It is always so wonderful to hear from families about their experiences with The PLAY Project. Below are stories from two families who recently shared what it has been like to be involved with The PLAY Project:
Family 1, child age 4:
“Prior to The PLAY Project we were intuitively ‘on the right path’ with our efforts to engage our son, but there were so many competing philosophies that we were starting to get bogged down, overwhelmed, and were second-guessing our instincts. The PLAY Project helped us refine our approach to our son and gave us permission to meet him on his level to nurture that relationship. At our consultation he was 38 month, verbal but heavily echolalic – very rarely saying anything that was contextually relevant and he was primarily functioning at a level 1 to level 2.
Nine months later he can hold a short conversation, give basic information about the events of his day, and express his wants/needs and likes/dislikes and he fluctuates comfortably up to level 4 with emerging 5’s! To say he has grown tremendously is an understatement!”
Family 2, child age 5:
“When my son and I first started participating in The PLAY Project, his play consisted of a series of highly-repetitive, non-sensical maneuvers accompanied by memorized phrases. He used few toys the way they are intended and mostly played with the same three things. Hid favorite thing to say to me when I came near was ‘Momma, go away.’ And I would, feeling badly about it all the while.
Six months later, both my son and I have learned so much about the importance of playing together, thanks to The PLAY Project. He now engage willingly and of his own accord with other children and though the results are not always in his favor, he continues to try, because we play at home and he knows playing with other is fun and worth his while. As his mother, I have come to respect his current level of play and I have become smarter about how to engage him in play in a way that will expand his play horizon slowly. I see his personality shine and his social awareness grow through each successful play interaction we have – and that is priceless to me.
We still have a long way to go, but I am encouraged most by the fact that come playtime, my son now tugs at my waist and says, ‘Momma, come play.'”
If you have a PLAY Project story you would like to share, please email it to Onna at info@playproject.org.