Abstract
Symbolic play is considered an early indicator in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its assessment. The objective of this study was to analyze the difficulties in symbolic play experienced by children with ASD and to determine the existence of differences in symbolic play among children with ASD, children with other neurodevelopmental disorders and children with typical development. A scoping review was carried out in the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, ERIC, and PsycInfo databases, following the extension for scoping reviews of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The number of papers included in the review was 22. The results confirm that children with ASD have greater difficulties with symbolic play than children with other neurodevelopmental disorders and children with typical development, even when controlling for their verbal age. Difficulties are greater in situations of free or spontaneous play. Results evidenced that the absence or deficiency in the symbolic play can serve as an early indicator of ASD between the first and second year of life, the developmental moment in which this type of play begins.
Highlights
Intraverbal training, that is, telling a child that a particular object is another, leads the child to use a plate as a hat, increasing substitution symbolic play situations [55,56]. Taking all this information into account, the objective of this study was to synthesize, through a scoping review, the conclusions of research conducted in recent decades about the difficulties in symbolic play experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to analyze the possible implications for the early identification and diagnosis of ASD
The symbolic fluidity and content of symbolic play of children with ASD are poor compared to other children with a similar mental age
Symbolic play is less frequent in children with ASD
Summary
In the case of ASD, it is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent difficulties in communication and social interaction in different contexts, and by reproducing repetitive and restricted patterns of behaviors, activities, and interests. These symptoms appear in the early stages of development and are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. These disturbances are permanent and have an impact in affective, academic, occupational and social areas, among others, causing a clinically significant deterioration [1]. Communicative and symbolic development can be, affected in people with ASD [2]
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