Occupational therapists often assess children's play both formally and informally. A critical review of play assessments from occupational therapy and other disciplines is presented. Many of the assessments available were found to be limited by incomplete psychometric development in regard to validity and reliability and by factors relating to clinical usefulness, such as the artificial context of many play observations.
The need for a range of types of play assessment to choose from is argued and a checklist for helping to select a suitable play assessment is presented. Finally, the suggestion is made that occupational therapists continue to develop more play assessments.
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