stop. Chose different area. 6 min. [above ther was gone w/in one month--emotionally burnt out -- she'd been was us for over two yrs and might have been our most creative therapist for the first two & definitely spent the most time with our son at this point]
Coop - Great job. 17 min. The funniest play ever. We had animals out along with props. Storyline had to do w/a hungry wolf in the forest that needed food badly but was afraid to get it. It was dinner time and my stomach let out a soft growl (sounded like a hungry wolf). His face turned pale as he asked "what was THAT?" I went along w/his line of thought & said "It's a wolf in my tummy". Had him going for a few seconds before he said I was kidding (he was laughing nervously!) His play was great. Followed my lead after a couple of prompts. DRO. Nice gentle tone and wasn't violent. DRO. Solitary - 7 min. Nice actions & dialogue. DRO. Stopped on his own saying he was done playing w/animals. This was the first time I've seen him stop on his own & clean up. Heavy DRO.
Solitary - 9 min. Nice job. He was quiet when playing. Keeping a low voice trying not to wake [brother] up. DRO. Play was good, didn't do violent things and took suggestions/prompts from me right away. DRO. Coop - 15 min. Nice job. Some prompts were needed to follow storyline & perform actions. Listened right away -- DRO. Used soft, gentle voice & cleaned up nicely. DRO.
Coop Play - 10 min. Really worked hard on moving away from narration to action. Practiced acting out what he was thinking using the animals instead of saying it or introducing it. Lots of praise for nice job. Solitary - 5 min. Needed prompts to hold figures down & not in front of eyes. Play deteriorated into violent theme (growling/biting) & needed redirection.
Coop 12 min (1st choice in Areas drill) -- Worked on holding animals by the MIDDLE of their body & not their mouths. Used flannel board props (2 stores) & built them out with Lincoln Logs. No violent play. He seemed to have an easier time with storyline using stores. Worked on looking at animals & other person & not staring off in another direction. Continued to work on movement w/o introduction. Solitary - 9 min. Did nice job w/animals & toy store (some Toy Story stuff but varied). DRO'd holding animals in CENTER of bodies & keeping them on floor. Great clean up. DRO.
P.N. - Keep working hard on holding animals by the MIDDLE of their body & not their mouths.
Really had to work on the above. He needed constant prompting/ reminders. He engaged in violent play w/o frequent redirection. Still narrating all movements. Modeled doing action w/o words explaining action. 11 min solitary [this again is ther who left soon after; she's the one below too -- at this point we had three]
Coop - 12 min. He needed prompts to hold animals in middle but much less than yesterday. DRO More action too. Developed into violent after 10 min. Redirected w/no problem. DRO. Solitary (1st area) - 8 min. He used lots of narration & needed prompts to hold animals, but great job creating stories. Needed redirection from violent themes 2x. Interrupted. Used place card [something they had in school].
Solitary - (indep wk 1st choice) 10 m. DRO'd use of animals by the middle right away. Did nice job throughout play w/this. Told him to talk as little as possible, that I only wanted to see actions (made it seem like a challenge to him). Did pretty well initially but needed prompts throughout. DRO'd when he did it on his own. Used some nice props (e.g., sponge for a towel--came up w/this on his own. DRO'd). No violence. Tried to discourage animals living up in the air (didn't want to draw attn to this). Coop - 16 m. Cool job. I modeled only actions using lots of facial expressions. He was very focused & naturally knew how to respond to my characters/animals. Heavy DRO. He also did much more actions & used narration occasionally. DRO. Play was calm, e.c. was great. DRO.
Coop - 11 min (1st choice Indep Wk) - Continued w/[above ther]'s focus on minimizing talking & working on actions -- DRO'd holding animal in middle. Needed 1 or 2 prompts to not hold mouth. Some rigidity. DRO'd flexibility. Solitary - 6 min - Needed prompt to have animals look at ea other. DRO'd holding in middle. Needed prompt to use his own voice. Worked on having animals face ea other & talk to ea other rather than being up in the air.
P.N. - Animals must face each other when initiating. See [ther]'s notes above.
Coop - 9 min. (Area Choice 1) He suggested we play "three little pigs". Cont'd w/[ther]'s and [ther]'s above targets. We weren't allowed to talk, only act. He did well. Needed a couple reminders to make animals face each other & to hold them by the middle of their bodies. Needed modeling to make them stay on the floor when running.
