I have been thinking a lot lately about the concept of a Safe Emergency as I find ways to prepare children for Halloween. Halloween is a Safe Emergency Holiday where many people have decided that it would be fun to pretend to be brave about all the scariest things in life--injury, death, spiders, dark nights, and walking up to knock on the door of houses where strangers live. As odd as this cultural celebration is, it is not a stretch to understand a holiday like this. This kind of a holiday exists in many cultures. Even more common and similar is the kind of pretend play that you see with seven year old kids on the playground of any elementary school. You be the terrorist and you go in the hills over there. I will be a Pilot and I will bomb you but you try to get away! Apparently, children are prone to re-enacting whatever terrifying thing they hear about. By the time we are grownups, our Safe Emergency play has become video games, movies, books, rock climbing, and so on. There has to be a reason that so many of us choose to spend our free time in activities like this. I call these activities Safe Emergencies.
Possible reasons for Safe Emergencies:
We need to practice in order to be prepared to handle real emergencies.
We like the feeling of control over scary things that we get when we play.
We like the feeling of alertness and mental focus that comes when we are a little scared.
We learn important emotional regulation, empathy, imagination, language, social interaction, motor and problem solving skills by engaging in Safe Emergencies.
Why Games? is a discussion about why playing with your child is important and how structured games can make your play times more successful. Creating Common Ground is a discussion of how to get started with children who are not yet talking and often move away, ignore you, or protest when you try to play.
Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard is a discussion about how to find games that are at the right level of difficulty for your child.
You Need To Play....
Playing is like breathing, hugging, prayer--you need to play. Everyone needs to play.Playing is a means of growing attraction between any two souls. You suspect two people are falling in love if they start to play together.If you want a child to love you, learn from you, imitate you, communicate with you, enjoy you--then play with that child. Both of you will experience joy.
It sometimes helps, when one is trying to understand the meaning of a phenomenon , to see that phenomenon in a different context. Watch here as a Husky and a Polar Bear come together in play. Although not as dramatic, I recently saw a rabbit and a squirrel play together in my back yard. Who knew this even happened? Watching them, I felt they provided me with a confirmation, yet again, of the importance of play to the well-being of all beings who are capable of playing. Dr. Stuart Brown Director of the National Institute of Play, speaking in 2007 on Speaking of Faith, describes how play promotes trust, empathy, and adaptability to life's complications. I see the capacity to communicate and enjoy social interaction grow every day with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders as they play with family and friends at the clinic where I practice. This blog and the companion web site, Autism Games are dedicated to inspiring you, fellow lover of a child with autism, to play in a thousand different ways and for a thousand different reasons with your child.
The contents of Autism Games (autismgames.blogspot.com) are for informational purposes only. The information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should seek the advice of your health care provider regarding any questions you have. You should not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on Autism Games. Autism Games disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on the information on this website.
No comments:
Post a Comment