Play and Social Interaction Strategies for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in...

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yecyec

Vol. XX, No. X, Month XXXX YOUNG EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

DOI: 10.1177/1096250615576802http://yec.sagepub.com

© 2015 Division for Early Childhood

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Amy M. Papacek, PhDArizona State University

Zhen Chai, PhDNew Mexico State University

Katherine B. Green, PhDUniversity of West Georgia

Play and Social Interaction Strategies for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in Inclusive Preschool Settings

Jack and Logan attend an inclusive full-day preschool program. Their classroom

consists of 12 typically developing peers, 4 children with special needs, the classroom teacher, and a classroom assistant. A special education teacher and a speech-language pathologist provide direct and consultative services within the classroom each morning for 3 hr. Jack and Logan receive special education services in the domains of social development and communication. Although both boys have been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their interactions with peers are very different. Jack typically participates in solitary or parallel play. He cries and becomes agitated when approached by other children, and his behavior escalates to include throwing toys, screaming, or hitting the other child.

However, Logan has improved in his interactions with a few familiar peers without hitting, throwing toys, or having tantrums; yet, this skill has not generalized to other peers or newly introduced individuals. His speech skills are emerging and he has begun to communicate his needs to familiar individuals. Logan consistently plays parallel to familiar peers.

Ms. Bank, the classroom teacher, has become concerned that both Jack’s and Logan’s most difficult social interaction times occur during center time. Both boys have little interaction with their peers and have difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. Ms. Bank called for a team meeting regarding each boy that included the parent(s), classroom assistant, special educator, speech-language pathologist, and the school’s behavior specialist. The goal of the meetings was to discuss how to effectively promote social and communication skills for the boys, particularly during center time. The team discussed interventions that ensure the needs of both boys are being met, including arranging the classroom environment, choosing the appropriate toys to facilitate interactive play, peer grouping strategies, and appropriate adult facilitation to encourage Jack and Logan’s social engagement during play.

According to the American Psychiatric Association (2013), an impairment in social-emotional

Play and Social Interaction Strategies for Children With ASD / Papacek et al.

YOUNG EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN Vol. XX, No. X, Month XXXX2

reciprocity may include abnormalities in the use of nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interchange, or a lack of interest in showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to others. Individuals with ASD may have deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships; have a restricted range of interests that may be abnormal or unconventional; and experience limited receptive and expressive communication skills (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). ASD is characterized by social interaction difficulties, communication challenges, and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviors. However, symptoms and their severity vary widely across these three core areas. For example, Logan may want peers to play with him but can only communicate this desire through the use of sounds, such as “vroom, vroom.” Logan’s development of play skills and varied interests are still developing, as his social involvement with peers is increasing. Jack still requires more modeling and guided participation to engage in play with peers.

The purpose of this article is to define play, discuss why play is important for children with ASD, and to describe how arranging a play environment may be utilized in inclusive preschool classrooms to expand play skills and social interactions of children with ASD. Arranging the play environment for children with ASD includes structuring the physical environment, choosing appropriate toys, peer grouping, and adult assistance (Chandler, Fowler, & Lubeck, 1992; Mason et al., 2014). Multiple mini-vignettes about Logan and Jack’s inclusive preschool experiences are presented to demonstrate how these strategies will assist teachers in facilitating their appropriate play skills.

There are many different ways to define play; however, researchers agree on some commonalities among all definitions (e.g., Ginsburg, 2007; Johnson, Christie, & Wardle, 2005; Parten, 1933). Play may be defined as a state of being in which an individual experiences increased energy focusing on an activity, cheerfulness and joy which is accompanied by smiles and laughter, feeling an ease of burden resulting from nonliterality, renewed sense of optimism, and the beginning of new possibilities (Children’s Play Information Service, 2002; Johnson et al., 2005). Play also includes an element of being freely chosen by the child and personally directed in a process of trial and error in which the child learns new activities (Johnson et al., 2005; Wong & Kasari, 2012). Play is intrinsically motivating, flexible, spontaneous, and voluntary, allowing children to use their natural environment to promote learning and socialization

“

”

ASD is characterized by

social interaction

difficulties, communication

challenges, and a

tendency to engage in

repetitive behaviors.