Solitary - 5 min. A little resistant to starting play on his own. Needed lots of reminders to talk less (he did lots of narrating initially). He held back on really developing a storyline b/c he wanted me to join him. Also was trying to direct me to be the pig or lion, etc. (could come across as bossy or pushy to another kid). I refused to be what he assigned. Coop - 10 min. Used a lot of modeling of actions & emotions to get him in the swing of it. I didn't respond to him when he talked too much. This seemed as a cue for him to ACT behaviors of the animals. DRO'd whenever I could.
Solitary - 6 min (1st area choice). Needed prompt to sit up when playing (laying head on ground) and hold one animals at a time. Again, lots of talking. I redirected by asking him what movie the animals could all be in & he can act out a scene like in the movie. DRO'd action & movement. Still needed prompts to have animals talk to ea other (looking). DRO'd holding in the middle. Coop - 10 min. Continued w/variation from Drama drill. Nice job. DRO'd holding animal in middle. Still some probs having animal facing ea other & keeping them on floor. DRO'd this whenever I saw it. Beautiful, quick clean up.
Solitary - 3 min. max of play w/o prompting. Lots of probs w/clicking animals together & noises & tactile stim on animals. Had to stop numerous times. Coop - 10 min. Played variation of Shepherd & the Wolf. DRO'd holding animal in middle, keeping it on floor, looking/ facing animal it was talking to. DRO'd good clean up.
Solitary - 7 min (1st area). He was very imaginative w/my suggestions today. Talked a lot and wouldn't stop. Lots of noises & movement. Had to give him a T.O. for not listening 1st time & not answering me when I called his name. Didn't do Cooperative b/c he was demanding it in too a rude & bossy way.
Solitary - 5 min. Needed some prompts to use his own voice. His rule - must always use dinos and wolf. Didn't use these things. Nice clean up. Coop - good. 14 min. HE was able to interject his own appropo play following my lead - flexible & on target. Nice. DRO'd using his own voice & holding animals in middle & facing ea. other & walking them on floor.
Coop - 20 min!!!! Really focused on animal & people interaction & staying away from predator/prey themes. Worked really well & followed my lead based on my "actions" & people behavior (i.e., man in car driving through safari said he hoped giraffe would come closer so he could take a photo -- then he brought the giraffe over). Big DRO for listening to my "message"s. Nice exchanging of roles. First he handed me animals, then I did. Very flexible. DRO.
Coop - 11 min. Theme was farm. He played animal parts. I was farmer. Worked on doing farm things (i.e., feeding animals, milking cows, shaving wool off lamb, etc.). He did nice job of following lead & staying within farm theme. Held animals in middle. DRO. Solitary - 5 min. Started out w/him briefly using "three little pigs" story theme. Did ok initially but I forgot that this was too much of a predator/prey theme, which he happily wanted to do, esp since wolf was involved. I used time to stop before he got too excited.
P.N. - Keep targeting:
Holding more than one animal per hand
Animals that DON'T talk to each other
Animals not held in middle
Rotating animals
Co-operative Play - SHOOT FOR 15 MINUTES
- Create an environment & have activities in that milieu e.g., state fair, barn, zoo, safari, dollhse w/animals as pets, etc. - Always have people in the activity - If he strays remind him where he is ("you're on a farm!") - Do not convert to solitary play (yet)
Solitary Play - KEEP SHOOTING FOR 5 to 7 MINUTES
- Read a story (or part of a story) where animals are central - Act out your story CO-OPERATIVELY w/his animal & fade back, allowing him to play on his own. - If he strays, re-join him.
KEEP AWAY FROM PREDATOR/PREY THEMES.
Coop - 11 min. Museum w/dinos & people. Needed a couple of reminders about where he was, but came up w/ some nice story lines. Needed prompts for correct holding of people & animals. E.C. between dolls is getting much better. DRO! Solitary - "Horton Hatches The Egg" - I faded after story had been set up. He quickly changed story to violent theme. Prompted him back on track. Needed prompts to use real voice. Needed occasional prompts to stay on track. DRO'd holding people & animals correctly. Making noises after I told him to stop. Treated like "I must talk" -- put up my finger & stress inoculation (when he was trying to explain). He put his hand up & kept talking. T.O. - valid & apology.
