The article reviews the empirical evidence relating to the development of early solitary object and parent-infant play in typical infants and children diagnosed with autism. Whilst, collectively, the findings indicate that there may be both qualitative and quantitative differences in the early play of children with autism, relative to that of other children, it is also clear that significant gaps exist in our current knowledge. It is proposed that longitudinal studies, which make a detailed examination of the form and developmental trajectory of early play, are needed if we are to devise the most effective content, design and outcome measures for intervention programmes using play as a therapeutic medium.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ADAMSON, L. B. & BAKEMAN, R. (1985) ‘Affect and Attention: Infants Observed with Mothers and Peers’ , Child Development56: 582-593 .
2.
ADRIEN, J. L., ORNITZ, E., BARTHELEMY, D., SAUVAGE, D. & LELERD, G. (1987) ‘The Presence or Absence of Certain Behaviours Associated with Infantile Autism in Severely Retarded Autistic and Non-Autistic Retarded Children and Very Young Normal Children’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders17: 407-416 .
3.
ADRIEN, J. L., FAURE, M., PERROT, A., HAMEURY, L., GARREAU, B., BARTHELEMY, C. & SAUVAGE, D. (1991) ‘Autism and Family Home Movies: Preliminary Findings’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders21: 43-49 .
4.
ADRIEN, J. L., PERROT, A., SAUVAGE, D., LEDDET, I., LARMANDE, C., HAMEURY, L. & BARTHELEMY, C. (1992) ‘Early Symptoms in Autism from Family Home Movies: Evaluation and Comparison between 1st and 2nd Year of Life Using I. B. S. E. Scale’ , Acta Paedopsychiatrica55: 71-75 .
5.
ATLAS, J. A. (1990) ‘Play in Assessment and Intervention in Childhood Psychoses’ , Child Psychiatry in Human Development21: 119-133 .
6.
BAKEMAN, R. & ADAMSON, L. B. (1984) ‘Co-ordinating Attention to People and Object in Mother-Infant and Peer-Infant Interaction’ , Child Development55: 1278-1279 .
7.
BARON -COHEN, S. (1987) ‘Autism and Symbolic Play’ , British Journal of Developmental Psychology5: 139-148 .
8.
BARON -COHEN, S. (1989a) ‘Joint-Attention Deficits in Autism: Towards a Cognitive Analysis’ , Development and Psychopathology1: 185-189 .
9.
BARON -COHEN, S. (1989b) ‘Perceptual Role-Taking and Protodeclarative Pointing in Autism’ , British Journal of Developmental Psychology7: 113-127 .
10.
BATES, E., BENIGNI, L., BRETHERTON, I., CAMAIONI, L. & VOLTERRA, V. (1979) The Emergence of Symbols: Cognition and Communication in Infancy. New York: Academic .
11.
BATESON, M. C. (1975) ‘Mother-Infant Exchanges: The Epigenesis of Conversational Interaction’ , Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences263: 101-113 .
12.
BELSKY, J. & MOST, R. K. (1981) ‘From Exploration to Play: A Cross-Sectional Study of Infant Free Play Behaviour’ , Developmental Psychology17: 630-639 .
13.
BERNABEI, P., CAMAIONI, L. & LEVI, G. (1998) ‘An Evaluation of Early Development in Children with Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders from Home Movies: Preliminary Findings’ , Autism2 (3): 243-258 .
14.
BRUNER, J. S. (1975) ‘The Ontogenesis of Speech Acts’ , Journal of Child Language2: 1-19 .
15.
BRUNER, J. S. (1978) ‘Learning How to Do Things with Words’, in J. BRUNER & A. GARTON (eds) Human Growth and Development. New York: Oxford University Press .
16.
BRUNER, J. S. (1982) ‘The Organisation of Action and the Nature of Adult-Infant Transaction’, in E. TRONICK (ed.) Social Interchange in Infancy: Affect, Cognition, and Communication. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press .
17.
BRUNER, J. S. & SHERWOOD, V. (1976) ‘Early Rule Structure: The Case of Peekaboo’, in J. BRUNER, A. JOLLEY & K. SYLVA (eds) Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin .