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(Bergen, 2002; Johnson et al., 2005). Play does not include performance for any external goal or reward (Parten, 1933).

In 1932, Mildred Parten categorized the stages of children’s play that continue to provide a standard definition for describing a child’s developmental progress in social play. The stages of play recognized by Parten and many current scholars include unoccupied play, solitary play, onlooker play behavior, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play (Parten, 1932). According to Parten, as children become older, improving their communication skills, and as opportunities for peer interaction become more common, the nonsocial (solitary and parallel) types of play become less common, and the social (associative and cooperative) types of play become more common. The social aspect of play begins when the child starts to notice the play of others (Jordan, 2003). Singer and Singer (2006) assert that children’s play is central to their sense of themselves and their relationship to others. If schools are the first experience beyond home and family, then teachers wield considerable power for both education and intervention.

Play is a powerful intervention that can improve social and

language outcomes for children with ASD (Lifter, Ellis, Cannon, & Anderson, 2005). Lifter et al. (2005) stated that children with ASD develop important social skills precisely through exploring different forms of play, focusing on pretend play, playing with objects, and engaging in socio-dramatic play and peer play. According to Children’s Play Information Service (2002), children may increase physical development when given appropriate space and resources to play. In preschool, many children improve fine and gross motor skills such as balance, laterality (awareness of left and right sides of their body), spatial orientation, and muscle coordination of large muscle groups. When the child masters these skills, it allows for enhanced play-based activities and social competencies.

The experiences in which Jack and Logan participate provide insight into play patterns among children with ASD. For example, Jack does not show the ability to role-play with action figures, but he spends hours exploring them by moving their joints, checking whether they can balance on their own, breaking them apart, and putting them back together. His engagement with the action figures may not appear to be “play,” but he is engaged in an element of freely chosen, intrinsically motivated exploration of these toys. Logan will follow a peer’s lead and mimic the peer; however, he does not demonstrate independent abilities to exhibit role-play skills. Some peers are able to “become” part of the toy and take on the characteristics associated with this mediating artifact. Even though Logan is emerging with this skill as he

“

”

Play is a powerful

intervention that can

improve social and

language outcomes for

children with ASD



demonstrates the ability to imitate basic movements, Jack does not possess this skill. In spite of Logan’s emerging skills, their differences in their play require strategies that involve the need to be coaxed, guided, or taught by others to engage in play activities.

The play environment has an impact on the social interactions of children (Vandenberg, 1981; Wong & Kasari, 2012). For example, inclusive settings may be a more effective play environment for a child to develop social interactions compared with separate or self-contained settings. Although most 5-year-olds understand that other people have different thoughts, feelings, and goals than they have, a child with ASD may lack such understanding. Thus, it can interfere with the ability to predict or understand another person’s actions.As utilizing the least intrusive peer interaction intervention is suggested by researchers (e.g., Brown, Odom, & Conroy, 2001), appropriately arranging the play environment is a nonintrusive and relatively easy approach to facilitate social interactions among children (Chandler et al., 1992; O’Gorman Hughes & Carter, 2002). Four aspects of the play environment closely related to the amount and nature of social interactions of

children include arranging the physical environment, the availability of toys, peer grouping, and adult facilitation (Chandler et al., 1992; Wong & Kasari, 2012). These foundational aspects, though seemingly basic for seasoned teachers of children with disabilities, have research-based effectiveness when setting up any classroom that consists of young children with ASD to improve social interactive skills.

