There are lots of important fantastic reasons to prioritise play for disabled and/or neurodivergent children and young people. I’m sure you can list off a bunch of them without having to think too much; there’s developmental reasons, physical wellbeing, opportunities to develop peer relationships, therapeutic benefits, sensory regulation and educational reasons… But there is oneContinue reading “What We Say When We Prioritise Inclusive Play.”
Tag Archives: asd
Autistic Nuances; A personal perspective
This month I wanted to write something a little different.April is a month of ‘Autism Awareness’ campaigns; the good, the bad and theconfusingly misguided. I am fully behind those who call for this month to beabout acceptance not awareness. I hope celebration will follow, and then, oneday, maybe our society and culture will function inContinue reading “Autistic Nuances; A personal perspective”
Playful Communication Part 3: Wordplay
Previously I’ve written about the importance of recognising and valuing different forms of communication and the need for us to allow for expressive as well as functional communication. In this piece I’m going to take a specific look at language as a form of expressive communication and in particular what this can look like inContinue reading “Playful Communication Part 3: Wordplay”
Play Diary: Wanted kids and missing flamingos
It was a quiet chilly day at the playground and I’d been chatting with a fellow playworker about what to do with an underused and in-the-way wooden leaflet stand. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired and was mostly coming up with overly complex ideas involving a box of wool I’d uncovered and been a bit desperateContinue reading “Play Diary: Wanted kids and missing flamingos”
Playful Communication #2: Permission
In play work we talk a lot about permission and in my role I definitely spend a lot of time giving it. Sometimes it’s something simple, just a “yes, you can use that” or “yes, you can climb that’. Sometimes it’s a more complicated “yes if” or maybe a “tell me more….” Sometimes children aren’tContinue reading “Playful Communication #2: Permission”
Let me process my sensory processing
content warning: this post contains discussion of mental health and has self harm mentions I’m a sensitive guy When I say I’m Sensitive, I really mean it, in its most literal sense. Certain noises make me flinch and squirm, certain lights make me nauseous, and food is a textural minefield. Wagon wheels (a biscuit withContinue reading “Let me process my sensory processing”
Play Diary: Telling Stories
I know a child who speaks in headlines and snippets from stories of mischief and chaos. He mixes characters, plot points and slapstick action with highlights from days in his life. Though it may sound like a random collage it’s never outside of a certain rationality; rules and facts of life drawn from the workingsContinue reading “Play Diary: Telling Stories”
Play Diary: Tubes, Tubes and Temporary Playgrounds
Hello and welcome to another play diary This entry will be bit of a flashback to those couple of weeks in the summer where I got very into a bunch of cardboard tubes. Hope you enjoy! Back in the summer I got the opportunity to go into a local play scheme and run a playContinue reading “Play Diary: Tubes, Tubes and Temporary Playgrounds”
Play Radical 