play groups for kids with high functioning autism

[Anonymous]

Anyone knows any playgroups for kids with high funtioning autism in fairfax? My son in intrested in playing with other kids but doesnt fully get how to do that, I think if he participates in a group or I can find few parents where he can perhaps find friendship with another kid, it will help him. ANyone intrested in starting one?

[Anonymous]

How old is your child?

[Anonymous]

Have you thought about starting a neighborhood playgroup with children who don't have HFA and being extra involved in his play the first few times?

We've found our HFA child does not get along very well with other kids with HFA. Two or more socially awkward kids often doesn't lead to a great mix.

We once set DS up on a playdate with a kid who has HFA and it was a no-go. Both of them only wanted to stick to their topic of interest and there was no overlap. Plus my kid has sensory issues and the other child was more physical and loud. My DS is not very flexible about rules while the other child was more advanced in this regard so it made playing games very difficult. They were both very polite to each other, but ended up playing in parallel for most of the two hours until the other mom came.

[Anonymous]

Ours does seem to get along better with other HFA (or at least developmentally delayed) kids, probably for the same reason he does better with younger kids. But still, successful social interactions have to be rigorously planned/scaffolded by adults at first. It got better once they developed shared interests and context. I'd suggest starting with activities that don't require the kids to carry the load of socializing too much--movies, bounce houses, Chuck E Cheese or whatever. If you just put them in a room together, even a room with a lot of Legos, they may not have much fun. Better to build a history of having fun together before they have to make it happen themselves.

[Anonymous]

He is 3 years old. and he does go to fairfax county pre-school for half day and then daycare/preschool for the remaining. But just plays by him self.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is 3 years old. and he does go to fairfax county pre-school for half day and then daycare/preschool for the remaining. But just plays by him self.

Age 3 is hard -- it can be perfectly age appropriate not to have close friends and to do more parallel play. I'd focus on giving him the exposure to other kids (HFA or NT) and not push the cooperative play.

[Anonymous]

At that age, we went to the local parks a lot. We always brought a ball or other toys to interest other kids to play with my son. Then, we facilitated the play and helped our child say hello and introduce himself and negotiate how to play. hes now nearly five and we still do this same thing with him, though to a little bit lesser degree.

[Anonymous]

Where in fairfax are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He is 3 years old. and he does go to fairfax county pre-school for half day and then daycare/preschool for the remaining. But just plays by him self.

Age 3 is hard -- it can be perfectly age appropriate not to have close friends and to do more parallel play. I'd focus on giving him the exposure to other kids (HFA or NT) and not push the cooperative play.

Yes, our 3's room filled with NT children is just now (9 months into the school year, with all kids turning 4 years old starting last September) getting so they are truly playing cooperatively. At the beginning 3 kids might be in the block area but they'd be building their own structures, or commenting on other kids' structures, gradually that turned into adding things to other kids' structures and now 3 kids will build one thing together, or work together to get the ramps to work for the cars to drop where they want.... it's a process.

But it's great that he's there, being with the other children, and it would be important for the teachers to scaffold this as the other kids in the group are ready - then they'll scaffold his abilities.