One of the other thing about ESDM that I really like (which Lin pinpointed first) is that it very much just is the method me and Lin use to help heal traumatized parts PARTICULARLY traumatized child parts Cause other than generic play therapy concepts, ESDM first and foremost is built on this concept of "autistic kids have issues socializing and engaging in play because their usual play is 'atypical' to neurotypicals and sometimes is systemically hard to have shared engagement and control of the play" "Therefore, its important that when we try to play with these kids that we throw out whatever concept of fun and play that we currently have out the window and focus on what THEY find fun and what THEY enjoy and play with them in the way they want to play"
"Then from there expand the play to be more inclusive and cooperative" Like a very very very core concept of how play therapy in ESDM works is very much "If you can't figure out how to play in the way THEY like to play, then don't touch their play" So like, yeah we have blocks and we SHOULD stack them and make towers but you know what You think its fun to drop them on different objects and hear what they sound like?! We can make that into a fun game! I also think its cool to drop blocks on objects! What if we took turns coming up with silly things to drop them on? Oh look! We are practicing turn taking AND join attention AND social engagement AND tolerating people in your area to a reasonable level AND learning that people can be fun and interested in your interests And what are we practically doing? Were just Dropping blocks on silly things together And if you start that at like age 2-4 and maintain that for two to three years you really end up with kids that really realize that people genuinely are interested in what they are doing, that their interests are really cool, and that people are opportunities for MORE joy and MORE engagement than les