Social and cognitive values of different play materials for a sample of normal (N = 21) and a sample of handicapped (N = 21) preschool children were examined; toy selections by children in each sample were compared. Each child was observed 20 times over the course of one semester. Nonplay activity, cognitive play, and social play were measured, with symbolic play further scored for quality of pretense and for types of object transformations. Analyses showed that handicapped preschoolers exhibited comparable amounts of symbolic play but lower quality of symbolic play than that shown by nonhandicapped preschoolers. Symbolic play by handicapped children depended much more upon the use of dramatic play objects.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barnes, K.E. (1971). Preschool play norms: A replication. Developmental Psychology, 5, 99-103.
2.
Ershler, J. (1982). Play behavior in nonhandicapped and handicapped preschool-aged children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
3.
Garvey, C. (1979). An approach to the study of children's role play . The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 1 (4) 69-73.
Horne, B.M., & Philleo, C.C. (1942). A comparative study of the spontaneous play activities of normal and mentally defective children. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 61, 33-46.
6.
Hulme, E.L., & Lunzer, E.A. (1966). Play, language and reasoning in subnormal children . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 7, 107-123.
7.
Hutt, C. (1966). Exploration and play in children. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 18, 61-81.
8.
Johnson, J.E., & Ershler, J. (1981). Developmental trends in preschool play as a function of classroom program and child gender. Child Development, 52, 995-1004.
9.
Johnson, J.E., Ershler, J., & Bell, C. (1980). Play behavior in discovery-based and formal education preschool programs. Child Development, 51, 271-274.
10.
Mindes, G. (1982). Social and cognitive aspects of play in young handicapped children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education , 2 (3), 39-52.
11.
Morrison, D.F. (1967). Multivariate statistical methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.
12.
Parten, M.B. (1932). Social participation among preschool children . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27, 243-269.
13.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. New York: W. W. Norton.
14.
Rubin, K.H. (1977). The social and cognitive value of preschool toys and activities. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 9, 382-285.
15.
Rubin, K.H., & Krasnor, L.R. (1980). Changes in the play behaviors of preschoolers: A short-term longitudinal investigation. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 12, 278-282.
16.
Rubin, K.H., & Maioni, T.L. (1975). Play preference and its relationship to egocentrism, popularity, and classification skills in preschoolers. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 21, 171-179.
17.
Rubin, K.H., & Maioni, T.L., & Hornung, M. (1976). Free play behaviors in middle and lower-class preschoolers: Parten and Piaget revisited. Child Development , 47, 414-419.
18.
Rubin, K.H., Watson, K.S., & Jambor, T.W. (1978). Free play behaviors in preschool and kindergarten children. Child Development, 49, 534-536.
19.
Smilansky, S. (1968). The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. New York: Wiley .
20.
Tilton, N.R., & Ottinger, D.R. (1964). Comparison of the toy play behavior of autistic, retarded, and normal children. Psychological Reports, 15, 967-975.
21.
Weiner, E.A., & Weiner, B.J. (1974). Differentiation of retarded and normal children through toy-play analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research , 9, 245-252.
