Preschoolers negatively evaluate conventional norm violations in pretend play.

A growing body of research demonstrates that children's pretend play is largely influenced by their understanding of reality. The current work took a novel approach to testing children's understanding of pretense by investigating whether children apply and uphold their knowledge of conventional norms in pretend play. In this study, 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 200) were introduced to a series of pretend play scenarios (e.g., pretending to eat breakfast) in which a puppet pretended to follow a norm (e.g., pretended to eat cereal for breakfast) or violate a norm (e.g., pretended to eat a hamburger for breakfast). These pretend play scenarios were presented as either fantastical or realistic in nature. Consistent with our hypotheses, children evaluated pretend norm violation more negatively than pretend norm adherence and reported liking norm violators less than norm followers. Contrary to our hypothesis, the manipulation of play context (fantastical vs. realistic) did not affect children's evaluations. That is, children were just as negative about pretend norm violations (relative to pretend norm adherence) in fantastical pretend play scenarios as they were in realistic pretend play scenarios. Furthermore, individual differences in children's fantasy orientation did not predict their evaluations. This study is the first to establish that children maintain their real-world understanding of conventional norms in pretend play, providing further evidence that children's pretense is largely realistic in nature.

Four-year-old children's pretend play complexity during free play and story stem play and associations with maternal sensitivity.

Theory and research have linked pretend play in early childhood with the development of language and theory of mind. In 102 mother-child dyads at 4.5 years, we examined whether (1) introducing a story stem (a play narrative with socioemotional dilemmas) in a mother-child play context increases pretend play complexity compared with mother-child free play; and (2) maternal sensitivity is associated with pretend play complexity. Further, we explored whether the story stem increased child pretend play complexity more in dyads with mothers with low sensitivity compared with highly sensitive mothers. Sensitivity was coded using Coding Interactive Behavior and pretend play complexity with a global, integrated measure of the developmental level and quantity of play. Using generalized estimating equations, we found that pretend play complexity was positively associated with introducing a story stem and maternal sensitivity. Mixed methods ancova showed no significant interaction between play situation and maternal sensitivity. The findings stress the importance of maternal sensitivity and participation for play and how introducing a story stem may help promote child pretend play complexity.

Walking in Her Shoes: Pretending to Be a Female Role Model Increases Young Girls' Persistence in Science.

Pretend play is a ubiquitous learning tool in early childhood, enabling children to explore possibilities outside of their current reality. Here, we demonstrate how pretend play can be leveraged to empower girls in scientific domains. American children ages 4 to 7 years (N = 240) played a challenging science activity in one of three conditions. Children in the exposure condition heard about a successful gender-matched scientist, children in the roleplay condition pretended to be that scientist, and children in the baseline condition did not receive information about the scientist. Girls in the roleplay condition, but not in the exposure condition, persisted longer in the science activity than girls in the baseline condition. Pretending to be the scientist equated girls' persistence to that of boys. These findings suggest that pretend play of role models motivates young girls in science and may help reduce gender gaps from their roots.

A multidimensional evaluation of the benefits of an ecologically realistic training based on pretend play for preschoolers' cognitive control and self-regulation: From behavior to the underlying theta neuro-oscillatory activity.

To what extent can cognitive control, self-regulation, and the underlying midfrontal theta oscillatory activity of preschool children be modified by an ecologically realistic training based on pretend play? To answer this question, 70 children aged 4-6 years (37 boys) were assigned to a training group or a control group using a pairing randomization procedure. Children were administered 20 play sessions over 10 weeks. Benefits were evaluated with a pre-post design. The intervention helped children to engage more in self-regulation within the training activities. However, the intervention did not promote self-regulation outside of the training context, nor did it influence cognitive control and theta activity. These results provide a better understanding of the limitations of an ecologically realistic approach to cognitive control training.

Do embodiment and fictionality affect young children's learning?

