PLAY: What It Is and How to Use It to Support

Development and Learning

Karin Lifter, PhDNortheastern University

Head Start Broadcast CallApril 6, 2011K.Lifter@neu.edu

Project Play

Funded by:• Institute of Education

Sciences (IES)• National Center for Special

Education Research (NCSER)• U.S. Department of

EducationAwarded to: • Karin Lifter (Northeastern)• Emanuel Mason (Northeastern)• Takuya Minami (U. Wisconsin)

Objectives for Broadcast• Present concerns about time for play• Discuss why play is important

– Contributes to language, literacy, self-regulation– --> School Readiness

• Describe:– What play is– What children learn in play– How play contributes to language development

• Review what you can do to help children play

Learning Outcomes

• Increased knowledge of:– Play– The contribution of play to language, literacy, and

social/emotional development for young children– --> importance of play to school readiness!

• Increased skills for:– identifying play activities that support developments in

play, language, and literacy development

Current ConcernsAPA Monitor: September 2009

APA MonitorLea Winerman

• Identifies – Contemporary concerns:

• decreases in recess and free time– Result of societal fears of “falling behind”

• Cites David Elkind and Kathy Hirsch-Pasek– Play as important for creativity, critical thinking,

and ability to learn from failure• Cites report from Alliance for Childhood

Alliance for Childhood

• Report: March 2009• “Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why children need to

play in school”• Based on research in NY and LA

– 2-3 hours per day of:• literacy; math instruction; testing

– Less than 30 minutes per day• for play or choice time

--> To reduce fears, let’s think about the importance of play

Importance of PlayZero to Three (2004)

Zigler, Singer, & Bishop-Josef (Eds.)

Importance of Play Use of Sociodramatic Play to

Develop Literacy Skills in EC SettingsBanerjee & Horn (2005)

Importance of Play NY Times Magazine: Sept. 27, 2009

NY Times Magazine: Sept. 27, 2009Paul Tough

The Make-Believe Solution: Can imaginary play teach children to control their impulses -- and be better students?

Using “Tools of the Mind” curriculum to encourage executive function

Importance of Play(Recent Research)

• Sharyn Matthews (2008):– Sociodramatic play (especially the component

of verbal communication) predicted self-regulation in preschoolers

– Teachers accord great importance to self-regulation as a readiness skill

NAEYC 2009: Position Statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice

…Play promotes key abilities that enable children to learn successfully. In high-level dramatic play … the collaborative planning of roles and scenarios and the impulse control required to stay within the play’s constraints develop children’s self-regulation, symbolic thinking, memory, and language -- capacities critical to later learning, social competence, and school success.

Play is Important!

Contributes to School Readiness:• Roots of reading• Language development• Self-regulation

Overview of Literacy Development

Traditional pre-literacy activities– Word play, phonological awareness– Book reading, letter identification– Dramatic play:

• development of symbol system

Contemporary ideas: – foundation for literacy in early play (Zigler et al., 2004).– Play contributes to social, emotional, cognitive, literacy

development

Foundations of Literacy

• Children need to learn the language• Definition of language:

– “Language is a means for representing information in messages …

– Language is a social act and is used to obtain, maintain, and regulate contact with other persons … language is learned in such contexts” (Lahey, 1988, p.352).

Some Components of Literacy

• Language is a means for expressing information

• Reading is a means for decoding and interpreting information

• Writing is a means for encoding and expressing information

Foundations of Language

• Language is about something (just like reading and writing are about something)– Language is used to express knowledge and feelings about

objects, people, and events• In addition to learning the forms and uses of language …• --> Children need to develop knowledge about objects,

people, and events that are represented in messages

How Do Children Learn?

• How do children develop knowledge about:– objects, people, and events that are represented in

messages?• Children need to develop knowledge so that they

have: – something to talk about– something to interact about

• --> Children develop knowledge in and through play

Different Ways to Think about Play

We often think of play as a natural activity• NAEYC: use of play to embed opportunities for learning• DEC Recommended Practices

– (Wolery 2005)Child focused interventions in natural activities

Developmental Domains

Language

Cognitive

Social/Emotional Motor

Self-help

Play as an Activity

Play(child’s work)

How Play Defined Here

Focus on play as something to be developed:--> Play as a developmental domain

– Play as an activity to develop and express knowledge about objects, people, and events