18.
BUTTERWORTH, G. (1991) ‘The Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Joint Visual Attention’, in A. WHITEN (ed.) Natural Theories of Mind. London: Blackwell .
19.
CARUSO, D. A. (1993) ‘Dimensions of Quality in Infants’ Exploratory Behaviour: Relationships to Problem-Solving Ability’ , Infant Behavior and Development16: 441-454 .
20.
CHARMAN, T. (1998) ‘Specifying the Nature and Course of Joint Attention Impairment in Autism in the Pre-School Years: Implications for Diagnosis and Intervention’ , Autism2: 61-79 .
21.
COHN, J. F. & TRONICK, E. (1989) ‘Specificity of Infants’ Response to Mothers’ Affective Behavior’ , Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry28: 242-248 .
22.
CRAWLEY, S. B. & SHERROD, K. B. (1984) ‘Parent-Infant Play During the First Year of Life’ , Infant Behavior and Development7: 65-75 .
23.
CRAWLEY, S. B., ROGERS, P. P., FRIEDMAN, S., IACOBBO, M., CRITICOS, A., RICHARDSON, C. & THOMPSON, M. A. (1978) ‘Developmental Changes in the Structure of Mother-Infant Play’ , Developmental Psychology14: 30-36 .
24.
CURCIO, F. (1978) ‘Sensorimotor Functioning and Communication in Mute Autistic Children’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders8: 281-292 .
25.
DAHLGREN, S. O. & GILLBERG, C. (1989) ‘Symptoms in the First Two Years of Life: A Preliminary Population Study of Infantile Autism’ , European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences238: 169-174 .
26.
DAWSON, G., HILL, D., SPENCER, A., GALPERT, L. & WATSON, L. (1990) ‘Affective Exchanges between Young Autistic Children and their Mothers’ , Journal of Abnormal Child Psychiatry18: 335-345 .
27.
DILAVORE, P. C., LORD, C. & RUTTER, M. (1995) ‘Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Schedule’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders25: 355-379 .
28.
FEIN, G. G. & APFEL, N. (1979) ‘The Development of Play: Style Structure and Situations’ , Genetic Psychology Monographs99: 231-250 .
29.
FENSON, L. & RAMSAY, D. S. (1980) ‘Decentration and Integration of the Child’s Play in the Second Year’ , Child Development51: 171-178 .
30.
FENSON, L., KAGAN, L., KEARSLEY, R. B. & ZELAZO, P. R. (1976) ‘The Developmental Progression of Manipulative Play in the First 2 Years’ , Child Development47: 232-236 .
31.
FOGEL, A. (1977) ‘Temporal Organization in Mother-Infant Face-to-Face Interaction’, in H. R. SCHAFFER (ed.) Studies in Mother-Infant Interaction. London: Academic .
32.
FRANCO, F., PERRUCHINI, P. & BUTTERWORTH, G. E. (1992) ‘Referential Communication between Babies’ , unpublished paper presented at the Fifth European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Seville, Spain.
33.
FREEMAN, B. J., GUTHRIE, D., RITVO, E., SCHROTH, P., GLASS, R. & FRANKL, F. (1979) ‘Behaviour Observation Scale: Preliminary Analysis of the Similarities and Differences between Autistic and Mentally Retarded Children’ , Psychological Reports44: 519-524 .
34.
FREEMAN, B. J., RITVO, E. R. & SCHROTH, P. C. (1984) ‘Behaviour Assessment of the Syndrome of Autism: Behaviour Observation System’ , Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychology23: 588-594 .
35.
GIBSON, E. J. (1988) ‘Exploratory Behaviour in the Development of Perceiving, Acting and the Acquiring of Knowledge’ , Annual Review of Psychology39: 1-41 .
36.
GILLBERG, C., EHLERS, S., SCHAUMANN, H., JAKOBSSON, G., DAHLGREN, S. O., LINDBLOM, R., BAGENHOLM, A., TJUUS, T. & BLIDNER, E. (1990) ‘Autism under Age 3 Years: A Clinical Study of 28 Cases Referred for Autistic Symptoms in Infancy’ , Journal of Childhood Psychology and Psychiatry31: 921-934 .
