Social Communication Therapy in Pretend Play Centers!

updated 1/2023 I stumbled upon working with my students with social communication delays in pretend play centers with a former 4K student. I had been pulling this student for small-group social skills instruction and practice. I was feeling stuck. He performed wonderfully in this structured, small group setting but his teacher reported social skills challenges during center times. When I observed him during center time, I agreed with her. This was the start of my supporting kids with language and social communication delays during center times in the classroom.

You might also like this post on developing perspective taking with young children.

Why during center time?

Centers provide raw material that I could never re-recreate in my small groups or speech therapy sessions. Time pressures, distractions, interruptions, emotional regulation difficulties of fellow students….the list could go on and on. Luckily, the 4K teachers usually offered a pretend play center and this was where I planted myself along-side my students with social communication delays.

**Why pretend play centers over other types of centers?**

It’s full of opportunities for work on the following social and language skills:

*Symbolic play.

This strengthens the foundations for language skills. Children learn that an item during play can stand for or symbolize something else. For example, a spoon can also be a magic wand!

*Negotiation of conflict, compromise, and problem-solving.

“Okay, you be the hair stylist and I’ll be the customer.” Compromise is built-in to the play routine.

*Sharing and turn-taking.

There are not always enough “props” for each child so children naturally have to share and take turns.

*Perspective-taking and empathy.

When children take on a “pretend” role, they begin to imagine what it is like to be this person. This helps develop their ability to take the perspective of other people.

*Language Skills.

Pretend play is often language-driven and provides you with ample opportunities to work on language skills! Children use their language to explain their roles, “I’ll be the vet and you be the lady with the sick dog.” Opportunities for this rich language use are not found in all centers!

*Reciprocal communication.

While some centers involve children acting on toys on their own, in solo play, pretend play centers typically involve reciprocal communication. Children are often talking about the same items and asking questions or making comments to each other. You can be there prompting and encouraging your student to respond to others, make comments and ask questions of their peers.

SLP techniques during pretend play sessions.

1. Be a narrator of the pretend play session.

I find that narrating the sessions gives me opportunities to give children feedback in an authentic manner. For example, “Oh, I see you let Jamie be the cook now. Great idea to take turns.”
Narrating the session gives me the opportunity to recast and expand language. When a child says, “cup,” I can recast it into a longer utterance, “Oh, you said “I want cup.” Acting as a narrator allows me to introduce and demonstrate new vocabulary in the session. For example, you want to introduce new verbs during a pretend play cooking session. You might say, “let’s flip the pancake. I’ll show you what I mean” while you demonstrate your pancake-flipping skills and repeat the word “flip.”

2. Be a participant in pretend play, don’t just observe from the sidelines.

Being a part of the pretend play scenario is important. I insert myself into the play session so I can role-model language and social skills for my students. As an SLP, you are role-modeling how to play with other children, how to collaborate on new ideas and play scenarios, and how to negotiate conflict.
I am careful to NOT take over the play session or even to lead it. I find that my students easily accept me playing dual roles as both narrator and participant.

3. Set up sessions to expand play skills.

My students with autism often get stuck playing with the same toys or the same play scenario. I use pretend play centers to role-play how I or another student can play with the same desirable toy in a slightly different way. I had a student with autism who would only play the same scenarios with mermaid and pirate toys. So, we set up a hair salon center and the mermaids and pirates became customers in the salon. My student saw other children using the mermaids and pirates in a slightly different way! When he tried to use movie talk and engage in his fixed play scenario, I role-modeled and guided him through a new way of interacting with his favorite toys that also involved other children!

4. Limit amounts of desirable roles and props.

This provides natural opportunities for students to share, negotiate conflict and take turns.

What if there isn’t a pretend play center in the classroom routine?

Don’t let that stop you. Offer to bring in the materials and props for a pretend play center! Explain how pretend play gives students opportunities to achieve social and emotional competencies. These skills are important for all students and especially our students with autism. Consider starting a small play group with another teacher or therapist.

Have fun developing valuable social-emotional competencies during pretend play!