5-year old Damien really struggles to engage with his siblings and peers socially, spending his free time playing alone. His parents report that he refuses to share toys and tends to horde preferred items in day-care, screaming at and pushing away peers. He struggles to take turns or follow rules to a game when they are no longer in his favour.

Following an assessment and observation during a play-date with a family friend’s child, it is observed that Damien struggled in all these areas, however, did considerably better in similar social situations when engaging in play with an adult. 3 times a week for 2-hours, Damien works for the 1st 2 hours with a behaviour technician to practice specific social skills such as turn-taking, requesting, winning and losing gracefully. In the 3rd hour, he then takes part in a facilitated playdate where the behaviour technician prompts and reinforces both Damien and his sibling/peer to engage in positive interactions during play activities, including applying the skills being targeted in the earlier part of the session. Systematically, the facilitation was incorporated into the day-care setting faded across settings as Damien was more independently successful.