Arranging the Physical Classroom Environment

In general, children identified with disabilities will have more interactions with peers when toys are limited and well chosen, when children with disabilities are grouped with peers who demonstrate appropriate social skills, when there is minimal adult–child interaction, when play and joint attention are the target behaviors, and when the play area is relatively small (IN, 2014; Wong, 2013). Piaget (1962) asserted that play has a central role in a child’s early identity development as the child increases his or her knowledge of social rules and norms within relationships. According to Piaget’s theory, children’s intellectual growth is partly affected by physical development and partly due to interactions with the surrounding environment. He believed that children must be equipped with the tools and mediating instruments to think, communicate, and understand what is happening around them if they are going to be able to interact with individuals in their surrounding environments. When peers assist other children in learning through participation of social interaction



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Table 1Summary of Strategies

Descriptions Examples

Choose appropriate toys

Play contributes to the broadest range of skills and interests; a broad range of play opportunities with peers and appropriate toys should be encouraged. Social toys would create more social interactions increasing relationships and communication skills. Children will play longer when allowed to choose their playthings/toys.

Cause and effect (race track with cars), pretend play (baby, clothes, and crib), creativity (kitchen and food), active (balls, bikes), cooperative (board games, building things such as Legos), manipulative (coloring, beading)

Child grouping Using peers to help children with ASD engage in appropriate social interactions. Choosing a peer may be based on the peer’s level of tolerance, empathy, and his or her preference of activities.

Minimally intrusive method of encouraging engagement in a play involves placing children who possess a lesser amount of developed social skills alongside or near children with greater social skills during small and large group activities.

Adult facilitation To encourage play and interaction between peers and children with ASD, teachers should set interactive activities, assist with communication, and arrange play activities, so that all children’s participation is essential and assists in the facilitation of when activities begin and end.

Give positive nonverbal (high fives and smiles) and verbal (“You are playing so nicely together”) reinforcers when children are engaged appropriately in social interactions. Model appropriate communication and give gestural prompts.

Social stories The social story described how someone would choose a toy, how to request a friend to play, and/or how to share toys. Social stories can include computer-generated icon pictures or “real” pictures that include the children the story is targeting. The latter is a preferred method to ensure children assimilate themselves into the situation.

Note. ASD = autism spectrum disorder.

and play activities, each child’s individual development is enhanced and enriched (Table 1).

At their team meeting, Ms. Bank, the parent, teacher assistant, special educator, speech pathologist, and behavior specialist discussed Logan’s current levels of progress. As parents are an integral part of a child’s education team, Ms. Bank specifically asked Logan’s mother about his social and communication skills at home. Logan’s mother, a young, single parent of two children, was pleased with Logan’s increased communication skills since the beginning of the school year. However, she still had concerns that Logan did not interact, communicate, or play with less familiar family members and

friends. She also expressed concern that Logan played “differently” than the other neighborhood children. The special education teacher and speech-language pathologist added that they have also observed an increase in communication and interactive skills with preferred peers, but he continues to engage in parallel play and infrequent interactions with unfamiliar peers. The team decided that as they discussed solutions to support Logan’s communication and social skills in the classroom, they would also address strategies appropriate for the home environment. The team committed to meet on a regular basis to discuss current progress and address necessary changes.



The team first assessed the classroom environment. They recognized some key areas to be rearranged. For example, they noticed that if they decreased the number of centers available from eight to five at free play, interactions between children increased, as well as focus and engagement with the play activities. Furthermore, they provided boundaries to the centers, so that the children understood the actual space in which the center play should occur. They made the play areas only large enough as required to fit four children and the toys, so children would not be too far apart when they played. The team determined that they needed to assess the students’ preferred toys and activities to naturally improve social and communication skills within the classroom. After assessing the classroom environment, the team determined that many of these strategies can be implemented for the home environment, though adapted for fewer children. Home strategies included structured play dates with neighborhood children or family members with preferred toys placed close together, and having no more than three activities out to encourage interactions between children.

