Developing children's skills at play

last updated:April 2009

We have chosen this case study because it looks at the ways of engaging children in pretend play and suggests some effective ways of encouraging and organising young children's play to support their brain development. Play as a learner-centred activity was found to be important in terms of children developing their listening skills. In this particular study all of the children had learning difficulties and so particular attention was paid to the stages of developing skills at play, and how teachers might support this process.

Eight primary children aged between five or six years, took part in a programme which sought to teach pretend play. All the children were 'statemented' as having learning difficulties, and five were diagnosed as autistic. The children's understanding of speech ranged between 1 year 8 months and 3 years 5 months. The children with autism had difficulties in participating in classroom activities; for example they usually found sitting and watching the teacher for more than a few moments was difficult.

What is pretend play?
Pretend play is frequently seen in children as they approach two years of age and plays a prominent role in developing flexibility of thought for a number of years. Pretend play is first seen in functional play. In functional play, the child uses an object as it is meant to be used, for example, feeding a teddy bear with a plastic spoon or saying "bruuum" as a toy car is pushed along the table. If the child were to imagine that 'Teddy' had burnt his mouth on the plastic spoon or that the car had made a sudden reverse because of the frightening monster that appeared at the end of the table, it would be considered symbolic pretend play. If the child were to develop both a play scenario and a pretence as a pair, then this would be considered social pretend play. If the child were to develop a play scenario that he had not seen or used before, it would be considered spontaneous pretend play. Three-six year old children, developing normally, might combine all these aspects of pretend playing into a single but very complex play scenario.

Children with autism have an impairment or absence of pretend play. Although many children with autism do use some pretend play, this tends to be narrow, repetitive, functional play. Children with autism are noted for not developing spontaneous symbolic and social pretend play. However the mental abilities that are used within symbolic play are essential for effective learning and provide a foundation for later problem solving, generalising information, creative processes and understanding other people. These are central difficulties for children with autism and undermine most forms of subsequent learning.

What was the teaching process used in this study?
The author wanted to teach the children to use symbolic play acts, to watch the pretence of others, to take turns in pretend play games with other children and ultimately to create spontaneous play scenarios with other children in free-play settings.

Initially an adult modelled a number of play scenarios in front of the children who were sitting in a semi-circle. Children were then asked to use the same materials to imitate and extend the modelled play scenario. Others continued to watch this. Videos of these sessions were shown to the children and the most important aspects were highlighted. As the group became used to the approach, adult intervention was decreased and spontaneous, social and creative acts were encouraged.

Typical examples of modelled play scenarios would include:

• pretending to lose a balloon and undertaking a journey to recover it
• pretending to be asleep and waking to find that all your possessions have been stolen
• what can we make out of this old linen sheet?....a roof, umbrella, a hammock or perhaps a jellyfish!

Equipment used for these lessons involved a combination of representational toy materials and non-representational junk material.

The presentation of the pretend play scenarios was crucial to the success of the intervention. To maintain the children's interest in the play of others it was necessary to use exaggerated voice and gesture. This gave the sessions a sense of fun and pantomime. The children seemed to enjoy this approach and laughed at the use of melodrama. Instead of holding the attention for two or three minutes, the children were able to watch for up to 40 minutes.

What were the findings to the study?
Following the intervention, all the children with autism were able to use symbolic pretend play without being prompted.

Improvements in pretence:

• Some children were able to combine several different types of symbolic pretence within each episode of their play.
• The types of play used and the language that accompanied it were similar in the children that did and did not have autism.

Improvements in social play:

• All the children with autism were able to engage and initiate social pretend play after the intervention, more frequently, more purposefully, and using high quality play at the beginning of the programme.
• During the intervention there was a shift in the children with autism engaging their peers in play, rather then playing alone or using confrontational behaviour.

Reference:
Sherratt, D. (1999) Teaching children with autism to use pretend play.