Play and autism: the power of play to promote wellbeing (Pre-published version)

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum differences (ASD) play in their own unique ways and differences between children with ASD and neurotypcial children include differences in spontaneous play, social play and pretend play (Jarrold and Conn, 2011). In this article we use the term ‘autism spectrum difference’ rather than ‘autism spectrum disorder’ to avoid conceptualising children’s abilities and needs from a negative and deficient perspective (Ring, McKenna and Wall, 2015). Findings from a recent national evaluation of education provision for children with ASD suggest that children with ASD see opportunities to play as an important feature of their educational experience (Daly and Ring et al., 2016). We argue that the observed differences in the play of children with ASD are not commensurate with a lack of motivation to play or a capacity to benefit from play. Amid increasing concerns for child wellbeing at policy level (Smyth, 2015), the authors suggest that opportunities for child-directed play should be an integral feature of education programmes for children with ASD, given the power of play to support wellbeing and children’s connections with others.