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People Games

IANDS - Advice For Parents - Communication - Sharing attention in play - People Games - Introduction
‘People Games’ can be used as an approach to support the development of your child’s shared attention, play, communication and interaction skills.
 
What are they?
 
  • They involve two people (e.g. you and your child) and are carried out without using toys or objects
  • They are informal and relaxed.
  • They are based around what your child likes
  • Each particular game has the same steps each time so that the child learns the routine of the game.
  • If the routine stays the same this helps build your child’s anticipation and understanding of what will happen next.
  • You can support your child to communicate if they want ‘more’ or to ‘stop’.

How to do them:
 
  • Find a calm space with few distractions. Put away and turn off screens and other noisy distractions.
  • Notice what your child is doing and join in by turning it into a game.
  • It may be that your child is seeking certain sensory sensations e.g. jumping, spinning, rocking, making loud sounds. You could base your game around the particular sensation they are seeking. This could be joining in with sensory seeking actions or sounds e.g. jumping, spinning, rocking, making loud sounds.
  • Start the game and if they like the action, repeat it.
  • Once your child understands the routine of the people game, pause to give an opportunity to request ‘more’ or ‘stop’.
  • If your child is non-speaking, look for different cues for ‘more’ or ‘stop’. For example, for ‘more’ they might be smiling or looking, and for ‘stop’ they might stop looking or turn away.

The following games are suitable for children whatever their language level:
 
10 ideas for making your interactions fun
 
Games 9 and 10 listed below are for children who can understand sentences.
 
 
  1. Tickle games. Count down to tickle time (e.g. “3, 2, 1…tickle” “ready steady go”)
  2. Peek a boo. Hide behind your hands or put a blanket over your child’s head, before pulling it off and saying “Peekaboo”.
  3. Chasing: Say, “1, 2, 3…chase me” then encourage your child to run off and you chase them. End the game by giving your child a squeeze and saying, “caught you”.
  4. Spinning: Say, “ready, steady, spin”. Spin them around twice before you stop and say “stop”.
  5. Jumping: You could sing a familiar song as you jump together and stop when the song finishes.
  6. Piggyback ride: You could give them a piggyback and sing a song as you carry them around e.g. “piggy, piggy, where shall we go? Bedroom…. bathroom etc”, “piggy, piggy, how fast shall we go? ….. slow …fast”, “piggy, piggy, who shall we see? Daddy…etc.
  7. Hide and seek: Take turns to hide and find each other. Use countdowns, repetitive phrases like “I’m coming to find you”, “found you!”. Have three people to play to help your child understand the rules and routine of the game.
  8. Sing action songs that lead to a ‘fun surprise’.
    • For example:
      • Round and round the garden’ which leads to tickling.
      •  Pop goes the Weasel – lifting child up every time you say ‘pop
  9. What’s the time Mr Wolf?
    • One person stands facing the wall, they are the wolf.
    • Everyone else, stands at the other end of the room.
    • Everyone says, ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf’.
    • The wolf needs to say what time it is e.g., ‘It’s 3 o’clock’
    • Everyone else, takes that number of steps e.g., 3 o’clock= 3 steps.
    • This is repeated until everyone gets closer.
    • Then… either, the wolf can say, ‘it’s dinner time’ and chase someone in the group and they become the wolf or someone is close enough to tap the wolf without being caught and the person who is the wolf stays as the wolf for the next game.
  10. I Spy.
    • Take turns with your child to give clues about a thing you are thinking of (such as a particular object in the room) e.g. “I spy…something that is red”.
    • Make it easier by reducing the number of objects to choose from. For example, you could just put a few objects from around the room on a table in front of you.
    • Base the game around your child’s interests e.g. base the game around sea creatures if that is what your child like.
    • Make the clues as easy or hard as you want depending on your child’s level of understanding.

Remember:
 
  • All people games should have a key exciting moment for your child to start to anticipate. For example, a tickle, a hug, bouncing.
  • Repeat the games frequently to help your child understand the routine of the game.
  • Once your child is familiar with the game PAUSE and WAIT for them to communicate with you (i.e. that they want more). Then give them the ‘fun’ element.
  • Your child might communicate with you using words, but may also use sounds, gestures or facial expressions. This is your child’s turn in the interaction, which is an essential part of them developing communication skills.

To see examples of adults doing People Games, there are helpful videos on YouTube. Here are videos from the Hanen Centre and a video from a speech and language therapist at the Down Syndrome Resource Foundation. Although the video example is for a child with Downs Syndrome, the advice and strategy would be used in exactly the same way for an autistic child.
Last updated20 Jan 2025
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