Is it just me that finds it incredibly difficult to "play" with my DS 3 ASD

[staryeyed]

It is so draining. I dont feel like I do enough with him at all but I find it so hard- everything is such a huge effort to get him to do anything and then to keep him focused. His attention span used to be a lot better I don't know if that's because it has got worse or because Im not giving him enough practise. He is really unfocused during his portage sessions too but I think that's because he finds them boring. I have a book with activities for children with ASD but so much of it is beyond his years/capabilities. He likes numbers and letters and shapes (but does get obsessed with the a blue rectangle). Im having a moan really but if anyone has any suggestions.

Stary - I know we've said before that our Dses are quite similar and I can empathise with everything you've said on this thread. I would second Jimjams in finding Floortime the most useful 'therapy' of all as far as playing is concerned. We've just had a workshop on it and the woman who led it was great. She talked about first establishing a 'joint focus of attention' - which can be anything at all - and then making the activity into something bigger and better than the child can do on his/her own. You do this using what the Americans call 'high affect'- the nearest English translation is something like 'heightened emotion'. In other words you use exaggerated tone of voice, gesture, body language, facial expression etc to engage your child - particularly if they tend to be under responsive, like DS2. (If your child was over-reactive, you would join in very quietly and calmly.)

It feels very daft doing this at first - but it surprising how quickly it becomes natural.