Playdates are beneficial for ALL children to practice critical social skills on which future relationships will be built. The benefits of playdates include: increasing confidence; improving social decision making; and practicing skills in an adult supervised yet natural setting. Playing together allows kids to be a part of the action vs. being quiet observers. Play typically develops in a natural progression from individual play to parallel play (when children play next to each other), and finally to interactive/social reciprocal play. Many parents of children who are typically developing and those with special needs set up playdates to encourage the building of critical skills and friendships. The most important lesson learned from playing with a variety of children is that EVERY child is different and special! Throughout life, we meet and interact with people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities and learning from each other can truly enhance our life. Here are some tried and true tips I recommend for setting up playdates with children who are on the autism spectrum · Practice playing. It may be hard to believe, but the act of playing doesn't come naturally to some kids. For example, children with autism often have difficulty with taking turns, having conversation, and interpreting nonverbal gestures. Practicing and explaining this to your child may help him to feel more comfortable. Together, discuss strategies that can be used to help facilitate play. What is a facial expression? Make different faces and ask your child to guess your emotion. · How...

Tips for inclusive playdates: practice play, find common interests, be flexible, plan activities, manage allergies, and provide support.

Ten Tips for Playdate Inclusion Among Kids of All Abilities

Playdates are beneficial for ALL children to practice critical social skills on which future relationships will be built. The benefits of playdates include: increasing confidence; improving social decision making; and practicing skills in an adult supervised yet natural setting. Playing together allows kids to be a part of the action vs. being quiet observers. Play typically develops in a natural progression from individual play to parallel play (when children play next to each other), and finally to interactive/social reciprocal play. Many parents of children who are typically developing and those with special needs set up playdates to encourage the building of critical skills and friendships. The most important lesson learned from playing with a variety of children is that EVERY child is different and special! Throughout life, we meet and interact with people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities and learning from each other can truly enhance our life. Here are some tried and true tips I recommend for setting up playdates with children who are on the autism spectrum · Practice playing. It may be hard to believe, but the act of playing doesn't come naturally to some kids. For example, children with autism often have difficulty with taking turns, having conversation, and interpreting nonverbal gestures. Practicing and explaining this to your child may help him to feel more comfortable. Together, discuss strategies that can be used to help facilitate play. What is a facial expression? Make different faces and ask your child to guess your emotion. · How...

Tips for inclusive playdates: practice play, find common interests, be flexible, plan activities, manage allergies, and provide support.

Ten Tips for Playdate Inclusion Among Kids of All Abilities

Your child comes home from school and doesn't mention a single peer by name. Again. The birthday party invitations that arrive for siblings never arrive for them. You watch other kids pair off at the park while yours hovers at the edge, uncertain how to join. Social isolation isn't one bad playdate. It's a pattern, and you're not sure where to start breaking it. Friendship for children with disabilities isn't about hoping the right peer shows up. It's creating the conditions where connection can happen, then scaffolding it with deliberate practice. That means identifying what your child cares about, choosing the right social setting, practicing scenarios at home, and doing the follow-up work that early friendships require. Start With What Your Child Talks About, Not What Would Make Them "Normal". The fastest way to derail a friendship attempt is to push your child toward activities you think will help them fit in. A child who loves trains doesn't need to join the soccer team to make friends. They need to find other kids who love trains. Shared interest is the engine of childhood friendship regardless of disability. A LEGO club, a model railroad group, a gaming community, an art class focused on the medium your child gravitates toward. These settings reduce social ambiguity because the script is already written: you're here because you both care about this thing. Ask what they talk about unprompted. What do they return to when they have free time? That's where you start looking for...

Practical strategies to help your child develop genuine friendships through shared interests, structured programs, and home practice.

