Understanding repetitive play patterns!

Repetitive play patterns are commonly seen with young children.  They are also a typical way our Autistic children play. 

We may see repetitive play in a few different forms. Here are a few examples:

• Lining up objects of interest - cars, animals, trains, pencils, soft toys, sticks, bugs, bins, planets, numbers, letters, leaves, squishys, stickers, favourite characters
• Sensory actions 
  • Proprioceptive - jumping, crashing onto furniture, scratching, pushing, squeezing, pulling items, flapping
  • Vestibular - spinning, swinging, pacing, rolling, rocking
  • Tactile - exploring messy play, smearing, rubbing hands on fabrics (self or others)
  • Oral - mouthing toys, grinding teeth, chewing on objects (food and nonfood), licking objects (food and nonfood), biting
  • Auditory - making sounds (eg, clicking, humming, low tones, squealing, giggling), listening to the same song, singing the same songs, interacting with objects to repeat the sound (eg. light switch, drawer banging, door slamming, clicking a pen), repeating words or phrases
  • Visual - watching moving objects, repetitive blinking, staring at lights or objects, moving fingers in front or at the corner of eyes, hand flapping near eyes, turning lights on/off
• Play routines - These may have been learnt on their own or by watching others.
  • Play routines may include simple single step examples (eg. hug doll and put doll to bed repeatedly in the same way and with the same props).  It may include more complex multiple step routines (eg. feed doll with spoon 5 times, put spoon in bowl, hug doll, put doll to bed repeatedly in the same way and with the same props). 
  • Play routines may be learnt from video games or tv shows and reinacted (eg. One child I worked with loved the "Untitled Goose Game" and act it out repeatedly). 
  • Play routines may include how a child interacts with a toy or object (eg. repeating a puzzle so that all pieces are completed then dumping it out and starting again). 
  • Play routines may be incorporated into tasks that may not be considered typically "play" (eg. sweeping, vacuuming, wiping the table, polishing cutlery, etc). 
  • Play routines may include tasks such as colouring in a particular way (eg. rainbow colouring has been very popular with the children I see where every colour of the rainbow is used for one picture or every colour available in the pencil case needs to be used to complete the picture). 
  • Play routines may also be repeated as there is a reaction from others (children or adults). eg. throwing things from a balcony, pushing others, breaking items, hitting someone and running away. 

Repetitive play can help autistic children process sensory information and create a sense of order. The structure, order and predictability can help a child to regulate. These actions/play are internally driven and motivation is high.  When we feel a sense of "control" over objects or actions, we can feel calmer as we know what to expect. 

Some repetitive play may be considered "stimming".  The actions are repeated for comfort.  As caregivers and therapists, we don't want to take this away from children as it is way of communication.  Sometimes the actions are repeated for soothing input, sometimes when the child is excited, sometimes because they are bored or frustrated. The more we become "attune" to our children, we can interpet and understand why they do these actions. 

Some repetitive play may be considered "unsafe, dangerous, annoying" or even labelled "antisocial or not socially appropriate".  We should take a step back and look at the "why" the child is doing these actions. Not all behaviour should be changed or suppressed. In fact it could be more dangerous to prevent the behaviour, may cause stress or a meltdown.

We can ask ourselves these questions when considering all repetitive behaviour...  

• Does your child feel safe?
• What is your child communicating?
• Is your child controlling this for predictability and routine?
• What is their inner motivation?
• What sensory input does the child gain?
• What reaction does your child receive from others?
• Does this action occur at certain times of the day? Within certain environments? With certain people?
• Does your child know an alternative play action that is similar or safer?
• Does your child do this action to avoid another "request/instruction/demand"? 

In the next blog post, I will explore a case study looking at how to respectfully help a child who is repeating unsafe play routines. 

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Until next time,
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Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia.  She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning.  Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete).  Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT.  Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog

Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team.  They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK.

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