Behavioral approaches to promoting play

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often face challenges in developing age-appropriate play skills.
• Play is crucial for cognitive, social, and emotional development in children.
• Existing research highlights the need for effective interventions to improve play abilities in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and present a range of efficacious behavioral techniques for improving object play skills in children with ASD.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of methods applicable to enhancing play in children with autism.
• To discuss the expansion of these techniques for more complex play and varied environments.

Main Methods:

• Review of established behavioral techniques grounded in applied behavior analysis.
• Inclusion of both highly structured and naturalistic intervention strategies.
• Focus on object play, with mention of social play discussed elsewhere.

Main Results:

• Detailed review of specific behavioral techniques including discrete trial training, pivotal response training, and video modeling.
• Demonstration of how stereotyped behaviors can be utilized to increase play skills.
• Discussion on adapting techniques for complex play and diverse settings.

Conclusions:

• Applied behavior analysis provides a robust framework for developing targeted interventions for play deficits in children with ASD.
• A variety of evidence-based techniques can effectively enhance object play skills.
• Further research and application in varied environments are encouraged to generalize play skills.