Fostering peer interaction,imaginative play and spontaneous language in children with autism

Abstract

Freddy is a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with autism and severe language delay. He attends a special day class for children with moderate to severe disabilities in a public elementary school. Freddy is beginning to show an interest in his peers. In free play situations he generally watches and plays in parallel with other children, particularly when they engage in the few activities that are of interest to him. His play interests mainly revolve around his fascination with commercial products including packaged foods and cosmetics. He often repeats television commercials and gazes at photographs of these products. Freddy also enjoys manipulating these products by tapping them on his chin and lining up and sorting various containers by colour and size. Guided by his teacher, Freddy participates in an Integrated Play Group with one other classmate with special needs and three typically developing peers from third and fourth grade general education classes. These groups meet twice weekly for 30 minutes in Freddy’s classroom.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association 1994: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders - IV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association .

Boucher, J. and Lewis, V. 1990: Guessing or creating? A reply to Baron-Cohen . British Journal of Developmental Psychology 8, 205-206 .

Charman, T. and Baron-Cohen, S. 1997: Brief report: Prompted pretend play in autism . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 27, 325-332 .

Jarrold, C. , Boucher, J. and Smith, P. 1993: Symbolic play in autism: A review . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 23, 281-307 .

Jarrold, C. , Boucher, J. and Smith, P. 1996: Generativity deficits in pretend play in autism . British Journal of Developmental Psychology 14, 275-300 .

Lewis, V. , and Boucher, J. 1988: Spontaneous, instructed and elicited play in relatively able autistic children . British Journal of Developmental Psychology 6, 325-339 .

Lord, C. 1984: Development of peer relations in children with autism. In Morrison, F. , Lord, C. and Keating, D. editors, Applied developmental psychology, pp. 165-229. New York: Academic Press .

McCune-Nicholich, L. 1981: Toward symbolic functioning: Structure of early pretend games and potential parallels with language . Child Development 3, 785-797 .

Parten, M. B. 1932: Social participation among preschool children . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 27, 243-269 .

10.

Peck, C. A. , Schuler, A. L. , Tomlinson, C. , Theimer, R. K. and Haring, T. 1984: The social competence curriculum project: a guide to instructional communicative interactions. Special Education Research Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara .

11.

Piaget, J. 1962: Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton .

12.

Quill, K. A. editor 1995: Teaching children with autism: strategies to enhance communication and socialization. New York: Delmar .

13.

Rogoff, B. 1990: Apprenticeship in thinking. New York: Oxford University Press .

14.

Schuler, A. L. and Wolfberg, P. J. (in press). Peer socialization and play: The art of scaffolding. In Prizant, B. and Wetherby, A. editors, Language issues in autism and pervasive developmental disorder: a transactional developmental perspective. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes .

15.

Smilansky, S. 1968: The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. New York: John Wiley

16.

Vygotsky, L. 1966: Play and its role in the mental development of the child . Soviet Psychology 12, 6-18 (original work published in 1933).

17.

Vygotsky, L. 1978: Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .

18.

Wing, L. and Attwood, A. 1987: Syndromes of autism and atypical development. In Cohen, C. and Donnellan, A. editors, Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders New York: John Wiley .

19.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1988: Integrated play groups for children with autism and related disorders. Master’s thesis, San Francisco State University.

20.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1993: An illustration of the influence of peer play on social relations and symbolic activity in a girl with autism: highlight on interpretive case study methods, Position paper, University of California, Berkeley with San Francisco State University .

21.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1994: Case illustrations of emerging social relations and symbolic activity in children with autism through supported peer play. Doctoral dissertation, University of California at Berkeley with San Francisco State University. Dissertation Abstracts International, #9505068.

22.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1995a: Supporting children with autism in play groups with typical peers: a description of a model and related research . International Play Journal 3, 38-51 .

23.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1995b: Enhancing children’s play. In Quill, K. A. editor, Teaching children with autism: strategies to enhance communication and socialization, pp. 193-218. New York: Delmar .

24.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1999: Play and imagination in children with autism. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University .

25.

Wolfberg, P. J. (Producer), MacNichols, C. (Camera, Editor) and Petrou, E. (Camera) (1992). Integrated play groups: instructional video to accompany resource manual. (Videotape) Challenge Productions (Contract # HO86D90016). Washington, DC: Department of Education, OSERS .

26.

Wolfberg, P. J. and Schuler, A. L. 1992a: integrated play groups: resource manual. (Contract # HO86D90016). Washington, DC: Department of Education, OSERS .

27.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1992b: Integrated play groups project: final evaluation report (Contract # HO86D90016). Washington, DC: Department of Education, OSERS .

28.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1993a: Integrated play groups: a model for promoting the social and cognitive dimensions of play in children with autism . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 23, 467-489 .

29.

Wolfberg, P. J. 1993b: A case illustration of the impact of peer play on symbolic activity in a girl with autism. Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), New Orleans, LA .