– This perspective lets us talk about play separate from other domains

– We will focus on this perspective to begin with

Why Play as a Developmental Domain is Important in Development

• Can think about play as a form of expression– Children will show you what they know and are

thinking about in their play– --> we need to play attention to what children

are doing in their play to get an idea of what they know

Why Play as a Developmental Domain is Important in Development

• Also can think about play as a way to interpret new information– Children will use play activities to learn new

things about objects and events– --> We need to pay attention to learning

opportunities that present themselves in children’s play

Where Do These Ideas Come From?Traditional Theories of Play

Piaget (1962, p. 93)• Happy display of known actions

Montessori (1967, p. 180)• The child’s work

Vygotsky (in Rubin et al., 1983, p. 709)• An adaptive mechanism promoting cognitive growth

Lifter & Bloom (1998, p. 164)• “Actions in play display what the child already knows (i.e. expression)…

but also display what the child is currently thinking about in efforts to make sense (i.e. interpretation) of ongoing events for advancing knowledge.”

Implications for Development• Children construct knowledge of objects, people, and

events through their play• Children learn language to represent and share their

increasing knowledge • This increasing knowledge is expressed in play and in

language, resulting in: – correspondences between play and language (Bloom & Tinker,

2001; Lifter & Bloom, 1989; McCune, 1995)

Implications for Intervention

• Can use play to assess the expression of knowledge in young children with language delays– --> Assessment of play (Lifter, 2000)

• Can use play to support developments in knowledge for young children with developmental delays– --> Interventions in play --> more knowledge, and

more knowledge to express in language and play; engagement in social interactions (Lifter et al. 2005)

Focus on Play as Something to be Developed: -> See Delays in Play in Many Children with Special Needs

• Children with autism/PDD– Delays in developing pretend/symbolic play (McDonough et al., 1997)

– Less frequent spontaneous play (Libby et al., 1998)

– High frequency of repetitive play– Limited imitation skills– Limited cooperative play and turn-taking

• Children with Down syndrome– Less exploratory behavior in solitary play than typically developing

children– Tendency to elaborate on the same play themes repeatedly– Significant correlation between symbolic play and mental age (Cunningham et

al., 1985)

Focus on Play as Something to be Developed: -> See Delays in Play in Many Children with Special Needs• Children of mothers who have abused substances

(Beckwith et al., 1994)– Continued persistence of immature play strategies– Delayed development of more complex play

• Children with visual impairments (Troster & Brambring, 1994)

– Limited exploration– More solitary play– Less symbolic play

Some Problems with Descriptions• Use of general descriptions

– Symbolic play– Complex play

• Mix social behaviors with an emphasis on what is happening in play– Solitary play– Cooperative play

• Many descriptions are inconsistentNeed for descriptions that focus on play as a

domain

Examples of Descriptions of Play (Foundations): Use of Categories, Developmental Sequences

Belsky & Most (1981)

Fenson et al(1976)

Lifter & Bloom (1989)

Nicolich (1977)McCune ‘95

Watson & Fisher (1977)

Simple manipulation

Separations

Functional relational

Rel simple/ Rel accom

Given;Imposed gen’l

Enactive naming

Presymbolic

Pretend self Symbolic acts Autosymbolic Self as agent

Pretend other Symbolic acts Imposed specific

Single scheme symbolic

Passive other agent

Substitution Passive subs

Level Categories Definitions

II Discriminitive Actions Differentiates among objects, preserving their physical or conventional characteristics (rolls round objects)

III Presentation Combinations

Re-creates combinations of objects according to their presentation configuration (puts puzzle pieces into puzzle)

General Combinations Creates combinations of objects that results in simple, non-specific configurations such as container/contained relationships (puts beads and puzzle pieces into a cup)

Pretend Self Relates objects the self, indicating a pretend quality to the action (brings empty cup to mouth to drink)

IV Specific Physical Preserves unique physical characteristics of objects in configuration (strings beads)

V Child as Agent Extends familiar actions to doll figures, with child as the agent of the activity (extends cup to doll’s mouth)

Specific Conventional Preserves the unique conventional characteristics of objects in the configuration (“fixes” car with wrench)

VI Single-scheme sequences

Extends same familiar action to two or more figures (extends cup to doll, to stuffed bear, to interactant)

Substitutions Uses one object to stand in place for another (puts bowl on head for hat)

Descriptions of Play (from the Developmental Play Assessment:DPA) Lifter (2000)