37.
GIROLAMETTO, L., VERBEY, M. & TANNOCK, R. (1994) ‘Improving Joint Engagement in Parent-Child Interaction: An Intervention Study’ , Journal of Early Intervention18: 155-167 .
38.
GOLDFARB, W. (1956) ‘Receptor Preferences in Schizophrenic Children’ , Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry76: 643-653 .
39.
GORLITZ, D. (1987) ‘Exploration and Attribution in a Developmental Context’, in D. GORLITZ & J. F. WOHLWILL (eds) Curiosity, Imagination and Play: On the Development of Spontaneous, Cognitive and Motivational Processes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
40.
GREEN, J. A., GUSTAFSON, G. E. & WEST, M. J. (1980) ‘Effects of Infant Development on Mother-Infant Interactions’ , Child Development51: 199-207 .
41.
GUSTAFSON, G. E., GREEN, J. A. & WEST, M. J. (1979) ‘The Infant’s Changing Role in Mother-Infant Games: The Growth of Social Skills’ , Infant Behavior and Development2: 301-308 .
42.
HARRIS, M., JONES, D. & GRANT, J. (1983) ‘The Nonverbal Context of Mothers’ Speech in Infants’ , First Language4: 21-30 .
43.
HERMELIN, B. & O ’CONNOR, N. (1970) Psychological Experiments with Autistic Children. Oxford: Pergamon .
44.
HOBSON, R. P. (1993) Autism and the Development of Mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
45.
JARROLD, C., BOUCHER, J. & SMITH, P. (1996) ‘Generativity Deficits in Pretend Play in Autism’ , British Journal of Developmental Psychology14: 275-300 .
46.
JENNINGS, K., HAMON, R., MORGAN, G., GAITER, J. & YARROW, L. (1979) ‘Exploratory Play as an Index of Mastery Motivation: Relationships to Persistence, Cognitive Functioning, and Environmental Measures’ , Developmental Psychology15: 386-394 .
47.
KAYE, K. & FOGEL, A. (1980) ‘The Temporal Structure of Face-to-Face Communication between Mothers and Infants’ , Developmental Psychology16: 454-464 .
48.
KIMMERLE, M., MICK, L. & MICHEL, G. F. (1995) ‘Bimanual Role-Differentiated Toy Play During Infancy’ , Infant Behavior and Development18: 299-307 .
49.
LAMB, M. E. (1977) ‘Father-Infant and Mother-Infant Interaction in the First Year of Life’ , Child Development48: 167-181 .
50.
LESLIE, A. (1987) ‘Pretence and Representation in Infancy: Origins of “Theory of Mind”’ , Psychological Review94: 84-106 .
51.
LEWIS, V. & BOUCHER, J. (1988) ‘Spontaneous, Instructed and Elicited Play in Relatively Able Autistic Children’ , The British Journal of Developmental Psychology6: 325-338 .
52.
LEWY, A. L. & DAWSON, G. (1992) ‘Social Stimulation and Joint Attention in Young Autistic Children’ , Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology20: 555-566 .
53.
LIBBY, S. (1998) ‘Exploratory Play in Children with Autism’ , in E. WILLIAMS (Chair) Alternative ‘Roots’to Pretend Play: Evidence from Autism, Typical Development and the Psychology of Art . Symposium Conducted at the BPS Developmental Annual Conference, University of Lancaster, 11-14 September.
54.
LIBBY, S., POWELL, S., MESSER, D. & JORDAN, R. (1998) ‘Spontaneous Pretend Play in Children with Autism: A Reappraisal’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders28: 487-497 .
55.
MCARTHUR, D. & ADAMSON, L. B. (1996) ‘Joint Attention in Preverbal Children: Autism and Developmental Language Disorder’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders26: 481-496 .
56.
