Symbolic Play in Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Gillian C. Stanley  and Dr

M. Mary Konstantareas
Department of Psychology
College of Social and Applied Human Sciences
University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Key Words: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Symbolic Play, Functional Play, Predictors of Play
Header: Predictors of Symbolic Play in ASD

² ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was supported in part by a SSHRC grant # 410-2001-1517 to Dr Mary Konstantareas and by a NSERC grant #266165-2003.  Many thanks to Dr Soula Homatidis for her meticulous attention to detail in the data gathering phase and to the many parents and children who participated in the data collection process. 

 
Abstract

The relationship between symbolic play and other domains, such as degree of autistic symptomatology, non-verbal cognitive ability, receptive language, expressive language, and social development, was investigated.  The assessment files of 101 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder were studied.  Nonverbal cognitive ability and expressive language were both significantly and uniquely related to symbolic play, although receptive language was not.  Autistic symptomatology ceased to be significantly related to symbolic play when controlling for two or more other variables.  Social development was related to symbolic play in those children with high nonverbal cognitive ability but not those with low nonverbal cognitive ability.  The diagnostic and treatment implications of these results are discussed.