Preschool-aged children can learn from fictional, pretend, and imaginative activities. However, many studies showing this learning involve children as physically passive while consuming fictional narratives rather than as actively, physically engaged. Physical engagement may add to cognitive processes already at play when watching narratives, making children more likely to retain or understand information. Children's natural pretend involves physical movement, role play, and embodiment. To test learning from embodied pretense, we conducted two studies in which we experimentally manipulated whether children were physically passive while consuming narratives or physically actively engaged with them through embodied pretend play using puppets or costumes. In Study 1, children were shown/engaged in television-based narratives, all of which contained fantastical content. In Study 2, children were shown/engaged in lab-created stories, some of which contained fantastical elements. We measured children's learning and perceptions of realism. In Study 1, neither perception of fictionality nor embodiment immediately affected learning, although older preschoolers learned more than younger preschoolers. In Study 2, neither perception nor presence of fantastical content affected learning, but embodiment did. Children learned more from both embodied conditions compared with the physically passive condition. We also included 2-week follow-up tests of recall and found that although children retained very little, embodiment still affected retention in both studies. Overall, children did not use realism judgments to differentiate learning. These findings show the complexity of different elements involved in children's learning from pretense and the need to understand what elements affect learning from fantastical and embodied pretend play and stories.

The process of Learn to Play Therapy with parent-child dyads with children who have autism spectrum disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Learn to Play Therapy aims to build children's ability to spontaneously initiate pretend play. The purpose of this study was to explore evidence for this therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder by investigating the changes in a child's pretend play and key techniques used in the process of therapy. METHODS: Six children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (mean age = 3.8 years; SD = 1.2 years) were engaged in therapy sessions with a parent. Four therapy session videos for each child were selected across four time points from 15 videos of each child, representing 6 months of therapy. Retrospective video analysis was used to investigate the changes in the child's ability by coding six play skills and enjoyment of play. Key techniques in the process of Learn to Play Therapy were analysed by frequency of occurrence during sessions. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the child's pretend play ability for play scripts (p = .042), sequences of play actions (p = .043), object substitution (p = .043), doll/teddy play (p = .028), social interaction (p = .043) and enjoyment (p = .026). There was a mirroring of the therapist, parent and child for all key techniques, with parents showing increased frequency rates after Time 1. Repetition with variation decreased by Time 4. Challenging the child showed higher rates in Times 2 and 4. Focussed attention remained stable, and the child's talk during play had the highest total frequency. CONCLUSION: Learn to Play Therapy is an effective therapy in building pretend play ability in children with autism, with parents increasing their involvement in using the key techniques after Time 1. The results inform therapists on how the key techniques were used within the therapy sessions to increase the child's pretend play ability.

Pretend play ability in preschool-aged children with an acquired brain injury.

INTRODUCTION: This study compares the self-initiated pretend play abilities of preschool-aged children with an acquired brain injury, with the self-initiated pretend play ability of their neurotypical peers. METHOD: A non-experimental group comparison was conducted between 22 preschool-aged neurotypical children (M = 52.8 months, SD = 7.1 months) and 21 children with an acquired brain injury (ABI, M = 50.5 months, SD = 11.9 months), who had been discharged from inpatient rehabilitation and who were able to engage in a play session. The children were assessed individually using the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA). RESULTS: The children with an ABI had significantly lower scores in pretend play ability than their neurotypical peers as measured by the percentage of elaborate play actions in both the conventional (P < .000) and symbolic (P < .000) sections of the ChIPPA, as well as the number of object substitutions (P < .000). The children with an ABI completed significantly less of the play time required compared with their neurotypical peers (P = .001); 66% could not play for the required time. There was no significant difference in the ChIPPA scores of the children with an ABI injured before and after the age of 18 months, nor between children with a severe or moderate injury. CONCLUSION: The quality and the quantity of pretend play of preschool-aged children with an ABI are significantly below that of their neurotypical peers. Assessment of pretend play ability and direct intervention in ABI rehabilitation by occupational therapists is essential to enable children with an ABI to participate in pretend play and garner the developmental benefit this affords.

Exploring the Potential of a Pretend Play Intervention in Young Patients With Leukemia.

PURPOSE: The aims of the study are 1) to gain knowledge of parents' and professionals' perceptions about cancer stricken children's resources, burdens, and ability to pretend play, and 2) to prepare the initiation of a pretend play intervention based on children's needs and included parents' and professionals' feedback. DESIGN AND METHODS: Qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with 13 parents of children diagnosed with leukemia and 15 professionals in the field of pediatric oncology. Themes were derived with content analysis via deductive and inductive coding. RESULTS: Analysis resulted in five topics. (1) Ability to play in the context of leukemia (2) ways of coping with leukemia (3) difficulty in transition to normality (4) parental quality of life and parents' needs (5) perceptions of the potential of pretend play. CONCLUSION: Study results indicate the potential of pretend play interventions for young cancer patients and the need for additional professional support of parents. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Pretend play is a tool children carry with them regardless of their circumstances. If we can enhance their ability to play, doing so should give them an advantage in creative problem solving and creative expression as they deal with a life threatening disease.

