118 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
a simplified sun salutation sequence that she uses with children
with ASD and other special needs. Children with AD/HD may
have difficulties sustaining attention to multistep sequential play.
Engaging in yoga activities that involve multiple steps could
help children from this population improve the organization of
their play.
Self-other
The fourth and final dimension, self-other relations, refers to
the roles that can be assumed in play interactions (Westby
2000). According to Piaget (1962), the understanding that one
can assume different roles requires decentration, the capacity to
understand that people sometimes have different perspectives.
This aspect of play requires that children recognize the mental
states of others, a social-cognitive capacity called “theory of
mind” (ToM) (Premack and Woodruff 1978). Most children
with ASD demonstrate challenges with ToM (Baron-Cohen
et al. 2005; Bauminger-Zviely 2014). Consequently, they are
unlikely to attribute feelings and desires to their play partners,
whether dolls, toy animals, or people (Westby 2000). Yoga could
provide a safe context for children with ASD to develop in ToM.
Flynn (2013) describes several partner poses such as lizard on
a rock, park bench, puppy friends, and see-saw that encourage
teamwork and connection. These poses involve elements of
reciprocity and turn-taking, aspects of social interaction and
social communication discussed in Chapter 4. In addition to the
communication benefits of these activities, they also enhance
the self-other dimension of play.
The developmental roots of ToM emerge in the presymbolic
intentional period when infants can share their attention with
another regarding an object or event. This capacity for joint
attention was introduced in Chapter 2. During the preschool
years, children understand that they and others can have different