Abstract
Toddlers with developmental delays display less mature play than normally developing peers (Krakow h Kopp, 1983) so it is surprising that few intervention studies report changes in play for delayed children. Delayed object use is one of the defining characteristics of autism, for example (DSM-IV, 1994). To partially correct for this omission, we examined the impact on play of a lo-month parent-implemented treatment program designed to foster compliance with play and expressive language (Zelazo, Kearsley & Ungerer, 1984). Forty-six toddlers with pervasive developmental disorder and autism were recruited at two ages of entry (22 mos. and 32 mos.) and assessed for intact or impaired information processing ability (Zelazo, 1979, 1989; Zelazo & Kearsley, 1984; Zelazo, Kearsley & Stack, 1995). Four forms of play (undifferentiated activity, stereotypical, relational and functional) ranging from least to most mature and the number of different functional uses were observed and evaluated longitudinally over the course of treatment and six months after. We expected differences in play between intact and impaired processors on initial testing and greater increases in the quantity and quality of mature play in intact as opposed to impaired processors with treatment.
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