Prevalence of imaginary companions in Japanese children.

Having an imaginary companion (IC) is an example of children's pretend play. However, most research regarding children's ICs is from Western cultures. In this study, the prevalence of ICs was assessed among Japanese children (2- to 9-year-old children, N = 800). The developmental (age), biological (sex), and environmental (birth order) effects on Japanese children's ICs were also assessed. Moreover, whether IC status can be an indicator of fantasy orientation in Japanese children was examined. The results revealed that the prevalence of the invisible friend was relatively rare, but the personified object was prevalent in Japanese children. Age and sex, but not birth order, significantly affected the prevalence of ICs in Japan. Moreover, IC status significantly indicated children's fantasy orientation. The results suggest that the characteristics of Japanese children's ICs are partly different from those in Western children. Social-cultural contexts can affect this difference.

An investigation of the quality of pretend play ability in children with cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of permanent disorders in the development of movement and posture due to non-progressive disturbances during foetal or infant brain development that can result in activity limitations, including engagement in pretend play. METHODS: Twenty children aged four to seven years with spastic CP participated in this descriptive qualitative study. The Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA) clinical observations were analysed from five categories: Time, Interaction with the examiner, Imitation, Theme and Story. RESULTS: Seventy per cent (70%) of the children completed the assessment (Time), and 90% of children interacted socially with the examiner during the play (Interaction with the examiner). All children initiated their pretend play without requiring examiner demonstration (Imitation). Sixty per cent (60%) of the children were appropriate to their stage of development for Theme. Finally, 60% of the children set up a scenario, but did not develop a narrative (Story). CONCLUSION: Qualitative aspects of the children's pretend play performance were satisfactory, showing typical play indicators in all the categories, except for 'Story'. 'Story' represents more complexity in a child's pretend play ability. Therefore, a play intervention is suggested to stimulate and expand the pretend play ability of preschool children with CP.

Theory of mind predominantly associated with the quality, not quantity, of pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder.

This study aimed to clarify the relationships between theory of mind and pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder, using refined assessments of theory of mind and pretend play while controlling for autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension. A total of 92 children with autism spectrum disorder aged 4-10 years were enrolled. In two visits, the children were assessed with the Theory of Mind Task Battery, the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and the Verbal Comprehension Index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales, respectively, for their theory of mind, pretend play performance, autistic behaviors, and verbal comprehension. The hierarchical regression models showed that in addition to the contributions of the autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension scores, the theory of mind scores positively predicted (p < 0.001) the elaborateness scores of pretend play in the conventional imaginative and symbolic play contexts, respectively, accounting for an additional 8.1 and 18.5% of the variance, but did not predict the scores for number of object substitutions or imitated actions. The findings demonstrate that theory of mind has a predominant role in the quality, not the quantity, of pretend play of children with autism spectrum disorder, when the children's autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension are considered. This study fills a gap in the previous literature and provides information useful for clinicians and researchers on the relationships between theory of mind and pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Content and cultural validity in the development of the Indigenous Play Partner Scale.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Culturally relevant assessments of Australian Indigenous children's social pretend play do not exist. This study investigated the content validity and cultural validity of the Indigenous Play Partner Scale (I-PPS). METHODS: Six pairs of children (i.e. 12 children) aged four-six years from a remote Australian town were videoed playing in pairs, and 14 community elders and mothers participated across three focus groups. The social interactions between the children were transcribed from the videos. Nineteen verbs, grouped into five categories of social interaction, described the social interactions between the pairs of children. The descriptions of the social interaction verbs were presented to the community elders and mothers in a focus group. RESULTS: The themes from the focus groups were 'background of Indigenous understanding of play' and 'proposed social interaction verbs'. The first theme reflected community collaboration, children playing in multi-aged groups and the role of older children within the play. Guided by the focus group discussion, the videos were re-analysed and 20 social interaction verbs were described that reflected the cultural context of play. CONCLUSIONS: The content and cultural validity of the I-PPS was established through community consultation. Twenty social interaction verbs, which form the basis of the items of the I-PPS, reflected Indigenous cultural values of being non-judgemental of Indigenous children's social interactions during pretend play. Culturally relevant assessments for Australian Indigenous children do not disadvantage this population group and are essential for practice in occupational therapy.

