Swings

Before we knew Ryan was autistic, he always wanted to go on a swing at every time we went to any outdoor park. For months, he would not try out for another part of playground structures before he learned to use more words. The more he speaks, the less time he focused on swings.

But today when my family gathered with other family at Balboa Park,he did try out for a "Toddler" swing. This only lasted for at least 30 seconds. The picture was captured as he was giving a salutation to the "Toddler" swing.Then, he wanted to try out for an older swing. He did swing for a few minutes independently before he went out to play more other playground structures with other kids. I believe the positive influence was coming from his school where he would see other "typical" kids went on a regular swing.


Also, I have a theory. While he was struggling to interact and communicating with others in the past, David and I took our sons, especially for Ryan's need to go for an indoor playground weekly. Eventually, he had learned to interact with others at a playground. Apparently, my theory seemed to be working, that includes practicing excessively in his speech and language. At the end, I believe that's one of the factor reasons he spend less time focusing on swinging alone.