Coop - 10 min. Circus - Barbie & Ken performers in circus. He's still having difficulty when focus isn't completely on animals. Keeps shifting to animals & needs to be shifted back. Eye contact better & less prompting needed to hold animals. Still working on keeping people/animals on floor. Solitary - 5 min. The Little Elf. Needed prompt to stay w/story, then DRO'd this. Getting better at using people & animals. Needed prompt to hold properly. DRO nice e.c.
Coop - 11 min. - Theme was a "country picnic" where people can go horseback riding. Had to stop play a couple of times b/c he got carried away w/lady bug role -- too much flying, etc. Wouldn't listen to prompts from my characters -- debriefed him on acting & listening to characters for cues. Held animals nicely. DRO Voice needed some reminders to keep it gentle. Solitary - Read Polar Bear book - Baby bear gets lost & travels all over before he makes it home again. Started out helping him get props & lead him to story--then faded. Had to use a few verbal prompts when he played alone to keep him flowing w/the story. Overall he did OK. Held animals well. Good actions but a bit dependent on having/looking to me for guidance.
Coop - 16 min. Theme was a forest & woodcutters were heading in to chop up some trees. Forest animals were watching what went on. He had a prob initially w/my playing the animals parts b/c he wanted to be the wolf (what else?) Got him to be flexible about it. DRO. I also took the focus off of wolf role. Used other animals more. He was good at picking up on my cues & getting out this character. Had to stop one x b/c he got aggressive & silly purposely. Once we cont'd again, he did nice job w/participation & listening. Held toys nicely. DRO.
Coop - 11 min. Variation of house w/dolls & 1 animal (house pet). He was holding dolls much better. DRO & DRO e.c. & staying on topic. Still some trouble when focus isn't on animal. Tried to make other content exciting & DRO focus on dolls. Solitary - 5 min. Magic School Bus Hops Home - Great attn. Helped him structure himself in the beg with leading ?s -- Who is the teacher? Where are they? etc. Did a very nice job acting out 1st scene of the story.
Solitary - 6 1/2 m. Bambi. Used 1st 5 pp. of bk. DRO'd following story & holding animals. Needed prompt not to make noises.
Coop - 12 min. w/[brother]. Played petting zoo -- His doll was the tour guide - Animals just stood there & people were focus of action. Really nice job. He had harder time going along w/[brother]'s actions. DRO'd trading off with [brother -- at this time his brother was had just turned 3].
Coop - 12 min. Played "farming" using people & animals. He pretended to be the animals. I was farmer. Great job listening to farmer & acting out w/the animals (e.g., OK sheep, you can go into the field to eat). He was picking up on cues really well. DRO. Eye contact & body were great. Held animals nicely. DRO. Solitary - 8 min. Started w/him 1st two minutes acting out "Zack's Alligator" (we read book first), then I faded myself out. He followed storyline for a couple of min before requiring a few prompts to stick to story (generally). Held animals nicely. DRO. Also used a nice tone.
Solitary - He asked to play "Jungle Book" - Told him I didn't know the story but he could at it out & put on show for me. He did a great job setting up the scene & using animals/person to do the dialogue. 8 minutes of acting and 4 minutes of set up! Needed two prompts for holding animals. Beautiful job. Coop - 10 min w/[brother]. Played house. He had hard time staying w/the story b/c he got caught up in props.
Coop - 12 min. Animals/Dolls/Trains. Dolls were going on a trip & animals guided them to trains. I really exaggerated my doll's movements to get him to look at her when his dolls was talking to her. Nice job holding doll & animal. Good flow of activity. DRO. Solitary - Dinner at Panda Palace (book). Needed prompts to not have animals walk on his body. Space bubble. 5 min set up & 10 min play, but with prompting needed for holding animals. DRO'd acting out & using dialogue.
Coop - 12-15 min. w/[brother] and I. Used train tracks, people & animals. Pretended people were headed on a trip. Train falls off the tracks. People get hurt, etc. Animals try to help them. Needed prompt to hold animals & train nicely. Seemed a bit zoney sometimes. Wasn't listening to convers or acting part of play. Shaped up towards end. Was a little distracted by [brother]. Tried to model soft voice for him (he was loud).
