PLAY, WHICH HAS AN IMPORTANT PLACE FOR CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT, IS ALSO IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF ENABLING THEM TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE.

Play has an impact on all areas of children's development, providing them with many skills such as taking responsibility, problem solving, creative thinking, reasoning, social roles, self-expression, social skills, language skills and cognitive skills. In short, play prepares children for life and is an indispensable part of their daily lives.

By definition, autism can cause limitations in the skills of play. For this reason, many children with autism find it difficult to experience the natural benefits of play. Although difficulties in symbolic play and imitation skills and limitations in language development are observed in children affected by autism, there are also studies suggesting that these difficulties are interrelated. In addition, children affected by autism can often exhibit stereotypical behaviors in their play skills.

For children with autism, limited play skills also limit many of the things necessary for them to perform independently and relate to their environment and peers.  In this direction, it is very useful to teach children affected by autism to participate in social activities and play activities. At this point, planning a teaching process for children's interests, taking into account their individual differences in teaching game skills, increases their participation in the game. At the same time, teaching play skills to children affected by autism and supporting the generalization of play skills to inclusive environments also contribute to children's ability to play to the fullest.

MERVE ÖZTURHAN, SOBE Foundation Special Education Teacher

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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