The effects of fantastical pretend-play on the development of executive functions: An intervention study.

Although recent correlational studies have found a relationship between fantasy orientation (FO; i.e., a child's propensity to play in a fantastical realm) and higher order cognitive skills called executive functions (EFs), no work has addressed the causality and directionality of this relationship. The current study experimentally examined the directionality of the observed relationship between FO and EF development in preschool-aged children through an innovative play intervention employing a randomized controlled design. A sample of 110 children between the ages of 3 and 5years were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: fantastical pretend-play intervention, non-imaginative play intervention, or business-as-usual control. Results revealed that children who participated in a 5-week fantastical pretend-play intervention showed improvements in EFs, whereas children in the other two conditions did not. Within the fantastical pretend-play condition, children who were highly engaged in the play and those who were highly fantastical demonstrated the greatest gains in EFs. These data provide evidence for the equifinal relationship between fantasy-oriented play and EF development, such that engaging in fantasy-oriented play may be one of many ways to directly enhance EF development.

Children's generic interpretation of pretense.

We report two experiments investigating how 3- to 5-year-olds learn general knowledge from pretend play-how they learn about kinds of things (e.g., information about dogs) from information about particular individuals in pretend play (a certain dog in a pretend scenario). Children watched pretend-play enactments in which animals showed certain behaviors or heard utterances conveying the same information. When children were subsequently asked about who shows the behavior, children who watched pretend play were more likely to give generic responses than were children who heard the utterances. These findings show that children generalize information from pretend play to kinds even without being prompted to think about kinds, that pretend play can be informative about familiar kinds, and also that pretend play is a more potent source for general knowledge than are utterances about individuals.

Do actions speak louder than knowledge? Action manipulation, parental discourse, and children's mental state understanding in pretense.

Studies on pretense mental state understanding in young children have produced inconsistent findings. These findings could potentially emerge from the confounding influences of action manipulation or the failure to examine possible influences on individual children's performances. To address these issues, we created a task in which 68 3- and 4-year-olds viewed two actors, side by side, on a monitor. Children were told that one actor was knowledgeable about a specific animal, whereas the other actor was not. The actors performed identical movements that were either related or unrelated to the animal they were mimicking or engaged in different behaviors contradictory to their knowledge. Saliency of action was also manipulated by presenting either dynamic images or a paused frame of the actors' behavior (i.e., the static condition). Children performed similarly on the dynamic and static conditions. Children selected the knowledgeable actor more often in the unrelated and related trials but were not as successful at selecting the knowledgeable actor when the actor's knowledge contradicted the actor's behavior. Therefore, by 3 years of age, some children may understand that pretend play involves mental representations and appreciate that the mind influences a pretender's behavior. To investigate the observed individual differences, we also examined children and parents as they engaged in reading and pretense activities prior to data collection. The frequency of parents' cognitive mental state utterances strongly predicted performance on the mental state task. Individual differences in performance as a result of parental language and executive functioning abilities are discussed.

Collaborative Mother-Toddler Communication and Theory of Mind Development at Age 4.

Focusing on social pragmatics, this longitudinal study investigated the contribution of mother-toddler collaborative communication to theory of mind (ToM) development at age 4. At age 2½, 78 toddlers' (42 boys) and their mothers were observed during pretend play. At age 4, children were tested using 4 false belief understanding tasks. Both mothers and toddlers engaged in more collaborative (inform, guide/request, and support/confirm) than non-collaborative communication acts. Other-focused collaborative acts of support/confirm by mothers and toddlers predicted children's false belief understanding, even after controlling for 5 covariates. In addition, as active agents in their own ToM development, the contribution of toddlers' collaborative acts to false belief understanding was independent of their mothers. Finally, the way toddlers and their mothers co-constructing their communication mattered. Only when toddlers engaged in high levels of collaborative acts, the mothers' high levels of collaborative acts demonstrated a positive effect on children's ToM development. The applied implications of these findings were discussed.

