The Joys and Shapes of Autistic Play

by Max Alexander

This piece of work gives an affirming, non-pathologised and joyful perspective on autistic play and is informed by a decade-ish of experiences of play with and alongside hundreds of autistic folks.

It presents eight “Autistic Play Shapes” which describe common patterns that occur in the play of autistic individuals. These have been developed over years of thinking and have grown through many iterations of presenting, teaching and being in on going communication and play with many wonderful autistic and autistic adjacent folks.

The hope and intention of this work is to encourage and nurture as much authentic autistic play as possible. It is written with three (often overlapping) groups in mind; autistic folks, folks who love and care for autistic folks and professionals working with and providing for autistic folks.

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Juniper Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely beautiful lens to think of the autistic experience through. Reading it was both insightful for interactions I have had with other autistics as well as self reflective on how to build play in my own life. Super easy to digest and it removes pathology from autistic needs and joy, this immediately became a book I will recommend to anyone with autistic humans in their life. No judgement, just curiosity and trust building for the viewpoints and processing modes of autistic existence.