TEACHING PLAY ACTIVITIES TO PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES - THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether three preschool chi ldren with autism or autistic-like behaviors would learn and generaliz e pretend play activities targeted at two different play levels-a deve lopmentally appropriate (DA) level and an age appropriate (AA) level-d ifferently. The children's readiness for the DA play level was assesse d with the Developmental Play Assessment (DPA) instrument (Lifter, Edw ards, Avery, Anderson, & Sulzer-Azaroff 1988). We taught individual ex emplars from the two different play levels one at a time, to each of t he children, in a sequential treatments design. In contrast to the con sistently acquired DA activities, the activities of the AA category ap parently were more difficult, and in most cases, they were not acquire d. In addition, the children were less likely to generalize the AA ski lls to other activities or toys. The results are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of developmental considerations in selecting instr uctional objectives, and (b) the usefulness of directly teaching play activities to children with developmental disabilities.