Excerpt
Excerpted from Chapters 1 and 2 of Transdisciplinary Play-Based Intervention, Second Edition by Toni W. Linder, Ed.D., with invited contributors.
Copyright © 2008 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
In Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment, Second Edition (TPBA2), a vignette was presented that illustrated the traditional and TPBA approaches from the child’s point of view. In the following vignette, the difference between traditional intervention and transdisciplinary Play-Based intervention (TPBI2) is presented from the child’s point of view. Because intervention at home and at school or child care may look very different, both situations are exemplified. Note that the role of the child, the therapist, and parent or teacher is similar in both settings, but very different depending on the approach.
TRADITIONAL INTERVENTION AT HOME
Imagine yourself as a 2 1/2-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and overall developmental delays. You are sitting on your Mommy’s lap looking at pictures in a book when the doorbell rings. Mommy puts you down on the floor and goes to answer the door. She smiles and tells Rosa to come in. Rosa brings in her bag of toys and you smile at her too. You know what is in that bag. Rosa has fun toys! You crawl over to the bag and try to get into it. Rosa and Mommy are talking about you and what you have been doing all week. You start pulling out Rosa’s toys, looking for the one that has lights and makes noises. Oh, here it is! You start banging on it, trying to make it go. Rosa pushes the button for you. Mommy sits in her chair and watches you play with Rosa. Rosa takes out another toy, the one with rings you put on a stick. This is not your favorite toy. It is hard. So you go back to the first toy and bang on it some more. Rosa gets the “doughnuts†again and helps you put them on the stick. Rosa then gets out markers and paper and puts them on the coffee table. She tries to get you to stand up and come play with the markers. She helps you stand and hands you the marker. You bang the marker on the paper a couple of times and then sit down. Standing up is hard and writing is not fun. You crawl over to Mommy so she will pick you up, but instead, Mommy says, “I’ll let you two play for a while. I need to clean up the kitchen while you guys are busy.†Mommy leaves the room. You try to follow her, but Rosa pulls you back and hands you another toy. Okay. Playing is fun. You stay in the living room and play on the floor until Rosa packs up her toys to leave. Mommy comes back and tells her, “See you in a couple of weeks.†Rosa says, “Maya will be out next week to work on some of his motor issues.†I’m not nuts about Maya. She makes me do hard things.
TRANSDISCIPLINARY PLAY-BASED INTERVENTION
You are sitting on your Mommy’s lap looking at pictures in a book when the doorbell rings. Mommy puts you down on the floor and goes to answer the door. She smiles and tells Rachel to come in. Rachel talks to me and plays with me with my favorite pop-up toy, while she asks Mommy about our week and what was fun and what was hard. Mommy says she is having trouble getting her work done at home, because I need attention and lots of help. It’s true. I like my Mommy to spend time with me! Rachel asks what Mommy would like to be doing right now, and she says, “I really need to be cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast and lunch. It’s one o’clock, and I can’t seem to get time to do what I need to do. It’s better on the days that he goes to child care. I get a little time to myself.†Rachel says, “Then let’s go into the kitchen and look at how Sam can help out and learn some new skills!†We all go into the kitchen, which (Mommy is right) is a mess! Rachel says, “Let’s see. We want hi