MCCALL, R. B. (1974) ‘Exploratory Manipulation and Play in the Human Infant’ , Monographs of Social Research in Child Development39 (2, Mono 155), 88 pp.
57.
MARS, A. E., MAUK, J. E. & DOWRICK, P. (1998) ‘Symptoms of Pervasive Developmental Disorders as Observed in Prediagnostic Home Videos of Infants and Toddlers’ , Journal of Paediatrics132: 500-504 .
58.
MESSER, D. J. & VIETZE, P. M. (1984) ‘Timing and Transitions in Mother-Infant Gaze’ , Infant Behavior and Development7: 167-181 .
59.
MESSER, D. J., MCCARTHY, M. E., MCQUISTON, S., MACTURK, R. H., YARROW, L. J. & VIETZE, P. M. (1986) ‘Relation between Mastery Behavior in Infancy and Competence in Early Childhood’ , Developmental Psychology22: 366-372 .
60.
MUNDY, P., SIGMAN, M., UNGERER, J. & SHERMAN, T. (1986) ‘Defining the Social Deficits of Autism: The Contribution of Non-Verbal Communication Measures’ , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry27: 657-669 .
61.
MUNDY, P., SIGMAN, M., UNGERER, J. & SHERMAN, T. (1987) ‘Non-Verbal Communication and Play Correlates of Language Development in Autistic Children’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders17: 349-364 .
62.
MUNDY, P., SIGMAN, M. & KASARI, C. (1990) ‘A Longitudinal Study of Joint Attention and Language Development in Autistic Children’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders20: 115-128 .
63.
MURRAY, L. & TREVARTHEN, C. (1985) ‘Emotion Regulation of Interaction between Two-Month-Olds and Their Mothers’, in T. FIELD & N. A. FOX (eds) Social Perception in Infants. Norwood, NJ: Ablex .
NINIO, A. & BRUNER, J. (1978) ‘The Achievement and Antecedents of Labelling’ , Journal of Child Language5: 1-16 .
66.
OSTERLING, J. & DAWSON, G. (1994) ‘Early Recognition of Children with Autism: A Study of First Birthday Home Videotapes’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders24: 247-257 .
67.
PIAGET, J. (1962) Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood. New York: Norton .
68.
PLATT, J. & COGGINS, T. E. (1990) ‘Comprehension of Social-Action Games in Prelinguistic Children: Levels of Participation and Effect of Adult Structure’ , Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders55: 315-326 .
69.
POWER, T. G. (2000) Play and Exploration in Children and Animals. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
70.
RATNER, N. & BRUNER, J. S. (1979) ‘Games, Social Exchange, and the Acquisition of Language’ , Journal of Child Language5: 391-401 .
71.
REDDY, V. (1991) ‘Playing with Others’ Expectations: Teasing and Mucking About in the First Year’, in A. WHITEN (ed.) Natural Theories of Mind. Oxford: Blackwell .
72.
REDDY, V., WILLIAMS, E. & VAUGHAN, A. (2002) ‘Sharing Humour and Laughter in Autism and Down’s Syndrome’ , British Journal of Psychology93: 219-242 .
73.
RUFF, H. A. (1984) ‘Infants’ Manipulative Exploration of Objects: Effects of Age and Object Characteristics’ , Developmental Psychology20: 9-20 .
74.
RUFF, H. A. & DUBINER, K. (1987) ‘Stability of Individual Differences in Infants’ Manipulation and Exploration of Objects’ , Perceptual and Motor Skills64: 1095-1101 .
75.
RUFF, H. A. & SALTARELLI, L. M. (1993) ‘Exploratory Play with Objects: Basic Cognitive Processes and Individual Differences’ , New Directions for Child Development59: 5-15 .
76.
RUFF, H. A., SALTARELLI, L. M., CAPPOZZOLI, M. & DUBINER, K. (1992) ‘The Differentiation of Activity in Infants’ Exploration of Objects’ , Developmental Psychology28: 851-861 .
77.
SCHOPLER, E. (1966) ‘Visual Versus Tactile Receptor Preferences in Normal and Schizophrenic Children’ , Journal of Abnormal Psychology71: 108-114 .
