Replays: Using Play to Enhance Emotional And Behavioral Development for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder [Paperback]

Karen Levine (Author), Naomi Chedd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2007

Replays addresses the challenging behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders through interactive symbolic play. It shows parents and professionals how to help children access their emotions, whether the child is verbal or not, cognitively able or impaired, even-tempered or volatile. The chapters introduce and show readers how to implement Replays, and describe ways of adapting this intervention to address specific issues in different settings and circumstances.

Levine and Chedd present more than just behavioral management strategies in the context of social, emotional and communication development: they have developed a technique that helps children to re-experience, play through and master the complex emotional response states that often lead to ongoing behavioral challenges.

Replays is an easy and fun tool that provides numerous step-by-step examples and illustrations. It enables parents and professionals to guide children with autism spectrum disorders towards mastering, and changing, their emotional and behavioral responses.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Replays is a wonderful, clearly accessible, resource that integrates contemporary play-based practices to directly address problematic behavior in children. Levine and Chedd clearly demonstrate how a child's partners are best able to support a child's emotional regulation through responsive, respectful and fun 'replays' of problematic experiences, thus reducing or preventing strong emotional reactions. Replays is a 'must-have' resource for both parents and professionals." --Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Director, Childhood Communication Services; Adjunct Professor, Center for the Study of Human Development, Brown University

About the Author

Karen Levine is the Clinical Director for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at the Cambridge Center for Child and Adolescent Development of the Cambridge Health Alliance, and is an Instructor at the Harvard Medical School. Karen and Naomi Chedd have worked collaboratively with children with autism and developmental disabilities for more than ten years. They have written many articles for families, therapists and educators and frequently present at conferences.

Naomi Chedd is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Educational Consultant in private practice. Naomi and Karen Levine have worked collaboratively with children with autism and developmental disabilities for more than ten years. They have written many articles for families, therapists and educators and frequently present at conferences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub; 1 edition (January 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843108321
• ISBN-13: 978-1843108320
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Systematic Desensitization Meets Pretending, December 27, 2006

By 

My Uncle Stu (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Replays: Using Play to Enhance Emotional And Behavioral Development for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Paperback)

I'm a fan of any book that opens with a quote from Jerry of Ben and Jerry's ("If it's not fun, why do it?"). I'll officially say he's my second favorite hippie-Jerry.

This is a nice guide to a specific technique of play therapy for enhancing emotional and behavioral development for children on the PDD spectrum. The idea is to use repetitive play as a symbolic reenactment of events associated with intense emotional and behavioral reactions. This is not a new idea, but Drs. Levine and Chedd describe a specific approach in which variation is gradually introduced into the repetitive play, the individual changes too subtle to be easily noticed but ultimately introducing some flexibility into the behavioral repertoire. Not unlike the slow movements of a Philip Glass symphony. The Replays approach combines aspects of traditional play therapy as well as elements of CBT, and borrows from other intervention approaches as well. I can't do it justice here, but this Levine and Chedd's text is actually a concise, quick read, with lots of examples to help illustrate how it actually works. There are also some chapters on tailoring the technique for specific problems and specific situations as well as suggestions for adapting the technique to different settings such as sibling groups or classrooms. Thumbs up, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in autism spectrum disorders, works with this population of children, and to parents of children who might benefit from these techniques.