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Believing in Make-Believe: Efficacy of a Pretend Play Intervention for School-Aged Children with High-Functioning
Ellen A Doernberg1,2, Sandra W Russ3, Anastasia Dimitropoulos3
1Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. ellen.doernberg@case.edu.
Abstract:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by socio-emotional deficits, and difficulties with pretend play skills. Play skills are related to processes of adaptive functioning and emotion understanding. The present pilot study implemented an in-person pretend play intervention to school-aged children (ages 6 to 9 years, intervention group = 18, control group = 7) diagnosed with high-functioning ASD (HF-ASD), to increase children's cognitive and affective play skills, and emotional understanding abilities. The intervention consisted of 5 weekly sessions, 15-20 minutes each. The intervention group significantly increased in imagination and cognitive play skills, which generalized to increased skills in emotional understanding. Findings demonstrate the positive impact of a short, easily facilitated, accessible play intervention for school-aged children with HF-ASD.
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