The Lowe and Costello Symbolic Play Test in socially impaired children

The Symbolic Play Test was given to 31 socially impaired and 29 sociable children retarded in language comprehension, with the same range of age (5 to 12 years) and intelligence (profoundly retarded to normal). Play test age and spontaneous pretend play were at a similar level in the sociable children, but, in the socially impaired, spontaneous pretend play was lower than the play test age would predict. In some of the latter it was absent, and in the others it was narrow and repetitive in form. For subgroups of socially impaired and sociable children with similar play ages, there was no significant difference in language comprehension age. The discrepancy, in socially impaired children, between levels on tests and spontaneous use of skills was discussed.