78.
SIGMAN, M. & UNGERER, J. A. (1984) ‘Cognitive and Language Skills in Autistic, Mentally Retarded and Normal Children’ , Developmental Psychology20: 293-302 .
79.
SIGMAN, M., MUNDY, P., SHERMAN, T. & UNGERER, J. (1986) ‘Social Interactions of Autistic, Mentally Retarded and Normal Children and Their Caregivers’ , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry27: 647-656 .
80.
SPARLING, J. W. (1991) ‘A Prospective Case Report of Infantile Autism from Pregnancy to Four Years’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders21: 229-236 .
81.
STERN, D. N. (1977) The First Relationship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
82.
ST JAMES, P. & TAGER -FLUSBERG, H. (1994) ‘An Observational Study of Humor in Children with Autism and Down’s Syndrome’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders24: 603-617 .
83.
TOMASELLO, M. & FARRAR, M. J. (1986) ‘Joint Attention and Early Language’ , Child Development57: 1454-1463 .
84.
TOMASELLO, M. & TODD, J. (1983) ‘Joint Attention and Lexical Acquisition Style’ , First Language4: 197-211 .
85.
TREVARTHEN, C. (1979) ‘Communication and Cooperation in Early Infancy: A Description of Primary Intersubjectivity’, in M. BULLOWA (ed.) Before Speech: The Beginning of Inter-Personal Communication. New York: Cambridge University Press .
86.
TREVARTHEN, C. (1988) ‘Universal Co-operative Motives: The Language and Culture of Their Parents’, in G. JAHODA & I. M. LEWIS (eds) Acquiring Culture: Cross-Cultural Studies in Child Development. London: Croom Helm .
87.
TREVARTHEN, C. & HUBLEY, P. (1978) ‘Secondary Intersubjectivity: Confidence, Confiding and Acts of Meaning in the First Year’, in A. LOCK (ed.) Action, Gesture and Symbol: The Emergence of Language. London: Academic .
88.
UZGIRIS, I. C. & HUNT, J. M. (1975) Assessment in Infancy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press .
89.
VONDRA, J. & BELSKY, J. (1989) ‘Infant Play at One Year: Characteristics and Early Antecedents’, in J. J. LOCKMAN & N. L. HAZEN (eds) Action in Social Context. New York: Plenum .
90.
WERTSCH, J. V. (1979) ‘From Social Interaction to Higher Psychological Processes: A Clarification and Application of Vygotsky’s Theory’ , Human Development22: 1-22 .
91.
WETHERBY, A. M. & PRUTTING, C. A. (1984) ‘Profile of Communicative and Cognitive-Social Abilities in Autistic Children’ , Journal of Speech and Hearing Research27: 367-377 .
92.
WILLIAMS, E. (2001). ‘Uncovering the Inter-Penetration between the Social and the Material in Children’s Developing Understanding and Use of Objects’ , paper presented at the Workshop ‘Doing Things with Things’, University of Copenhagen, 28-9 August.
93.
WILLIAMS, E., REDDY, V. & COSTALL, A. (2001) ‘Another Look at Functional Play in Children with Autism’ , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders31: 67-77 .
94.
WILLIAMS, E., STARK, N. & REDDY, V. (in preparation) ‘A Comparative Study of Exploratory Play in Children with Autism, Children with Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Children’.
95.
WING, L. (1969) ‘The Handicaps of Autistic Children: A Comparative Study’ , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry10: 1-23 .
96.
WING, L., GOULD, J., YEATES, S. R. & BRIERLEY, L. M. (1977) ‘Symbolic Play in Severely Mentally Retarded and in Autistic Children’ , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry18: 167-178 .
97.
YARROW, L. J., MCQUISTON, S., MACTURK, R. H., MCCARTHY, M. E., KLEIN, R. P. & VIETZE, P. M. (1983) ‘Assessment of Mastery Motivation during the First Year of Life: Contemporaneous and Cross-Age Relationships’ , Developmental Psychology19: 159-171 .
