Parent playfulness: a case study of infant twins with handicaps

This longitudinal case study was designed to provide descriptive data on game playing between one mother and father and their infant twin sons, each of whom had handicaps. Specific issues addressed were the proportion of interaction time spent playing parent/infant games, the types and characteristics of the games played, whether these varied between the mother and father, and whether there was a relationship between parental game playing and the developing but different abilities of the infants. Results showed many parallels with existing literature on parent/infant games and on differences between mothers and fathers. Results also indicated variations in game playing in relation to the extent of handicap in the infant.