Through consultation with parents, daily observation, and anecdotal records, Ms. Bank and the behavior specialist discovered that Logan’s favorite toys were trains and cars. As discussed in the last team meeting, Ms. Bank put some toys that Logan preferred to play within the center and decreased the number of toys in the center to increase the possibility of communicating, sharing, and turn-taking during play. For example, the math center was typically filled with different manipulatives that did not

hold Logan’s interest. Ms. Bank rearranged it by adding some cars to increase the chance that Logan would choose the math center, and improve early numeracy skills such as counting and patterning (e.g., red car, red car, blue car, red car, red car, blue car), while improving social interactive skills by playing with peers. Prior to center time, Ms. Bank selected two children with advanced social skills and asked Logan to choose a friend from the two to play with during center time. After Logan chose a friend, Ms. Bank asked the children to decide which center they would like to attend. Once they chose their peers and center, Ms. Bank discussed the rules and expectations, and then supervised from a distance.

Choose Appropriate Toys to Facilitate Play

All children respond differently to toys available to them at any particular time. Children may like to have conversations with their peers while playing with certain toys, while other toys lend themselves to play in isolation (IN, 2014). The tendency to engage in a restricted range of activities can be seen in the way that many children with ASD play with toys (IN, 2014; Wong & Kasari, 2012). For example, some children spend hours lining up toys in a specific way instead of using them for pretend play.

Social toys promote opportunities for interactions with others, and isolate toys are usually used individually (Elmore & Vail, 2011; see Table 2). Early childhood classrooms should include both social and isolate toys to create opportunities for social interactions and child development. Regarding

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”

Early childhood

classrooms should include

both social and isolate

toys to create

opportunities for social

interactions and child

development.



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play activities of young children with disabilities, researchers suggest that social toys would create more social interactions than isolate toys (Elmore & Vail, 2011; Glassy & Romano, 2003; Ivory & McCollum, 1999; Martin, Brady, & Williams, 1991). However, researchers have found that both social and isolate toys can promote social interactions. For example, O’Gorman Hughes and Carter (2002) did not find any significant differences in social

interactions when children were playing with either type of toy. Elmore and Vail (2011) found that children had more verbal interactions when provided with opportunities to play with both isolate and social toys rather than social toys alone. Thus, either isolate or social toys can be used to increase social interactions (O’Gorman Hughes & Carter, 2002). For example, puzzles are categorized as an isolate toy;

Table 2Categorization of Social and Isolate Toys and Materials

Class of toy Examples Supporting references

Social toys Dress-up clothes Bags, dresses, hats, glasses, shoes Martin, Brady, and Williams (1991) Home corner materials Cooking utensils, plastic food Martin et al. (1991)

Cowden and Torrey (1990)

Role-play materials, puppet theater Fire truck, police truck, puppets Martin et al. (1991)Beckman and Kohl (1984)Cowden and Torrey (1990)

Dolls’ house Dolls’ furniture Kallam, Rettig, and McCarthy-Salm (1993)Cowden and Torrey (1990)

Toy vehicles Cars, trucks, helicopters, car mat Beckman and Kohl (1984)Martin et al. (1991)Kallam et al. (1993)

Construction materials Building blocks, waffle blocks, wooden blocks Beckman and Kohl (1984)Cowden and Torrey (1990)Kallam et al. (1993)

Dolls and dolls’ clothes Doll, diapers, shirts, pants Cowden and Torrey (1990)Kallam et al. (1993)

Isolate toys Puzzles 16-piece inset puzzle, big floor puzzles Beckman and Kohl (1984)

Cowden and Torrey (1990)Martin et al. (1991)Kallam et al. (1993)

Pegboards Regular pegboards Martin et al. (1991) Art materials Paper, pens, crayons, nature materials, collage materials Beckman and Kohl (1984)

Cowden and Torrey (1990)Martin et al. (1991)Kallam et al. (1993)

Picture books ABC with animals, numbers with objects Beckman and Kohl (1984)Martin et al. (1991)Kallam et al. (1993)

Toy animals Plastic farm and jungle animals Cowden and Torrey (1990)

Source: Adopted from O’Gorman Hughes and Carter (2002).



however, if two children take turns to finish a puzzle and talk about what shape or what animal the puzzle created, the puzzle becomes a social toy. However, if teachers provide young children with ASD with appropriate toys, without guided participation and modeling strategies, social interactions still will not likely occur. Therefore, additional techniques such as prompting and modeling may continue to be needed to ensure successful interaction and engagement.

