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sunshine1234
member
what ahould i expect from an almost 5 year old?
sunshine1234
member
So, our child is almost 5. She really only wants to play on the computer or watch tv. She doesn't want to play with her toys. Her teacher does not ever mention her lack of play at school. Is this abnormal? Should I be concerned?
She has a 2 year old sister that they sort of play together.
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Re: what ahould i expect from an almost 5 year old?
I wonder how typical kids play with toys all the time. My almost 5 year old (pdd-nos) only wants to watch TV or "play" outside, which usually consists of playing with water, hoses, sprinklers, etc. He has lots of toys that he never plays with. I explain to him all the time that I'm going to bring the toys to Goodwill if he doesn't play with him- he'll sigh and say OK and then go and fidget with them for a bit. He does enjoy when I sit down and play with him, because he relies on me to come up with the stories/plots. His story lines are pretty one-note- "I'll get you!" This weekend I watched him go and independently play like twice all weekend. I notice because it's so rare that he does it without cajoling on my part. And when I say "play" it's more like moving cars around, putting smaller cars into larger cars, manipulating things on his Batcave (which has lots of nooks, crannies, and doors). He has a train set that he'll occasionally fire up, but more because he wants to crash it or watch it run off the track.
Play is something that was one of our first big red flags. During our eval for ASD our dev. pedi carefully handed him certain toys to see his reaction. The "people" or dolls he literally threw out of his way. When I pointed out that he was playing with the cars, the doctor explained how he wasn't "playing" he was merely stuffing the cars into larger toys. DS got most excited when the doctor finally pulled out the big guns- the cause and effect baby toys. These are basically the only types of things DS will really respond to, even today. Like an electric piano, or guitar, or his batmobile that lights up and spins and makes lots of noise. I was reading a blog of about a little girl on the spectrum who is like 8 and her mom joked that the only Barbie her daughter will play with his a bathtub Barbie mermaid with a light-up tail. I can relate!! While DS loves Spiderman books, the only spiderman figure he'll play with is the bath toys since it has a water feature- it squirts.
She likes all of these things. but we usually have to do it with her. She wont do it by herself.
physical play outside, Arts and crafts, Reading/looking at books, Puzzles, Games, Dress up...
I would be concerned if my child only wanted to play on the computer or watch tv. My almost 5 year old DD has SPD, but she plays with toys, reads books, and plays with her sister most of the day. She has some activities that she does solo (drawing, legos, play doh), and some that she does with us (games, dress-up). Sometimes DD's play seems overly scripted, so we work on challenging her scripts and introducing flexibility. I let DD watch shows on Netflix, but only at specific times. She knows that she's allowed to watch a show while I'm making dinner, so that's when she asks.
I would ask her teacher about how your DD plays at school.