Developmental Stages Of Play in Autism
I just did an Instagram post about this, but I thought I would share it here as well:
Did you know that children move through different developmental stages of play as their skills grow? Autistic children also move through these same stages, but they may spend longer in certain stages, revisit stages, show skills from multiple stages at the same time, or approach play in their own unique way.
Knowing what stage your child is in is important. When we meet them in their stage, play becomes more engaging and meaningful, creating more opportunities for connection, and for modeling language naturally.
Stage 1: Exploratory Play
This stage consists of sensory and motor exploration of toys and objects. A child looks at, reaches for, grasps and mouths items. In this stage they may do a lot of mouthing, banging, shaking, or throwing toys.
Through exploratory play, children learn how to interact with others as they shift and share attention between people and objects, take turns, and develop a longer attention span. Autistic children may spend longer here, often focusing on the sensory side of play because it feels regulating and rewarding.
Appropriate toys and activities at this stage would be people games such as peek-a-boo, tickling games, rattles, sensory toys, and balls.
Stage 2: Non-functional Play
This stage consists of repetitive actions with toys such as banging, patting, throwing etc.
Through non-functional play, children practice control of their movements, visual attention, and early problem-solving skills. They also learn social attention by observing and interacting with adults or peers during these routines.
Autistic children may spend longer in this stage than typically developing peers. Repetitive play such as lining up toys, spinning and sorting toys may be preferred because it’s predictable and sensory-rich. They may focus more on objects than social interaction during this stage.
Appropriate toys and activities at this stage would be stacking cups, lining up cars, spinning toys, pop-up toys, and repetitive action toys.
Stage 3: Functional Play
This stage consists of beginning pretend play, using toys as they were intended, such as pushing a car, building with blocks, or playing with a dollhouse.
Through functional play, children learn cause-and-effect relationships, sequencing, and basic problem-solving, and they begin to develop early language concepts tied to actions.
Some autistic children may skip or show less interest in functional play. They may engage with toys differently by focusing on the parts, the sensory features, or repeating actions they enjoy instead of playing with them “the right way”.
Appropriate toys in this stage would be open-ended toys such as toy cars, blocks, magnet tiles, dollhouse.
Stage 4: Symbolic Play
This stage is where pretend play begins and an object or toy is used to represent something else—like making an imaginary meal, pretending to be an animal, or using a block as a car and driving it.
Through symbolic play, children develop imagination, early narrative skills, and symbolic thinking, which are foundational for language, social communication, and understanding others’ perspectives. This stage may not come as naturally to autistic children because it asks them to engage in pretend scenarios that may not feel as purposeful or motivating to them. Symbolic play requires social referencing and perspective-taking which may be difficult.
Appropriate toys in this stage would be open-ended toys such as dolls, stuffed animals, pretend food, cars, farm or zoo animals.
Stage 5: Combining Play Actions With Familiar Routines
This stage consists of linking multiple actions together in a sequence during familiar routines, like putting a doll to bed, covering it with a blanket, and saying “night-night.”
Through combining play actions, children develop sequencing, planning, and narrative skills, as well as richer language structures. Autistic children may prefer repeating the same familiar sequences over and over again and may have trouble (or may not have the language skills) to expand them without modeling and assistance.
Appropriate toys and activities in this stage are open-ended toys such as dollhouses, kitchen sets, toy animals, action figures.
Stage 6: Expanding Play Routines
This stage consists of creating more elaborate sequences and pretend scenarios with familiar objects and routines, such as cooking an imaginary meal, or playing with a dollhouse.
Through expanding play routines, children develop longer attention spans, imagination, problem-solving skills, and more complex language structures including new vocabulary and sentence patterns. Autistic children may focus on objects or repetitive sequences rather than the social aspects of these play routines.
Appropriate toys and activities in this stage are play kitchens, dollhouse, animal figures, cars, action figures.
Stage 7: Role Play and Games With Rules
In this stage, play becomes more social and interactive, and consists of creating more elaborate sequences and pretend scenarios, such as taking on roles (doctor, firefighter, teacher) or playing structured games with rules.
Through this more advanced pretend play, children develop cooperative play, perspective-taking, and conversational skills. They also learn to follow and adapt to structured patterns, which supports both social and language development. For autistic children, role play and games with rules can either be challenging (if flexible thinking and perspective-taking is hard) or very enjoyable (if they love structure).
Appropriate toys and activities in this stage are dress up clothes, dolls, play kitchens, doctor kits, animals, cars, action figures, board games (e.g. Chutes and Ladders), card games (e.g. UNO).
Takeaway
A huge part of what I do as a Speech-Language Pathologist is figuring out what toys and activities work best for each of my students. I just love when I find something that really lights them up and holds their attention, that’s when I can start modeling language and communication with them in a more meaningful way!
Using the developmental play stages to pinpoint exactly what toys and activities they would be most interested in has really helped me a lot and I hope it helps you, too!
If you have any questions about these stages of play and how they relate to autism or if you are interested in working with me, don’t hesitate to contact me!
