A short instructional video by Ming @ Agents of Speech arguing that instruction for non-verbal children should begin with 'learning-to-learn' skills rather than play. Ming explains that many non-verbal children lack play skills (e.g., repetitive or inappropriate object use), so beginning with play makes it hard to follow the child's lead and slows progress toward verbal imitation.
So the first thing is I want you to start off with learning to learn skills and not starting with play. This is like totally reversed with a lot of the things that are online right now. If you're starting off with play, it's very difficult to follow a child's lead, especially if they're non verbal. Their play skills aren't developed. And so what you see a lot of time is kids like to throw things or they like to hold something in their hand and they won't let go. Or they might just like bang something over and over again, use something inappropriately. And how do you follow the lead of that? Are you gonna shake the toy? You're gonna try to hold another toy in front of your kid, he or she's not gonna care. There's no point in starting off with play if there's no play skills, so to speak. If you're trying to teach play skills, then you're not trying to teach verbal imitation, because those are two different skills. They are intertwined, but they're different skills. Right? So if you're taking an extra step to go to play and then come back, it's gonna take a longer while.