Descriptions of Play as a Domain

• Can focus on play• Can describe play and its relationship to

other domains– For example, language

Correspondences:Prelinguistic Period

Play• Explore, take hold of

objects, move from place to place– Treat all objects alike

• Mouthing, banging– Take toys apart– -> Developing

knowledge of objects in relation to the self

Language• Reciprocal gaze• Joint attention• Calling attention to

objects and events• Taking turns

Take Apart Combinations of Toys:To Take Hold of Them, To Mouth Them

Transition to First WordsPlay• Create relationships between

objects– Perceptually based

• Puzzle piece into frame, nesting cup into another

– General properties• Objects in/out containers

– -> Developing knowledge of objects in relationship to other objects & people (underlies object perm., cause-effect)

Language• First words (emergence of

first conventional words)– Mean: 13.8 mos– Range = 10-18 mos

• Code meanings evident in context – (relations between objects,

object permanence, location)

– /this/, /gone/, /more/, /up/

Put Toys Together Based on Perceptual Properties (“go together”)

Move Various Objects In and Out of Containers

Begin to Create New Combinations Based on Physical Properties

Transition to the Vocabulary Spurt

Play• Create specific relationships

based on physical & conventional properties of objects

– Stacks nesting cups– Feeds doll w/ spoon– Uses tool to fix car

• See-then-act quality• -> Developing mental

representations of properties/relationships

Language (sharp increase in the number of new words used)– Mean = 19.4 mos– Range = 13-25 mos

• Code meanings anticipated in context– /baby/, as prepares to feed

doll with spoon

Continue to Create New Combinations Based on Physical Properties:

Create New Combinations Based on What Has Been Observed and Remembered:

Feed Doll with Spoon

Create New Combinations Based on What Has Been Observed and Remembered:

Use Tools to Fix Car

Play During Early SentencesPlay• Link activities into planned

events that represent cultural practices

• Develops from “see-then-act” to planned

– Multischeme sequences (Sees baby, cup, blanket --> picks up doll, cradles it, gives it a drink, then lays it on blanket to sleep)

• Begin to substitute one object for another

Language• Elaboration of form of

utterances– From single words and

successive single words to simple sentences

• Announcements of actions– /baby wants a drink/, then

enacts the scheme– /this my baby/– /night night baby/

Multi-Scheme Sequence: Pt.1

Multi-Scheme Sequence: Pt.2

Substitutions

Play During Preschool Years

Sociodramatic play• Children take on roles

they have observed in their everyday experiences– “Bakers” making pies

• Social components are added in play with peers

Play During Preschool Years

More sociodramatic play

• Children take on roles they have observed in their everyday experiences– Playing “house”

• Social components are added in play with peers

Implications for Young Children with Special Needs

• Assessment in play– Observe and quantify play activities– Use a developmental sequence to determine which activities the

child knows well and which activities are just beginning to emerge in the child’s play

• Interventions in play: provide contexts for– Increasing child’s knowledge about objects, people, events– Hearing language to describe what the child is learning and

attending to– Engaging in caregiver-child joint attention

Translation to Practice: Interventions in Play

• Identification of objectives for intervention– Identification of objectives at the emerging level -->

the leading edge of development/learning– Developmentally Specific (DevSp) objectives

• Use of child-directed teaching procedures– Follow child’s lead (standard child-initiated)

• What the child is attending to– We add -- targeting objectives at the child’s leading

edge of learning, yielding developmentally responsive objectives

Intervention Strategies

• The service provider/teacher always describes the ongoing actions in simple language (to describe the emerging meanings)– Describes the objects and relationships between

objects the child is in the process of learning• /Hammer, you have the hammer/, as child picks up hammer• /Zoom! There goes the truck/, as child rolls truck down ramp

• The language mapping of the activities also provides social attention

Examples Supporting Developments in Play and Language

• Here the child is taking things out of the bus and putting them back in

• The mom/teacher is joining the child’s focus of attention

• The mom/teacher can talk about the objects and events

• --> important activity for learning play and language

Examples Supporting Developments in Play and Language

• Here the child is attaching the block pieces

• The teacher/aide is joining the child’s focus of attention

• The teacher/aide can talk about the objects and events

• (e.g., now you’re attaching the yellow block)

Examples Supporting Developments in Play/Language in Inclusive Settings

The girl has made a pretend necklace for herself

Play/language goals of different levels of complexity can be supported in inclusive settings

Given attention to the toys:• One child can focus on moving

beads in/out of the container– General combinations

• Another child can focus on attaching the beads

– Specific physical combinationsThe teacher can talk about the

objects and the events (e.g. “moving in/out,” “connecting”)

Examples Supporting Developments in Play/Language in Inclusive Settings

The boy appears to be taking on the role of “chef” and rolling out dough for pies (namely, sociodramatic play)