After the team meeting, Ms. Bank observed Jack and Logan in unassisted free play. She found that Jack did not seem to be interested in playing with peers even though he may like the same toys. For example, Jack was sitting on the carpet playing with the building blocks, but he became agitated and ran away when a peer approached the area. Logan’s interactions were typically limited to engaging with preferred peers for 5 min of play at a time. Both boys became agitated when free play was over and they were asked by the teacher to cease their activities. Based on Ms. Bank’s observation, both boys chose to play with the blocks, cars, and the kitchen area. Ms. Bank decided to use these centers as a catalyst to promote social interaction with their typically developing peers. At the beginning of center time, Ms. Bank gave Jack two center choices (making sure at least one was a preferred activity) and provided the opportunity for Jack to make the choice which center he would like to play.

Child Grouping

Now that Ms. Bank has chosen appropriate toys and activities (i.e.,

blocks, cars, trains, and kitchen center) for Jack and Logan, she must consider which peers to group with Jack and Logan to increase their social interactions. Using peers to help children with ASD engage in appropriate social interactions is a strategy well researched within early childhood (e.g., Harrower & Dunlap, 2001; Kohler, Strain, Hoyson, & Jamieson, 1997; Petursdottir, McComas, & McMaster, 2007; Wong, 2013). Creating interactive activities with a more socially competent peer allows teachers to provide structured play opportunities for children with ASD to improve their social interaction skills within the classroom environment. Teachers should utilize a technique of “priming” or prepractice before beginning new peer groupings, classroom activities, or changes in the child’s environment. Priming has been documented as an effective classroom intervention for children with ASD (Harrower & Dunlap, 2001). Priming consists of reviewing information prior to the child actually engaging with peers or in a classroom activity. This intervention will increase the likelihood of successful social interactions between appropriate child groupings. Strategically grouping peers may be termed as peer-assisted strategies (Chandler, 1998), environmental arrangements (Mason et al., 2014; Odom et al., 1999), or social integration activities (Brown et al., 2001).

Choosing a peer may be based on the peer’s level of tolerance, empathy, and his or her preference of activities (Hobson, Hobson, Malik, Bargiota, & Calo, 2013). For example, Ms. Bank chose peers who enjoyed playing with blocks, cars, or kitchen sets, as well as children who

“

”

Creating interactive

activities with a more

socially competent peer

allows teachers to provide

structured play

opportunities for children

with ASD to improve their

social interaction skills

within the classroom

environment.

“

”

The teacher may utilize

visual supports such as

picture/word cards that

say “Can I play?” or “my

turn,” and coach all

children in the classroom

to use visual supports to

communicate



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would not get upset if the activity was modified or if Jack or Logan threw a toy. Teachers should be careful not to simply place peers within an activity context with children with ASD and expect for improvements in social interactions without adult facilitation during instructional periods. Peers may require facilitation to initiate social interaction and to participate within the activity. Teachers should expect that successfully grouping children may take several trials (Mundschenk & Sasso, 1995). Another factor that needs to be considered is the verbal abilities of the child with ASD. The teacher may utilize visual supports such as picture/word cards that say “Can I play?” or “my turn,” and coach all children in the classroom to use visual supports to communicate (Johnston, Nelson, Evans, & Palazolo, 2003).

After the team discussed the importance of peer grouping, Ms. Bank and the behavior specialist began observing which activities all the children appeared to prefer and how the children played together. They chose two peers for Logan and two peers for Jack who (a) enjoyed playing similar activities as Logan and Jack, (b) attempted to interact with Logan or Jack during play, and (c) were tolerant of changes, adaptations, and interruptions in play. They grouped Logan with Mia and Jose, and Jack with Henry and

Keeya. It was important to find at least two peers to group with Jack and Logan, in case a peer was absent or uninterested in playing the activities that day.

