Preschool-aged moderately and severely mentally retarded children were observed during free play periods in order to investigate the relationship between developmental level and level of play in young mentally retarded children. The Parten Scale of Social Participation, the Smilansky Scale of Cognitive Play, and a combined form of the two scales were used to measure the level of play; the Denver Developmental Screening Test was used to establish the developmental levels of the children. Significant correlations were found between mean play scores obtained on each play scale and the developmental level of the children. These results indicated that the collateral relationship of play to mental development found in preschool-aged nonretarded children may also be seen in young mentally retarded children.
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