Does a high threshold of sensory responsiveness affect the development of pretend play in children on the autism spectrum?

BACKGROUND: Among the current avenues of research into the origins and development of the autism spectrum, those concerning atypical levels of sensory responsiveness are gaining increasing relevance. Researchers note the relationship of sensory responsiveness in children on the autism spectrum to their motor, cognitive and social development. Current research reports combines the responsiveness to sensory stimuli also with the development of pretend play. Aim of this study was to verify the relationship between the level of development of pretend play and the level of sensory responsiveness in children on the autism spectrum. METHODS: A study was conducted in a group of 63 children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum aged from 3 years and 7 months to 9 years and 3 months using: Pretend Play subscale from the Theory of Mind Mechanism Scale and Sensory Experiences Questionnaire version 2.1. RESULTS: The results revealed that elevated sensory hyporesponsiveness predicted low pretend play skills in the group of participating children. CONCLUSION: The study verified the contribution of the level of sensory hyporesponsiveness to explaining the atypical development of pretend play in children on the autism spectrum.

Shared Construction of Social Pretend Play Sequences at the Kindergarten.

Pretend play is usually defined as an activity wherein objects and actions (but also affective expression, at times) are separated from their original meanings. Its developmental appearance is set around the second year of life, and increases dramatically in duration, frequency and quality when play episodes start becoming more complex, both linguistically and interactionally reaching its peak in preschool years. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how social pretend play emerges and develops before the age of three. Our study aims to investigate early spontaneous pretend play interactions between children aged 19 to 28 months attending the same kindergarten. We used micro-analytical coding of video-recorded interactions to explore sequences of interaction where children coordinated their actions to engage in social pretend play with objects. Our analyses showed that co-constructed sequences appeared organised by a turn-alternation structure already at 19 months, and children used embodied and material resources afforded by the sequential organisation of actions to dynamically manage their participation. Although explorative, our results seem in line with previous reports suggesting an early onset of social pretend play developing over a continuum from being predominately an individual activity to progressively becoming a co-constructed endeavour.

Efficacy of a Remote Play-Based Intervention for Children With Prader-Willi Syndrome.

The current study examines the efficacy of an 8-week pretend play intervention targeting social-cognitive abilities in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), ages 6-9. PWS is a rare disorder associated with various social, emotional, and cognitive challenges linked to pretend play impairments, and for which interventions are sparse. Nineteen children were quasi-randomized to receive the intervention or be part of a waitlist control group. Participants who received the intervention (n = 10) demonstrated significant improvements in various components of pretend play, most notably in organization of play, which may generalize to broader social-cognitive gains. These findings provide evidence of the intervention's efficacy in enhancing pretend play skills and related social-cognitive abilities during this critical period of development for children with PWS.

Cultivating the imagination: Caregiver input during pretend play with toddlers at elevated likelihood for autism.

Toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may exhibit less pretend play than their neurotypical counterparts. Previous research suggests that caregivers' input during play influences children's play behavior, and children's behavior may in turn prompt caregivers of differently developing children to talk about play in different ways. Caregiver input about pretend play during toy play at home was examined at 18- and 36-months in toddlers with an older sibling with ASD, who are at elevated likelihood (EL) for ASD (n = 40), and toddlers with typical likelihood (TL) for ASD (n = 12). EL toddlers were classified into three outcome groups: EL-ASD (n = 10), EL-no diagnosis (EL-ND; n = 14), or EL-language delays (EL-LD, n = 16). Caregiver utterances were categorized according to the types of pretend and non-pretend play suggested (e.g., pretending with inanimate objects vs. using objects for their intended function). Pretend utterances were further categorized as related or unrelated to the child's own actions. All caregivers produced proportionately more utterances about complex types of pretend play over time. At 36 months, caregivers of autistic toddlers produced proportionately fewer pretend play utterances, and proportionately fewer pretend play utterances were related to EL-ASD toddlers' actions compared to their neurotypical peers. These findings highlight bidirectional effects between caregivers and toddlers during play. While EL-ASD toddlers may provide less frequent opportunities for caregivers to talk about complex types of pretend play, the current study highlights caregivers' high levels of attunement to their toddlers' play skills.