Brain health · Sanctum

Play that looks different

Lining things up and sorting them rather than pretending. Replaying the same scene over and over, or directing other children to follow an exact script. Elaborate, imaginative play, but on rails, and on their own terms.

This is not a lack of imagination. It is imagination organised differently. For some children, play is about order, repetition and control as much as make-believe, and the sameness is soothing rather than limiting. The script is not a failure of creativity, it is a different shape of it.

Because it does not look like typical pretend play, it gets read as immature or solitary, and the child gets nudged toward playing properly, when the way they play is meaningful in itself. The clue in how they play is missed.

We pay attention to how a child plays, not just whether they play, because the pattern tells us a great deal. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director