How to Help Your Child with Special Needs Build and Keep Friendships

Your child comes home from school and doesn't mention a single peer by name. Again. The birthday party invitations that arrive for siblings never arrive for them. You watch other kids pair off at the park while yours hovers at the edge, uncertain how to join. Social isolation isn't one bad playdate. It's a pattern, and you're not sure where to start breaking it. Friendship for children with disabilities isn't about hoping the right peer shows up. It's creating the conditions where connection can happen, then scaffolding it with deliberate practice. That means identifying what your child cares about, choosing the right social setting, practicing scenarios at home, and doing the follow-up work that early friendships require. Start With What Your Child Talks About, Not What Would Make Them "Normal". The fastest way to derail a friendship attempt is to push your child toward activities you think will help them fit in. A child who loves trains doesn't need to join the soccer team to make friends. They need to find other kids who love trains. Shared interest is the engine of childhood friendship regardless of disability. A LEGO club, a model railroad group, a gaming community, an art class focused on the medium your child gravitates toward. These settings reduce social ambiguity because the script is already written: you're here because you both care about this thing. Ask what they talk about unprompted. What do they return to when they have free time? That's where you start looking for...

Try this: explain to a child what a friend is. Not what they do, but what they are. For most of us, friendship was never explained. It unfolded. We absorbed it on playgrounds, through sleepovers and arguments and making up. We didn't learn it so much as catch it. Autistic children often don't catch it that way. The implicit rules, the unspoken turn-taking, the subtle shift when someone moves from acquaintance to actual friend: these patterns don't become obvious through repetition alone. They stay invisible. Autistic children are not short on warmth or the desire to connect. Research is consistent on that. The gap isn't motivation. It's that friendship runs on a set of unwritten rules no one ever bothered to write down. Nearly half of autistic young adults report no peer relationships outside structured settings like school or work. It's not inevitable. It reflects how little targeted support most families receive, and how much difference specific, early strategies can make. What Friendship Means. Before you can help your child make a friend, you may need to teach them what a friend is. Friendship is built on reciprocity: you share, I share. You listen, I listen. You remember I like trains, I remember you're afraid of the fire drill. Autistic children often understand loyalty and kindness deeply but miss the smaller exchange: friendship isn't just someone you're nice to, it's someone you stay curious about over time. Spelling it out plainly works: "A friend is someone you like spending time...

How to help autistic children make and keep friends, from social stories and role-play to peer-mediated programs and structured playdates.

How to Help Your Child With Autism Build and Keep Friendships

How to help autistic children make and keep friends, from social stories and role-play to peer-mediated programs and structured playdates.

A new school year is approaching and for many students with special needs, the anxiety may be growing. As a parent, you begin to notice this pattern each summer and you may not know exactly how to soothe your child other than to say, "You're going to be fine," which is nice, but just not enough. You may notice a general level of agitation, argumentativeness, restlessness, or constant chattiness about school and not wanting to go back. Here are some strategies for you to use to help ease your child's anticipatory anxiety about the first day of school.  Take a field trip.... to school  Everyone loves a field trip, so pack the kids, we're going to school! It may sound silly, but take your child to his school and walk around the playground, the main door, and the door at which your child will wait in the morning. If your child takes the bus, review the routine: the bus stops here, you come out here and walk to over here. If you drive your child to school, show her where you will drop off and the path that she will use to go to her waiting area until the bell rings.  Play on his playground so that your child develops a sense of comfort after a long summer break. If the school building is open, take a walk around the area and hall where your child's class is likely to be.  Even though this may be...

Ease back-to-school anxiety with visits to the school, early shopping, open conversations, playdates, and comfort items.

A Parents Cheat Sheet to the August Jitters

Ease back-to-school anxiety with visits to the school, early shopping, open conversations, playdates, and comfort items.

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Special Needs
Articles

Ten Tips for Playdate Inclusion Among Kids of All Abilities

How to Help Your Child with Special Needs Build and Keep Friendships

How to Help Your Child With Autism Build and Keep Friendships

A Parents Cheat Sheet to the August Jitters

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs Articles

Ten Tips for Playdate Inclusion Among Kids of All Abilities

How to Help Your Child with Special Needs Build and Keep Friendships

How to Help Your Child With Autism Build and Keep Friendships

A Parents Cheat Sheet to the August Jitters

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs
Articles