You can’t make an autistic child play with other children, don’t force the child it will only make him get stressed out and it will give you the opposite outcome that you desire.

Some things you can do is:

First establish with him that you are his friend, if it is only you he trusts than let you be his friend, his playmate. Once he seems to have opened up to you move to the next step, introduce him to other children, do it slowly don’t have him interacting with too many because that will overwhelm him. Start with small groups like 2 or three. When he seems comfortable make it 3-four person groups and so forth. If he likes music try to get him to color to the beat, dance, or start a song and than stop and have the class finish with a funny story (the itsy bitsy spider climbed down the … have them finish with something they think is funny) Allow him to volunteer if he doesn’t ask him what he likes his favorite food something he will answer, even if he has to whisper it to you, then you finish the song aloud so everyone can hear.

With autistic children it is important to remember that they may open up but it will take awhile, so have patience and remember if you are the only one he opens up to he did open up and he may be more willing to do so in the future.

I think you have a lot of good answers here. Especially the one about music – you might find a good tape or cd that your son would enjoy listening to. While listening you sing with it, dance with it. Eventually he will pick some of that up. A student I had who was 7 but developmentally 24 months with no language, was singing independently to about 6 songs by the end of the year. Their attention span is small so work at something for five minutes and then give a break. Work with puzzles that are large with easy to handle pieces — always say “here is the cow, where does the cow go?” Try to use the fewest words. I could go on and on with ideas. Once he interacts with you, then add only one child to the mix. Many autistic children seem oblivious to other children because they are disconnected from what we call normal. You need to find little openings where they will let you into their space. Well I hope this helps a little. Good luck. Melanie

It is very hard to get autistic children to intereact. Since your sone has limited verbal abilities, this may be even harder as other children will not know how to react or approach him. However, his love of music does give you a wonderful way “in” so to speak. Look around in your area for some rythmic movement classes, basic dance or drama classes geared towards children. Contact them and , before registering, inform them of your son’s autism. You may be surprised to find that some of the programs have experience with children on the spectrum. If you find one’s that do not and feel this is really the class you want, offer to attend the class with your son and, once he feels secure (and this could take a while) and will follow the leaders instructions, stay in the building. This will get him in a setting with other children, doing things he likes to do.

that’s a sad situation. I have a grand daughter who is the same way. Don’t push, it just causes them to withdraw more. I started my grand daughter with childrens books, she would take them and line them up neatly on the floor, then pick one out and I would read to her. Then I started throwimg my arms open and calling her name, running over and hugging her quickly and then releasing her ( they don’t like too much contact) now it is a game, as soon as she see’s me, she yells “poppa” and I throw open my arms as she runs and jumps to get her hug. She will do this for an hour or more. She has really come out of her shell now. She is talking much more, and is much more animated. I can only say, slow and easy, but the rewards are priceless. I truly wish you the best of luck.

You cant make him play you can only see what activities he is really interested in and try to guide him to see and interact with you. Its not like a kid who will play with a ball all day hell play it with you for 1 minute the next hes not interested. Try a therapy called Floor time its really fun for the child and for the other persons involved in it!

make up a dance to his favorite song and try to get him to dance with you. My brother is autistic and he loves this!

try to incorperate music with other activities that you would like him to apply himself to…try finding toys/games that somehow you could tie in music. its one way to gett him to find interest in other things..u have to use his love for music as your core and work from there. i hoped i helped even if just a little bit.