Originally Posted by Madoosa
Have you seen this for imaginative play and how all the things you describe really are in support of imagination...:

Caine's arcade:


I think some kids have super heroes in their imagination and other kids imagine numbers as superheroes (for example)


Thanks for the link! It kind of sums up how I was feeling about imaginative play. It seems like it can take very different forms depending on the child's personality. DS is pretty introverted. It sounds if others might have similar experiences with their introverted kids?

And if numbers can be superheroes - that's exactly where DS is.


Originally Posted by Nautigal
I have one of those, and I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that you're right. He's never going to do that, and if he has a sister in the future who does, he's going to think she's crazy, too. smile

I don't know how important imagination may be, but I do know that some people don't have it, and they do ok. Or, more accurately, they don't have a conventional imagination, which sounds like an oxymoron but isn't. Some people's imagination is channeled into numbers and engineering, while others pretend to be dogs. I have one of each. smile


I remember when DS was around 20 months, we were with a cousin who was only a couple of months younger. The cousin picked up a remote control and began babbling away as if it was a phone. DS looked at us with a face filled with concern and said in a hushed voice, "It's a remote!" He clearly thought there was something wrong with the poor child!

There are a few engineers and science PhDs in our family, and it seems like that's exactly how DS thinks. He once had a language therapist who asked at their 2nd meeting, "Do you have any engineers in your family?" It's that obvious I guess.

Originally Posted by polarbear
My ds never engaged in imaginative play (at least not much) as a young child. Totally different than my dds. When my kids were really young I thought it was just personality - but once ds was mid-elementary school I realized that, for him, it was related to things that he actually needed to take steps to learn due to an expressive language disorder, things that didn't come naturally to him but come naturally to most kids, and that are very important in social interactions as our children grow. So my perspective now is that yes, it's important, and for some kids, you have to help them learn it just as you would teach any other skill.

polarbear


I wonder sometimes about DS's expressive language. He's definitely ahead of the milestones in this area, but he has some quirks that make me think... For example, he often has trouble coming up with words. He'll use ambiguous terms like "that" or "this" and when I press him to explain what he's talking about, it's clear that the words just won't come right away (even for items I've heard him call by name repeatedly).

He also has trouble expressing himself if anyone else is talking. He'll say, "I want you to be quiet! I'm trying to talk!" And then he'll just sit there for a minute saying, "Um... uh... um..." Finally something will come out, but it takes a while to gather his thoughts.

It can also take a fair amount of time for him to process directions. Could be processing... could be language... could be completely developmentally appropriate. At any rate, I'm sure he'd pass any language evaluation, so I don't really know if there's much we could do outside the home. I just think there's a gap in ability and performance. (If that makes sense.)