Pretend play not possible for kids with asperger?

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I never enjoyed or felt comfortable pretend playing. I didn't initiate pretend play and only played along if that's what the other kids were doing.
I think the closest thing I get to pretending is reading fiction and trying to picture the people and settings.
I wish I had some ability for it for my son's sake. I have a hard time pretend playing with him.

My sister (Aspie) and I played pretend all the time growing up. I'm also nannying a young Aspie right now and he plays pretend with his sister and I all the time - if it's not his favorite thing to do, it's close. So not only is playing pretend possible, but so is playing pretend with other children. I think that one supposed characteristic might be wrong however you interpret it.

Pretend play was the only playing I did as a child. I couldn't do it with other kids, though.

I used to play with those cheap green army men. Each one had a name, rank, family history, hometown, medical information, etc. I would have huge battles with both sides thinking that they were in the right. Then afterwards, I would write letters home to each of the deceased soldiers' families.

Yes, pretend play is definitely possible for Autistic children (and adults). One thing that helps me is that one of my special interests is writing, and I read a lot.

I never got pretend play so that is very true of me but I know it's not true of others here.

More media BS? I loved to play pretend as a kid. It was more of a challenge with other kids though, because they usually had different interests and ideas about what to play. I had this...best friend...who would get angry if I didn't let her do everything her way or didn't realize I'd get tired of doing everything with her after about 24 hours in a row. We would often make up a story and act it out with our dolls and such, but she always had to be the "leader", not me. Or if I was tired of playing with her she'd get upset at that, too. One time she was visiting and I wanted to play by myself after a while. So she left a message on my tape recorder saying she was sitting alone on a cloud and had lost her friend (me). How dramatic can you get? Maybe it was because she came from a large family that she was so bossy. But it wasn't as bad as when she turned 12 and became a nasty little shrew.

I haven't read all 8 pages, so this might be duplicate information, but either way I wanted to add my 2 cents.

First of all there are different aspect to pretend play:

Play scripts- these are the stories children develop in their play.

Sequences of play actions. To play in an organised, coherent way children need to be able to sequence their play actions logically.

Object substitution. This is when a child uses an object as something else.

Social Interaction. Pretend play is closely linked to social interaction as children who play well can play alone (solitary play) as well as with other children. Children begin by watching and imitating others

Role play. Role play by four and five years of age is clearly seen when children pretend they are a mother, shopkeeper, policeperson, astronaut etc. It also begins earlier when children imitate actions they have previously seen. To be able to play a role in the play, children need to be able to understand that the character will say, how they will behave, what their motivation and beliefs are, and how they are likely act in the future.

Doll or Teddy play. This is play with an object that is separate to the child. This ability is termed decentration. The child de-centres the play to something/someone else in the play. In typical development, the doll/ special object becomes ‘alive’ around 2 years of age. To the child, this object is a breathing, living being and they treat it as such. In such play, children are learning to take another persons perspective and learning to negotiate with a ‘being’ that has different thoughts to them. For example, the child may be feeding the doll/special object but it is not hungry and won’t eat.
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Some aspects of pretend play (generally the last 3) will be naturally difficult for a child on the spectrum, but not pretend play as a blanket statement.

Play is how children come to understand their world, it is their language. There are no right or wrong ways to play, it is an individual method of exploration and expression.

Children with ASD commonly engage in manipulating and arranging items, imitation of adult play, simple functional play and imaginative play (e.g. inventing imaginary objects, imaginative play is limited when play becomes socio-dramatic: socially combining imaginations verbally to play one game).

The level of language skill facilitates the ability to, or acts as a barrier to social learning through interaction with peers.

If the play is modeled for the child (i.e. demonstrated uses of the toy/object), they will engage in a wider range of play with the toy than if it is not modeled.

Based on outside observation, pretend play (specifically creative symbolic play) is different in children with ASD by comparison to children of normative development. The child's self-conscious awareness of pretending is measured by their demonstrated emotional expressions.

Specific aspects of normative social and creative play development, such as awareness of self to create meanings, the importance of symbolic meanings, creativity and fun, present differently (deficits) in children with ASD, but again one could say that the language of play is an individual expression, irrespective of neuro-developmental differences.

As a side note, a balance needs to be established between altering the play language of the child with ASD (adult directed activity, leading to development of social skills) and allowing them to experiment with and explore their world through child directed learning experiences. (self directed learning is essential for the development of critical thinking skills and educational success in general)