Coop - 16 min. - Really nice job. We used the dollhouse & domestic pets. Little kid wanted to buy pet puppy. Great job w/acting & dialogue. Held animals & characters appropriately; occasionally required prompts to keep characters on floor & not in air. Good job picking up on cues & guiding me w/his own original ideas. Heavy DRO for this. Solitary - 7 min. Happy B'day Mickey book. Started out with him setting up a Mickey character, pretend cake, etc. He found B'day hats to use as props. DRO. Needed some reminders to stick to a storyline a little better (i.e., Minnie threw the party -- it was a surprise). I faded out quickly & he cont'd on his own. Started to get a little silly. That's when I called "time to stop". He had no prob w/it (sorry, I forgot animals have to be primary characters in Solitary play).
Coop - 17 min. Hunters going to forest to hunt deer. We alternated who played people & who played animals. Nice job picking up on cues. Held animals/people nicely. DRO. Wanted to do woodpecker a bit too much. Stopped when I asked him to. DRO. Solitary - Animals were primary. Situation was jungle w/a railroad passing on the side. Started out with him & then faded out after 2 min. Needed prompts to use more language rather than animal noises. Also had to remind him to act play out more. Needed one reminder to stop singing. 6 min. Clean up turned into a prob--he refused to do it on his own. Whined & rudely said he's not going to do it. Kept talking. Got T.O. for it. He was pretty mad. Yelled & said he was mad at me in particular for giving him a T.O. Cleaned up after T.O. w/o any qualms.
P.N. - NO PREDATOR / PREY THEMES!!!!
P.N. - Appropriate "Cooperative Play" is 20 min. w/2 or 3 children in small group situations for a 5 year old.
Solitary - Hiccups for Elephant (book). Needed prompt for holding animals in ctr. 3 min set up. Had some trouble remembering story line. I needed to feed him some of the dialogue & this helped him to keep the action moving. He didn't use narration. DRO! 8 min. Played zoo w/[brother] - 10 min. Had to work on space bubble. Prob. staying off [brother]. Good use of dialogue & movement. Followed story line well.
Coop - w/[brother]. Barbie pool. He had a hard time focusing on the dolls. Was stuck on the props. He was the daddy & it was his job to watch the other dolls. This helped somewhat, but he was still only able to do about 5 min. Kept moving away from storyline to play w/props or splash water. Solitary - Three Little Pigs. Needed prompting for holding figures. Great use of movement. No narration! Yay! 9 min. Lots of DRO.
Coop - 23 min! I stretched this out to the max. Stopped a couple of times to remind him to sit up straight (keeps lying down to floor level to be w/characters -- is this ok? Seems like most kids do this). I let him lay down a couple of times but once he seemed to "drift", I interrupted. Acting & conversation was really good. Theme was a b-day party. He was picking up on some great cues (verbal & physical). I tried to make the play a group thing, i.e., 5 kids, playing, planning, etc. He was very engaging & came up with original ideas and comments. Had a quiet body, held figures nicely (we also used pets in house). DRO'd eye contact & paying attn. Solitary - 6 min. Circus. Too many animal noises. Needed prompts to stop overdoing it. Didn't let it continue for long. Used "time to stop".
P.N. - Cooperative: We're drifting away from creating a theme environment where animals are involved. Please reread [date] sheets on this.
Solitary - Peter & the Wolf. 1st two pages. 7 min. Needed prompts for holding animals & having them look at ea other. No narration. Needed prompts to not get stuck on making animal sounds. DRO'd using words & actions. Coop - 12 min. Animal talent show w/[brother]. Different animals showed judges their talent. He did nice job. Good at waiting his turn & paying attn. Good job holding animals. We had to stop b/c [brother] couldn't wait his turn & his animal forgot where he was. Discussed.
Coop - 13 min. Animals (horse & dog) had to go see the vet. Farmer took them to animal hospital, he played the doctor. Dog was sick & horse had a broken ankle. [Brother] was with us -- tried to use him as a model, esp. personal space. [Big brother] was pretty flexible with [little bro], picked up on cues & conversation and gave some intelligent diagnoses & remedies for the animals. Nice job holding animals when he checked them. Treated them like a horse & a dog (i.e., he didn't converse with them). DRO.
