How much does autism truthly effect play

      The Article A comparison of playfulness of young children with and without autism spectrum disorder in interactions with their mothers and teacher" By Shulamit Pinchover, Cory Shulman and ANita Bundy gives a deeper meaning of what it is like for an autistic child to play. Autism is a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact. Play is a primary occupation of children, that helps social, cognitive, and emotional development. Most people would believe that children with autism. Childrenś development occurs through interactions between others. Childhood traits are focusing on five dimensions, which are physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, manifestation of joy and sense of humour. Scientist wanted to see the difference between a child with autism and a child that was not on the spectrum. Having teachers promote play is very important, having ASD or not. The children in this study had to meet a current criteria based off either the Mullen scale(a scale used for younger children) or the WPPSI scale ( a scale for older children.) For this study to work, researchers had to contact the school and get the th parents okay. The procedure was, ¨Each child was videotaped , one with his or her mother at home, and one with his or her teacher in preschool setting.¨ Each adult was giving instructions so the study was as the same as possible. With both of the groups, there were little to no difference between the amount of play-- the group numbers were pretty close. Child with Autism played much more with their teachers then they did with their parents. One of the reasons this might be is because teachers are trained and have the appropriate tools to create playful interactions. Most parents feel stress and helpless when communicating and playing with their children because they don't have the skills. This study might have proven that playfulness might be a trait, and have nothing to do with a child learn capability. This was the first investigating on playfulness with ASD in different environments, and proved that it doesn't matter on learning skills

Pinchover, S., & Shulman, C. (2018). Behavioural problems and playfulness of young children with ASD: The moderating role of a teacher’s emotional availability. Early Child Development and Care, 1-13.

Knowledge of Child Development as a Predictor of Mother-Child Play Interactions

                                   Children Lead to Play vs. Directing Their Child's Play

         In 2015, parents with their child had different ways of socializing as well as playing with the child/children. Many parents thought that teaching their child how to play and telling them how to play is the right way for the child to learn. Meanwhile other parents feel that the best way for a child to play is to let them explore their surroundings and if anything, the parents can keep an eye out for them if they believe that their child will get hurt or hurt others accidentally. This article concluded that parents find different ways of coping with their child.


Mcmillin, S., Hall, L., Bultas, M., Grafeman, S., Wilmott, J., Maxim, R., & Zand, D. (2015). Knowledge of Child Development as a Predictor of Mother-Child Play Interactions. Clinical Pediatrics, 54(11), 1117-1119.