Through collaborative play activities, preschoolers create fantasy-type enactments by using abstract transformations and verbal metacommunications. This naturalistic study examines the classroom collaborative play activities of nine preschoolers who are hearing-impaired, are language-delayed, and do not use sign language. Results demonstrate that these children construct collaborative play episodes which incorporate role, action, and object transformations, and use a nonverbal metacommunication system to convey information about these transformations to their play partners. The findings suggest that the preschoolers in this study might also be dependent on the play environment and the objects available in that environment to plan and coordinate their pretend play enactments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bretherton, I. (1984). Symbolic play: The developmental psychology of social cognition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
2.
Cicourel, R. (1964). Methods and measurement in sociology. New York: Free Press.
3.
Corsaro, W. A. (1987). Friendship and peer culture in the early years. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
4.
Day, P. S., Deyo, D., & Gringstaff, N. (1991). Symbolic play behaviors of normally developing deaf toddlers. In D. S. Martin (Ed.), The advances in cognition, education, and deafness (pp. 216–227). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.
5.
Doyle, A. B., Doehring, P., Tessier, O., de Lorimier, S., & Shapiro, S. (1992). Transactions in children's play: A sequential analysis of states preceding and following social pretense. Developmental Psychology, 28, 137–144.
6.
Garvey, C. & Brendt, R. (1977). The organization of pretend play. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology.
7.
Griffin, H. (1984). The coordination of meaning in the creation of a shared make-believe reality. In I. Bretherton (Ed.), Symbolic play: The developmental psychology of social cognition (pp. 73–100). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
8.
Hissinbotham, D. & Baker, B. (1981). Social participation and cognitive play differences in hearing-impaired preschoolers and normally hearing preschoolers. Volta Review, 83, 135–149.
9.
Howes, C. (1992). The collaborative construction of pretend. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
10.
Johnson, J., Christie, T., & Ywakey, T. (1987). Play and early childhood development. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman Company.
11.
Kretschmer, R. (1972). A study to access the play activities and gesture output of hearing handicapped preschool children. Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Center: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, Bureau of the Handicapped (Project No. 45–2109).
12.
Mehan, H. (1979). Learning lessons. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
13.
Messenheimer-Young, T., & Kretschmer, R. (1994). “Can I play?” A hearing-impaired preschooler's requests to access maintained social interaction. The Volta Review, 96, 5–18.
14.
Parker, J. & Gottman, J. (1989). Social and emotional development in relational context: Friendship interaction from early childhood to adolescence. In T. Brendt and G. Ladd (Eds.), Peer relationships in child development (pp. 95–131). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
15.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.
16.
Prutting, C. A. & Kirchner, D. M. (1987). Pragmatic aspects of language. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 105–119.
17.
Roberts, S., Brown, P. & Rickards, F. (1995). Social pretend play entry behaviors of preschooler with and without impaired hearing. Journal of Early Intervention, 20, 18–29.
18.
Schenkein, J. (1978). Explanation of transcript notation. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the organization of conversational interaction (pp. xi–xvi). New York: Academic Press.
19.
Schlesinger, H. & Meadow, K. (1972). Sound and sign: childhood deafness and mental health. Berkeley: University of California
20.
Spencer, E. (1993). The expressive communication of hearing mothers and deaf infants. American Annals of the Deaf, 138, 275–283.
21.
Tamis-LeMonda, C. & Bornstein, M. (1991). Individual variation, correspondence, stability, and change in mother and toddler play. Infant Behavior and Development, 14, 143–162.
22.
Tharp, R. G. & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Vandell, D. & George, L. (1981). Social interactions in hearing and deaf preschoolers: Success and failures in the interactions. Child Development, 52, 627–635.
24.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Thought and language. (A. Kozulin, Ed.), Cambridge, MA: M.I. T. (original work published 1934).
25.
Weisner, T. S., Gallimore, R. & Jordan, C. (1988). Unpacking cultural effects on classroom learning: Native Hawaiian peer assistance and child-generated activity. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 19, 327–353.