Adult Facilitation

In these social interactive activities, the teacher’s role in play may be one of facilitation. Without adult facilitation, children with ASD may be apt to play alone, isolating themselves from peers and social activities (Koegel, Werner, Vismara, & Koegel, 2005). By knowing the kind of play that children with ASD prefer, teachers can encourage play and interaction between peers and children with ASD, teachers should set interactive activities, assist with communication, and arrange play activities, so that all children’s participation is essential (Wong, 2013). In an examination of play groups between typically developing peers and children with ASD, Koegel et al. (2005) found that utilizing mutually reinforcing activities, as well as adult facilitation of cooperative environments, had positive effects on the participants’ reciprocal social interaction. In addition, teachers may need to facilitate communication and arrange play because all children’s participation is essential. Children with ASD tend to avoid an activity that requires pretending or imagining oneself in place of another (Doody & Mertz, 2013). For example, in the vignette below Ms. Bank has the kitchen center set up for free play, as she noted that this is a preferred play area for Logan and Mia. She also brought over a baby doll and helped Mia include Logan in the decisions for what to feed the baby and provided

“

”

In these social interactive

activities, the teacher’s

role in play may be one of

facilitation.



prompts when needed. This play activity was reinforced by mutual interest in the kitchen set, interactions with each other, as well as interactions and feedback from the teacher.

Teachers also may need to assist in the facilitation of when activities begin and end for children with ASD, as some children with ASD have difficulties putting away and leaving favorite toys or centers. A strategy teachers may use is a warning system to prepare children with ASD in advance when an activity will end or change. A warning system strategy can be used in conjunction with social stories (Sansosti, Powell-Smith, & Kincaid, 2004) or edited video clips to teach children with ASD what will be expected in the coming play activity (MacDonald, Clark, Garrigan, & Vangala, 2005; Nikopoulos & Keenana, 2004).

The behavior specialist consulted with Ms. Bank on appropriate social stories and adult facilitation. As the children are most familiar with Ms. Bank, and she was the constant teacher in the classroom, it was important that Ms. Bank read the social story and facilitated all play activities. During circle time, Ms. Bank read a social story to the group. The social story described how someone would choose a toy, how to request a friend to play, and how to share toys. She then gave all the students a warning: “Soon we will move to centers, and you will have thirty minutes of play time.” When circle time finished, Ms. Bank asked each student to choose a center he or she wanted to play. Logan chose to go to the pretend play center, particularly to the kitchen set.

Mia was already playing with the kitchen set. She was constructing a tea party with a variety of foods and dishes. Although they both were playing with the kitchen set, they did not interact with each other. Ms. Bank saw that Mia and Logan were not interacting, so she moved to the center with a baby doll in her hands and said, “The baby is hungry. She wants to have dinner. Can you two make dinner for her?” Mia immediately said, “Yes!” Logan looked at Ms. Bank and hesitantly nodded his head. Mia started to cook and said, “I want to make chicken salad and pumpkin soup.” “That is a good idea. But you need to ask Logan to see if he likes it. He may want to cook something else.” Ms. Bank said, “Logan, what do you like for dinner?” Mia asked. Logan did not respond to her question. Ms. Bank saw he had broccoli in his hand, so she asked, “Logan, you are holding broccoli. Do you want to make broccoli



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soup?” Logan nodded. “Then tell Mia broccoli soup.” Logan said quietly “broc sou,” while he was looking at the broccoli in his hand. “OK” Mia said, “The baby is so hungry. You give her some milk.” Logan went to find the milk. At first, he got a plastic chicken. Mia saw it and said, “No, that is not milk. It’s chicken.” Logan then dropped the chicken and picked up a slice of bacon. “No, that’s bacon,” said Mia. “Here is the milk. Feed the baby.” Logan did not know how to feed the baby, so he stood with the milk in his hand. “Let me show you how to feed her,” said Mia. Logan followed Mia’s direction and started to pat the baby. The teacher quietly visited another center while Mia began to lead the play. With 3 min left in center time, Ms. Bank gave the students a 3-min warning until clean-up time.

