The Electrocute Snake

The other day, we caught a break in the weather and I took my daughter to the park.  She managed to find a few boys to play with - one her age and one a little older.  They were very nice boys and they were getting along very well.  One of the boys had 2 wooden snakes with him, the kind that are made up of small wooden segments painted like a snake that allow the snake to bend and 'slither'.  This boy offered one to my daughter, which she gladly accepted.  Her main joy in life is playing with other kids. After a little while she announced they should play "electrocute snake".  I have never heard her say this word before, so my first thought was the snake would be electric and would light up. The next thought was that it was simply  'cute'. When the boy asked her what she meant she announced,  "You know,  if you touch it you get electrocuted and you DIE!"   Brilliant.

Am I really celebrating the fact that she is playing a game that involves pretend pain and death.  You better believe it.  My fragile X kiddo typically plays in an organizational manner.  Pack up the baby and her clothes and move to the other side of the room.  Unpack,  change her clothes, re-pack and move again.  Or perhaps she just arranges and rearranges the furniture in her dollhouse.  There is actually very little role playing (or pretending) taking place. She just organizes things.  The type of play where you imagine you are something else and carry out a series of fictitious events involves a much higher level of thought process.  It is called executive functioning and is governed by the part of the brain that is very weak in my daughter.  She has almost no short term working memory and sequential thinking is very difficult, but it is critical in pretend play. You have to remember what you just did and keep building on the story. When she demonstrates something that involves this type of functioning I am very excited.  It also shows that she was able to stay in context with the boys (they were playing 'war') and come up with something they might like to play.  This is very sophisticated engagement with others - another thing these kids are poor at.   Bravo! Maybe I need to let her play with snakes (and boys) more often. Or not!