The girl appears to have joined inBut, if we knew she had delays in play,

she could participate in simpler ways:

• Stir with spoon in bowl– Relationships based on conventional

practices• Move food items in/out of bowl

– Relationships based on general properties

The teacher/aide could describe these activities as the children engaged in them

SummaryPlay is important in development and

learning• Play contributes to language and literacy • Play contributes to self-regulation

– --> Play is important for school readiness• Play’s importance is derived from • Research in:

– child development, EI/ECSE/EC

Needs for Future Research• Increased regard for play as a developmental

domain• Common language for describing play• New descriptive studies of developments in

children’s play– To verify sequences empirically– To evaluate the distribution of play categories and

change over time– To examine relationships between play and other

domains– --> What we are doing in Project Play

References

Beckwith, L., Rodning, C., Norris, D., Phillipsen, L., Khandabi, P., & Howard, J. (1994). Spontaneous play in two-year-olds born to substance-abusing mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15, 189-201.

Belsky, J., & Most, R.K. (1981). From exploration to play: A cross-sectional study of infant free-play behavior. Developmental Psychology, 17, 630–639.

Bloom, L. & Tinker, E. (2001). The intentionality model and language acquisition: Engagement, effort, and the essential tension in development. Monographs of the SRCD, 66 (4, No. 267).

Cunningham, C.C., Glenn, S.M., Wilkinson, P. & Sloper, P. (1985). Mental ability, symbolic play and receptive expressive language of young children with Down syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26(2) 255-265.

Fenson, L., Kagan, J., Kearsley, R.B., & Zelazo, P.R. (1976). The developmental progression of manipulative play in the first two years. Child Development, 47, 232-235.

Lahey, M. (1988). Language delays and language disorders. NY: McMillan.Libby, S., Powell, S., Messer, D., & Jordan, R. (1998). Spontaneous play in children with autism: A

reappraisal. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28(6), 487-498.Lifter, K. (2000). Linking assessment to intervention for children with developmental disabilities or at-risk

for developmental delay: The DPA. In K. Gitlin-Weiner, A. Sandgrund, & C.E. Schaefer (Eds.), Play diagnosis and assessment (2nd ed.) (pp. 228-261). NY: Wiley

Lifter, K. & Bloom, L. (1989). Object play and the emergence of language. Infant Behavior and Development, 12 (4), 395-423.

Lifter, K. & Bloom, L. (1998). Intentionality and the role of play in the transition to language. In A.M. Wetherby, S.F. Warren, & J. Reichle (Eds.), Transitions in prelinguistic communication: Preintentional to intentional and presymbolic to symbolic (161-198). Baltimore: Brookes.

References

Lifter, K., Ellis, J.T., Cannon, B.O., & Anderson, S.R. (2005). Developmental specificity in targeting and teaching play activities to children with developmental disabilities. Journal of Early Intervention, 27(4), 247-267.

Matthews, S.B. (2008). The relationship among self-regulation, sociodramatic play, and preschoolers' readiness for kindergarten. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 69(12-A), 4632.

McCune, L. (1995). A normative study of representational play at the transition to language. Developmental Psychology, 31(2), 198-206.

McDonough, L., Stahmer, A., Schreibman, L., & Thompson, S.J. (1997). Deficits, delays and distractions: An evaluation of symbolic play and memory in children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 17–41.

Montessori, M. (1967). The absorbent mind. New York: Holt.Nicolich, L. (1977). Beyond sensorimotor intelligence: Assessment of symbolic maturity through

analysis of pretend play. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 23, 89-99.Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.Rubin, K., Fein, G., & Vandenberg, B. (1983). Play. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child

psychology: Socialization, personality, social development: Socialization, personality, social development (Vol. 4, pp. 694-759). New York: Wiley.

References

Tröster, H., & Brambring, M. (1994). The play behaviour and play materials in blind and sighted infants and preschoolers. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 88, 421-432.

Watson, M. W., & Fischer, K. W. (1977). A developmental sequence of agent use in late infancy. Child Development, 48, 828-836.

Wolery, M. W. (2005). DEC Recommended Practices: Child-focused practices. In S. Sandall, M.L. Hemmeter, M.E. McLean, & B.J. Smith (Eds.). DEC Recommended Practices: A comprehensive guide for practical application in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (pp. 71-106). Longmont, CO: Sopris West.

Zigler, E.F., Singer, D.G., & Bishop-Josef, S.J. (Eds.), (2004). Children’s play: The roots of reading. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE Press.