In this example, Ms. Bank used a warning system and a social story to let the children know what would happen next and the expected behaviors. To naturally reinforce target behaviors, teachers should look for naturally occurring opportunities. When Ms. Bank saw Logan and Mia playing in the same center, she recognized that it would be a great opportunity to naturally reinforce interactions between Logan and Mia. Ms. Bank guided and prompted the children to continue taking turns when necessary. Even though it may appear that Mia is dominating the play experience, the interaction provides Logan with an example of play imitating real-life activities. Each time Logan and Mia participate in this activity in the future, Ms. Bank will promote Logan’s increased control of the situation. For Mia, this type of guided participation will promote

increased social skills with cooperation with others, modeling actions, and tolerance of situations she does not control.

Final Notes

Play behaviors are the fundamental basis for social skills development, language development, and communication abilities (Lee, Odom, & Loftin, 2007). As a child’s knowledge and understanding of a play activity expand, the child transforms his or her approach to social situations and decision making.

No one instructional strategy will be successful for all children with ASD, though play activities assist children to learn through exploration and imitation leading to increased developmental skills (Lifter et al., 2005). Despite the fact that many children with ASD have unique patterns of development, educators can utilize their strengths to support learning in areas of difficulty (Lord & McGee, 2001). As every experience a child has may contribute to the development of his or her brain, children with ASD need to be given ample opportunity to participate in social and academic activities.

Furthermore, naturalistic teaching, such as teaching social interaction skills during play, has been successful when teaching young children with ASD (Wong & Kasari, 2012). For example, a teacher may find an opportunity to teach turn-taking to a child while rolling a ball back and forth. Before the teacher rolls the ball toward the child, the teacher can say, “my turn,” and when the child catches the ball the teacher can say, “your turn.” If the child imitates the

“

”

Play behaviors are the

fundamental basis for

social skills development,

language development,

and communication

abilities

“

”

Furthermore, naturalistic

teaching, such as teaching

social interaction skills

during play, has been

successful when teaching

young children with

ASD



teacher with any type of verbalization, the teacher responds positively and uses the word in a statement such as “yes, it is your turn” or something similar using the phrase your/my turn.

As recommended by the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, naturalistic teaching strategies are an important component of early childhood education (Sandall, Hemmeter, Smith, & McLean, 2005). They are appropriate for children with and without disabilities or developmental delays. In promoting play activities, children with ASD are not only learning social interaction skills but are also improving their communication skills with a new set of vocabulary words. Play has been documented as a valuable resource to improve children’s language abilities.

Play is a way for children to interact with the world around them. This occurs through a combination of experiences and interactions that are supported by people, toys, and places in their life. Jordan and Libby (1997) indicated that play interests in children with ASD are typically dominated by sensory and physical play, though play activities should be looked at as a tool for developing social interactions. Although there are many types of interventions and strategies to increase social interaction and play activities for young children with ASD and other developmental delays, only four

strategies were highlighted to provide more detailed information about each. Even though the above strategies are demonstrated using young children with ASD, they can be utilized and tailored for children with or without ASD with all levels of basic play and communication skills. The results of a meta-analysis conducted by Lieberman and Yoder (2012) have demonstrated the positive relationships between play and communication in young children with ASD.

Early intervention has been documented as critical to children diagnosed with ASD. Many studies have found that the earlier children with ASD receive intervention services for communication, the greater gains in daily social interaction skills (Baron-Cohen, 2003; Landa & Goldberg, 2005). Play can be a tool to bridge social and communication skills between typically developing children and children with ASD, especially in an inclusive classroom. When a child engages in play activities with another child, he or she becomes involved in activities that may expand his or her range of emotions and improve both social and communication skills (Wolfberg, 2009). By considering play as a possible intervention to improve social and communication skills in children with ASD, it may be possible to recognize the great value this tool has on their lives.

Authors’ NoteYou may reach Amy M. Papacek by e-mail at [email protected].



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