P.N. - Role Play dog in class -- Monday a dog named Ruff will be there. If possible, get him to look forward to meeting Ruff
Coop - 20 min w/brother role-played classroom situation. Brought Ruff to school. Went into dog behavior & possible meaning behind it (e.g., licking, barking, etc.). He was good at coming up w/ideas. When asked if he's excited about meeting the dog on Mon., and if he'd touch him or allow him to lick, he said "no...I'm afraid".
P.N. - [ther name] - see notes re: "Ruff" the dog (previous page). Talk to him about the real even of his coming to school & then role play tomorrow's dog visit. "Sparky" is coming to school on Tuesday.
Did role play as part of PRETEND (see notes there). Coop - Animal Olympics. Worked on moving animals around course. DRO'd great holding & moving of animals. Dialogue is in and is great. 14 min. Needed prompt for eye contact. Solitary - 10 Apples On Top (book). Needed prompt to hold animal w/o touching it's teeth. Otherwise nice job. 8 min.
Coop - 19 min. Great job. Tourists went to see animals in jungle. Nice people & animal interaction. Modeled lots of holding people & turning them towards ea other when they talked. Picked up nicely on physical & verbal cues -- DRO. Cleaned up/put away toys very nicely. DRO. Solitary - Peter & the Wolf. Spent about 10 min w/him before he cont'd in solitary play - he was getting a little too stuck on the details of the story, i.e. exact wording & insignificant sequence of story. Tried to get him to be a little more flexible before he cont'd on his own. Played about 4-6 min in solitary - told him to wrap it up b/c we were running late. DRO'd not getting too carried away w/the wolf.
Coop - 17 min. Nice job. He set up train tracks--amazing. Really great joining tracks, etc. Pretended to play a traveling circus. Had to load animals in trains. Commute to new circus site & then unload. Had train accident on the way and one animal got hurt. He did great job picking up on cues and knew what to do; i.e., call the doctor, take care of the animal, etc. DRO'd his not getting carried away w/animals or trains. Nice acting. Solitary - I don't know if this counts, but I let him continue w/ above theme but added more animals to his play. He was more interested in the trains. Needed prompts to pick up animals. Did OK w/play, except that it wasn't predominantly animals - 8 min.
Solitary - 10 min. Jungle animals met forest animals. He was calm about everything. Got to use wolf after I debriefed him about being stuck on howling, etc. Nice job handling animals & acting ea part. Prompted him a couple of times to hold them better. DRO'd quiet tone. Coop - 15 min. Very stuck at first on wanting to use them in Pretend & yesterday. He was flexible about it. Played animal fair. Children go on rides & visit/feed the animals. Got a little carried away w/animal noises. Stopped when I said cut it out. Used global DRO.
Solitary - Peter Pan - 3-4 min. at most w/o wandering off task & tactile stim on dolls. Coop - 9 min. Same probs as above, but shaped duration.
Played shipwreck.
Solitary - Horton Hatches the Egg. DRO'd holding animals in middle & having them face ea other. Nice job with dialogue.
Coop - 13 min. DRO'd holding animals & e.c. Much better w/ following leads & staying in the action.
Solitary - The Adventures of Taxi Dog. Setting up was good but he got too carried away with acting the dog part. Too much "licking", barking, etc. Needed prompts not to overdo it. Had a hard time taking prompts today. Told him to stop b/c he was overdoing it. Lasted 7 min.
Coop - 13 min. Started out rough b/c he wasn't answering 1st time. Upset b/c he didn't have his choice of what to play (b/c he didn't answer). I chose trip to safari -- once I started to act out, he became interested & joined in. Nice job listening at first but wasn't flexible. Kept wanting to change rules, dialogue, etc.
Referenced to similar situation that occurred in school. Needed prompts to hold people & animals closer to floor. Cleaned up nicely & quickly but needed prompt.
Coop - Played desert. 14 min. Nice job. DRO'd holding animals, staying in char & dialog.
Solitary - Goldilocks & the Three Bears. DRO'd staying in char & correct holding of animals. Nice job w/action & dialogue. 8 min.
