Learning how to become a good playmate

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How does a child learn to interact with other children? We have a 5 year only child who is autistic. She does not converse much at this time so does not pick up on what another child says to her. Any suggestions?

I am not necessarily a good person for contributing here.
- I'm a guy
- While I've been Autistic my whole life, we did not know it 'til I was 64

But something that helped me was my Dad used to take me on fishing trips with him when I was very young. That is, me and and adult (Dad)...sometimes a man who lived down the hill (that is, me and two adult men).

Have you taken your daughter to a speech and language pathologist? It sounds like she might have issues with processing speech.

Another case may be she understands what the other children are saying to her, but she simply doesn't have any interest in socializing.

Anyway, thats my two cents on the matter.

try singing, along with songs she likes maybe?
children songs are for that, learning words in a fun way,

i was rather chatty when young
but more interested in adults then kids
i had my brothers to play with
& my mother often set me up with my cousins

socialising, according to eikonabridge- see if you find that, its older on here-
socialising isn't the first thing autistic kids need to learn,
viewtopic.php?t=347502

Had similar behavior when I was a kid. Still convinced I have trouble processing spoken words. Most school days consisted of little K wandering the playground looking for something non-human to interact with. Needless to say my social skills faltered.

Maybe set up a playdate with another child on the spectrum? Maybe they can connect over an object vs talking. A trinket of some sort they can both fixate on.

My closest 2 friends I've known since childhood. All likely on the spectrum to varying degrees. We constantly bonded while messing with machines and physical things, often with little talking.

You're going to have to focus on what interests her and go from there. If she is motivated, she will communicate. If a person is interesting to her, she will pay attention to them.

Try not to get too frustrated if it seems like she is behind in some areas. Her brain is working on things, just not in the same order as a neurotypical person.

I'm not sure autistic children need playmates until they show active interest in having them. I mean, you'll know. She would have noticeably distressed behavior if you socialized her too much. Then all you'd do is give her more alone time or time with people she is comfortable with.

Give it time, she's still small, NT kids her age are learning social skills too, if a bit faster. She might start catching up in her own time when she's ready. Just keep introducing her to other kids in low pressure settings so she's used to it. I was a bit more aloof as a little kid than as an older kid, I became more congenial. There's no rush or panic just yet.

Some consider Aspergers a deficiency. I consider it a neurological variant presenting with a neurology that is faster, more complex, or more sensitive resulting in an avalanche of sensory and cognitive information to be processed. This can result in many things for a child some of which are in this free pdf booklet;

https://christianpioneer.com/blogarchie ... e_2017.pdf

Because a reflexive response to situations is not always available, the Asperger child may have developmental delays until he/she learns to work with others on manual control instead of the more typical autopilot.

These skills will come but slowly. It can be useful for the child to understand that this is something they will have to work on.