Why Natural Play Therapy (NPT)?
We chose Natural Play Therapy as our therapy of choice for several reasons. One reason is that it is a home based, parent led therapy that focuses on building relationships with George. One of the greatest challenges for people with autism is interacting socially with other people. Relationships are a very important part of life and when we have relationships with people that don't judge us and take an interest in what we like then we are more motivated to take an interest in what they like and form a real relationship with them. This is how George will want to enter our world instead of being in his own world. Through a variety of relationships George will be motivated to learn other important skills.Many of the more popular autism treatments focus on behavior training, giving the child commands and looking for certain responses. Repetitive behaviors or 'inappropriate' behaviors are often discouraged and the goal is to extinguish them. We don't believe George is behaving 'inappropriately' when he does his repetitive behaviors. We believe he is doing them for a reason and it is to take care of himself and fill a sensory need. We have found when we take interest in what he is doing, not judge him and join in with him the repetitive behaviors actually lessen on their own.
Natural Play Therapy has guidelines and we have the ability to use the best of many other autism therapies that George may need while using NPT. We design the program around George's specific needs. NPT also has Web based interactive training classes that our team can learn from along with outreach programs we can benefit from as well.
Who developed Natural Play Therapy and where can I find out more about it?
Julie Sando of Autistically Inclined is the main founder of Natural Play Therapy. Julie has 15 years of experience in the autism field. She has worked with over 1,000 families touched by autism world-wide since 1998. She started with two years of experience and training in the behavioral field before switching to relationship-based modalities. Julie completed six years of intensive training in Massachusetts, learning how to work with both children and parents. After realizing you can't fit all people on the spectrum into one therapeutic approach, she created Natural Play Therapy (NPT). NPT is a naturalistic and highly customizable approach that prioritizes respect and relationships, with each family's unique needs taken into consideration. Her company Autistically Inclined is based in San Diego and she continues to travel world-wide.6 minute video of Julie Sando and NPT
Can people with Down syndrome have autism?
Down syndrome and autism are both equal opportunity disabilities – meaning that anyone, anywhere, regardless of race, creed or socio-economic status, can have a child with either condition. Down syndrome occurs once in every 691 live births, making it the most commonly-occurring chromosomal condition. It is believed that 7%-18%1 (some research suggests up to 39%)2 of individuals with Down syndrome also have an autistic spectrum disorder. Both Down syndrome and autism can be challenging disabilities separately, without the combination, however when combined the challenges are multiplied and can be quite complex.Excerpt taken from: Down syndrome-autism Connection
What might a session with George look like?
When Team Members arrive at our home they go with George into his special Playroom. This is an area that is a non-distracting environment for him and a 'yes' environment where he is in control. His Playroom has an observation window with one way viewing and a camera. One way we learn how to improve our NPT interactions is from watching ourselves and other Team Members interact with George. This takes a bit to get used to, but it is actually very helpful.
Typically adults will do a 2 hour session. We find that it takes George awhile to open up and he may do a lot more repetitive behaviors at first until he feels comfortable. Depending on how frequent volunteers come, many of the early sessions may involve a lot of watching, observing and building trust with George. We will train Team Members on ways to do this.
Basically we follow George's lead and do what he wants. Once we have established trust then we can work on more specific goals for George. Each Team Member will create goals unique to their own personality that they would like George to attain and we will brainstorm together the steps needed to get there. Currently some things we do are: play a marble run game that he loves, blow lots of bubbles, play some simple musical instruments, play with a tub of beans, bounce on therapy balls, swing in a hammock, play with a tunnel, read books, play tickle games, provide some deep pressure as needed for calming, and play trains all while working on eye contact and back and forth turn taking skills. After each session the Team Member meets with Yvonne to fill out some session notes on our computer where we track George's goals and progress. Here we can see what other Team Members are doing with George and it helps us to learn and brainstorm new ways to interact and connect with him.
We ask that our volunteers be open to learning, evaluating and brainstorming ways to improve on their interactions with George. We are building a team to brainstorm and learn from. None of us have all the answers. We need to be willing to let George show us the way to reach him. Patience and not trying to force interactions is something I have had to personally work on.
We want our volunteers to be enthusiastic and fun for George and celebrate his small accomplishments. This doesn't mean being fake. We all celebrate in our own unique ways and we want our volunteers to be themselves. George will learn that people are fun and interesting by us all being 'real'.
We ask that our NPT Team Member volunteers pick a consistent time to come and play with George each week or month. We would love to have a one year commitment, but we also want our volunteers to tell us any time they feel that working with George is not a good fit for them.
Wearing comfortable clothes and being willing to crawl around the Playroom floor and play like a kid is important. (Piggy back rides, rough housing, whatever!) No synthetic perfumes or colognes please, as they can be a problem for George's sensory system. Pure essential oils however are fine and actually helpful for George! Volunteers can even come without make-up; George doesn't care!
We ask that Team Members be willing to physically meet as a team once a month for training and brainstorming. Other training may be done as we go such as after sessions or email communications as needed.
