How my daughter with Down's syndrome plays

I have been approached to be a guest on a podcast in the next few months. It’s about educational toys. It was suggested I could come on and chat about how Coraline is developing fine/gross motor skills and how she can learn whilst having fun through play.

I had an initial chat to the host earlier this week.

I began the call by saying:

“What about children who don’t really play? Could we do a conversation about that? I mean Coraline sits with books, and presses musical toys, but she doesn’t really engage in play. She wouldn’t sit and play with things, and she doesn’t have the receptive language for us to show her what we would like to do”.

I continued, “so maybe we could do something around patience? As I mean Coraline is just beginning to engage with water play at preschool and just beginning to explore a little more. And I can talk about repetition. How repetition really helps for her, as today she banged a drum with her hand, and that’s because her Physio has shown her that’s what they do with the drum every single week”.

The reply came:

“Oh your daughter plays. If she’s holding a book she’s playing. If she’s exploring a texture she’s playing. If she’s holding a toy she’s playing”.

I came off the phone realising that Coraline plays. How has it taken me until she is almost five years old to realise that? And it’s a wonderful feeling. So I think the Podcast is going to be a whole different angle for me now. It will be about how my child plays.