Association for Behavior Analysis International

Teaching children to play is an integral part of development because it sets the occasion for having social and communicative interactions with peers, increases the likelihood of learning in natural and inclusive settings, and offers flexibility to be used in multiple environments (Barton & Wolery, 2008). Children with disabilities are observed to engage in spontaneous play less often and demonstrate fewer varied pretend play behaviors than children with typical development (Barton, 2015). The long-term effects of an impoverished play repertoire are observed in social interactions later in life. The purpose of this symposium is to review the research supporting the efficacy of the Pretend Play and Language Assessment and Curriculum (PPLAC) as an effective tool to systematically assess and teach both independent and sociodramatic pretend play and language skills to children ages 2-7. The PPLAC is a behaviorally-based curriculum formulated from the typical developmental sequence of play and language and utilized to establish and expand a child's pretend play repertoire. The five elements of pretend play are identified and separated in teachable components including: agent of play, object of play, category of play, advanced play and the essential skills to sociodramatic play.

BCBA, BCBA-D, BCaBA, SLP, Special educators

Children diagnosed with autism and other developmental delays often demonstrate a deficit in toy play when compared to typically developing peers and frequently require specific interventions to acquire appropriate toy play (DiCarlo & Reid, 2004). Teaching play skills to children diagnosed with autism by isolating the individual components within each stage of play can increase acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. The purpose of this study was to replicate the research presented by Nancy Champlin and Melissa Schissler to teach four children diagnosed with autism, ages 3-7, with varying profiles, single play actions and vocalizations across 20 targets in Stage 1: Single Agent from the Pretend Play and Language Assessment and Curriculum (PPLAC). Actions and vocalizations were taught across three elements of pretend play: agent, object, and essential skills to socio-dramatic play. Following mastery of single play actions with corresponding vocalizations, generalization to untrained toy items was assessed. Facilitators will discuss the modifications to the PPLAC made to accommodate the barriers presented by higher-needs participants.

Play skills demonstrated by children diagnosed with autism is often lacking in symbolic or social qualities (MacDonald, Sacramone, Mansdielf, Wiltz, & Ahearn, 2009). The quality of children’s pretend play increases as they learn to sequence one play action after another (Stagnitti & Lewis, 2014). The purpose of this study was to utilize the developmental sequence of play and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching a series of 8 components encompassing the second developmental stage of play in the Pretend Play and Language Assessment and Curriculum (PPLAC), chaining play. Least-to-most prompting was used to teach a chain of three play actions and vocalizations to three children diagnosed with autism, ages 4-7. A sequence of play actions and vocalizations was targeted across agent of play, advanced play, and the essential skills to sociodramatic play. The outcome of this study demonstrated the efficacy of the eight teaching components as steps to teach all three children a chain of play actions with corresponding vocalizations across agent of play and object of play, independently and with peers.

Pretend play provides critical learning opportunities for all children in their everyday lives (Ozen, Batu, & Birkan, 2012) and behaviorally-based interventions have been effective in teaching children with autism appropriate play skills (Palechka & MacDonald, 2010). Deficits in play are linked to poor social relationships, limited expressive language, and high rates of stereotypic behavior (Casby, 2003; Lifter, 2005). The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a script fading intervention to teach two children diagnosed with autism between the ages of 5 and 7 years old a sequence of seven independent play actions and corresponding vocalizations for one character role in a multi-role play scheme. A multi-role play scheme involves complimentary character roles that are dependent on each other (e.g., pizza shop customer and pizza shop cashier). A multiple baseline design across play schemes was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of script fading to teach the sequence of play. Script fading was determined to be an effective intervention for teaching a sequence of independent play.

Both independent and sociodramatic play is vital to a child’s development. Children often relate to one another with compatible roles within a play scheme engaging in reciprocal roles that reflect complimentary social relationships (Goldstein & Cisar, 1992). The purpose of this study was to teach two children diagnosed with autism complimentary character roles in a play scheme. Each participant was taught a sequence of seven actions and corresponding vocalizations one for the primary role in the camping play and one for the secondary role in the camping play scheme. Contingent on each participant independently acquiring the character role in the target play sequence the participants were taught to engage in sociodramatic play by alternating actions and corresponding vocalizations to expand on the sequence of play that was taught. Acquisition of the independent play scheme and alternating actions with a peer were assessed and generalization to novel schemes and peers was evaluated.