Most of all we want our volunteers to have fun interacting with George and believe that the time they spend with him is helping him tremendously, even though George may not 'appear' to care at times.
A Playroom is a place that is a 'yes' environment for George. No need to tell him not to touch things or throw things. Everything in the room is safe for his needs. We keep the toys up high on a shelf, so that George learns that he needs people to help him. This helps him to work on his communication skills. He now will put his arms up when he wants up and pull our hand to what he wants. Our next step is to move a bit slower when he wants something and encourage him to start using some sounds for what he wants like buh for bubbles and mmm for marbles. We celebrate any little step in that direction.
Having the toys up high also keeps less mess on the floor which means less distractions. We try to pick up each activity as it is completed before we begin another, so George does not get overwhelmed. The toys are simple, non-electric items. The most important 'toys' in the room are our Team Members. Interacting with people is the reward, not something George has to 'get through' to do what he wants.
A special outdoor area may be created to do NPT outside. A 'Yes' outdoor area! This is one of our goals as summer approaches. Natural Play Therapy may also be done in the child's natural environments as the child progresses and is less sensitive to his/her surroundings.
Typically adults will do a 2 hour session. We find that it takes George awhile to open up and he may do a lot more repetitive behaviors at first until he feels comfortable. Depending on how frequent volunteers come, many of the early sessions may involve a lot of watching, observing and building trust with George. We will train Team Members on ways to do this.
Basically we follow George's lead and do what he wants. Once we have established trust then we can work on more specific goals for George. Each Team Member will create goals unique to their own personality that they would like George to attain and we will brainstorm together the steps needed to get there. Currently some things we do are: play a marble run game that he loves, blow lots of bubbles, play some simple musical instruments, play with a tub of beans, bounce on therapy balls, swing in a hammock, play with a tunnel, read books, play tickle games, provide some deep pressure as needed for calming, and play trains all while working on eye contact and back and forth turn taking skills. After each session the Team Member meets with Yvonne to fill out some session notes on our computer where we track George's goals and progress. Here we can see what other Team Members are doing with George and it helps us to learn and brainstorm new ways to interact and connect with him.
What are the expectations of a NPT Team Member?
Having a non-judgmental attitude is very important. This means not labeling autistic behaviors as 'bad' or 'abnormal', but to trust George is doing the best he can and his body is trying to take care of itself through these behaviors. It is important to remember that George is not defined by his disabilities. We don't refer to him as our "Downs or autistic child", he is George first, who happens to have Down syndrome and is currently on the autism spectrum.We ask that our volunteers be open to learning, evaluating and brainstorming ways to improve on their interactions with George. We are building a team to brainstorm and learn from. None of us have all the answers. We need to be willing to let George show us the way to reach him. Patience and not trying to force interactions is something I have had to personally work on.
We want our volunteers to be enthusiastic and fun for George and celebrate his small accomplishments. This doesn't mean being fake. We all celebrate in our own unique ways and we want our volunteers to be themselves. George will learn that people are fun and interesting by us all being 'real'.
We ask that our NPT Team Member volunteers pick a consistent time to come and play with George each week or month. We would love to have a one year commitment, but we also want our volunteers to tell us any time they feel that working with George is not a good fit for them.
Wearing comfortable clothes and being willing to crawl around the Playroom floor and play like a kid is important. (Piggy back rides, rough housing, whatever!) No synthetic perfumes or colognes please, as they can be a problem for George's sensory system. Pure essential oils however are fine and actually helpful for George! Volunteers can even come without make-up; George doesn't care!
We ask that Team Members be willing to physically meet as a team once a month for training and brainstorming. Other training may be done as we go such as after sessions or email communications as needed.
Most of all we want our volunteers to have fun interacting with George and believe that the time they spend with him is helping him tremendously, even though George may not 'appear' to care at times.
Why do you need a special Playroom?
A Playroom is a place that is distraction free to avoid any extra sensory information. People with autism can become completely overwhelmed by their environment, because their senses send much different information to their brain than ours.A Playroom is a place that is a 'yes' environment for George. No need to tell him not to touch things or throw things. Everything in the room is safe for his needs. We keep the toys up high on a shelf, so that George learns that he needs people to help him. This helps him to work on his communication skills. He now will put his arms up when he wants up and pull our hand to what he wants. Our next step is to move a bit slower when he wants something and encourage him to start using some sounds for what he wants like buh for bubbles and mmm for marbles. We celebrate any little step in that direction.
Having the toys up high also keeps less mess on the floor which means less distractions. We try to pick up each activity as it is completed before we begin another, so George does not get overwhelmed. The toys are simple, non-electric items. The most important 'toys' in the room are our Team Members. Interacting with people is the reward, not something George has to 'get through' to do what he wants.
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| George's Playroom |
I have been busy editing my blog. Please check out all my tabs for new and improved information. We have a better idea on what is needed financially after doing this since June of 2013, so I updated my Fundraising Details tab. I think the Volunteer Tab is more user friendly as well and George's Goals tab has some of his progress added. If anyone has suggestions on how to make my blog better, please send them my way. This is all a new experience for me and I am learning so much along the way.
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