Teaching Playskills to Children With Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A Practical Guide

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Summary: Playing can be fun
Review: As adults we forget "how" to play, this book more than reminds us. It outlines ways to play with blocks, legos, puzzles, action figures and lots more. Anything your child enjoys playing with can be used to teach playskills. The step-by-step concrete instructions include dialogue and almost guarantee success. Skills addressed include imitative play, pretend play, toy play, music, games and sensory play. This book is sooo helpful and full of great ideas.

Rating:
Summary: Not very helpful
Review: I ordered this book with high hopes, after visiting Melinda's website. However, the book was a disappointment. It contained VERY little information about the development of playskills in typical children, stages of play, and what skills should be taught first. Instead, the book was more of a personal narrative; a collection of the author's personal experiences in teaching her own son how to play, and excerpts of notes written by her child's therapists. The information was too specific to her high-functioning child to be of use to many parents and professionals who work with children at different levels. Much of the book was comprised of the same lists available on her website. Save yourself the money, and buy another, more useful book.

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Summary: This book has boosted our in-home ABA program!
Review: This book has taken our in-home Verbal Behavior program to new heights! It is simple to read, understand and implement! My son has ASD and is 3.6 yrs. old....he has a vocabulary of maybe 25 words at this point but his play skills are now booming! The ideas that Dr.Smith gives are for all levels of dev. delays....this allows the book to assist us as my son moves onward and upward. My therapists are also extremely happy with his progress. Kudos! Dr.Smith....thank you for helping a parent in need....someday I'll have my son write you a thank you himself......just you wait and see!