P.N. - See notes in General about his going off on tangents from his own life. Remind him not to bring in things from his own life but to make things up & use the things YOU make up as well. Notes please. [me-listers: sometime soon I'll go through our "General" notes section -- one entry was written by ea therapist for every session we had EVER--and type out all the Parent Notes, something that might be very useful to many. I believe lots of global (i.e., across drills) strategies were delineated there. There's more than a loose-leaf full]
Only Coop today w/[playdate]. Spent 15 min. & 25 min. playing w/jungle theme (people visiting animals there). First 15 min consisted mostly of the two deciding or trying to decide on what to "play" --- [Son's name] tried to direct EVERYTHING! (i.e., "let's play dinosaurs", etc.) I let them play as naturally as possible but once I saw him directing, I prompted [playdate] to reel him in to his ([playdate]'s) play. He had a hard time accepting this and needed some prompts to listen to [playdate] 1st time. Did a nice job holding animals very well. [Playdate] DRO'd him naturally about his play. 2nd part - He went off on his own for a good 12 min. Didn't pay attn. to [playdate] in terms of Coop play. Needed prompts to listen & do things a different way (i.e., other person's way). Asked him to be flexible. This seemed to work a bit. [Playdate] managed to get him to play w/him last 10-12 min. He fluctuated between calm play and predator play. [Playdate] suggested animals with opened mouths are yawning, not growling (pretty cool suggestion!). One thing that really stood out was that he paid attn. to [playdate] when he was explaining why animals yawn or why people want to pet animals. Golden Rule came up when [playdate] said if you treat the animals nicely, i.e. - pet instead of bite, then they will treat you nicely. DRO and praise.
Farm animals & people. I stood back first & watched. [Playdate] was good at asking/including him in everything he did. -- i.e., building farm w/blocks. He had difficulty joining [playdate] in tasks that were tedious or that required time & patience (blocks). He sort of went on his own. Got stuck on Daffy Duck being a farm animal wanting to "transform" himself. His acting was exaggerated. [Playdate] prompted him to not play "crazy". He listened to this and praised him for acting more calmly. As far as storyline goes, he wasn't really following any. Neither was [playdate]. They mostly performed actions of farm animals & farmers (i.e., taking care of some animals). Lasted 15 min. Both cleaned up nicely!
P.N. - Need notes regarding his going off on tangents from his own life or narrating Coop play.
Solitary - Three Little Pigs - 8 min. Needed prompting for holding animals & e.c. Nice following of story line. Got carried away w/ noise when wolf ate pig. Needed control prompt. DRO'd self-control. Coop - Played jungle animals - visit their friends in the zoo. 16 min. Lots of work on holding animals & looking. He had hard time keeping fingers away from their mouths. Moved to action & quick movement to shape him away from adding extra off-the-topic dialogue (e.g., "he's my brother") that took away from the action. Worked on staying w/ the main idea.
P.N. - [Ther. below], please read [above ther initials/above entry date] carefully.
Solitary - Corduroy - 7 min. Needed lots of prompting to begin. Had hard time following storyline which wasn't really too difficult. He kept wanting me to stay & play w/him. I provided initial assistance i.e., helping him out with props & setting up. He wouldn't take it any further. When he tried he didn't stay focused on main idea of story. Coop - 13 min. - w/[brother] who was great role model. He did lots of nice natural play w/me, responded to my ?s, etc. Pretended we were in desert taking pictures of lizards & kangaroos. He didn't hold animals correctly despite prompts & even a warning. Kept wanting to make play aggressive w/predators. Had to stop him a few times. Acting was uncontrolled & exaggerated. I had him stop & watch last 4 min so that he would learn. Tried to keep actions quick & dialogue at a minimum like [above ther/above entry date].
Coop - 25 min. Had to stop & start a lot b/c we used train tracks w/people & animals. He had hard time using them. Wouldn't take prompts or listen to story line (people traveling and watching animals eating in fields). Very stuck on the tracks & trains. Wouldn't hold people or animals correctly. [Brother] was there -- Megan used him as model. He was upset when it was time to stop...wanted to leave train tracks out, etc. Actions were down as well as conversation. Think he needs to play w/train tracks an entire day until he's bored w/them. He's too stuck.
P.N. - No...he needs to listen to grown-ups now [there was an earlier time in therapy when we would have left them out to desensitize, but I think we felt that this was too late in the game to do this].
Solitary - 8 min. Shy Little Horse (in yellow compilation book). Much better holding animals & people. Still some frenzied moving w/animals, but only mo