An insight regarding few of the experiences during video games playing activity is still fuzzy. This paper presents an extensive empirical study that analyzes the experiences of 100 participants (i.e. 25 children, younger adults, older adults, and elders each) during brain games play. This concludes a number of significant correlations among the…

Purpose: Responsive and dynamic aspects of father-child play are associated with behavioral and neurocognitive development in children and could represent an important contributor to executive function (EF) skills for children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). This study examined associations between paternal behaviors during play and EF…

Certain social context features (e.g., maternal presence) are known to increase young children's exploration, a key process by which they learn. Yet limited research investigates the role of social context, especially peer presence, in exploration across development. We investigate whether the effect of peer presence on exploration is mediated by…

Interactive toys for children are becoming more popular for both play and educational purposes, yet an understanding of the dependent measures used to study such interactions has not yet been explored. This study takes advantage of the idea that robotic animals exhibit both living and pretend qualities, and are therefore ideal for studying…

The article describes an observational playroom procedure (Structured Observation of Academic and Play Settings) used for evaluating symptomatic behaviors of hyperactive boys in the clinic setting. Case studies are presented to illustrate the differing pattern of playroom behavior in boys with different types of externalizing disorders. (Author/DB)

The selection of play materials has long been of concern to parents and educators. Many play materials simply do not engage children. In this study toys were openly displayed for free selection and play within a children's recreation center. Data were collected on the subject population, toy selection and toy usage. The results indicated that…

Subjects were 18 mothers and their clinic-referred children. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that two maternal behaviors, beta commands and total rewards, displayed in the clinic were the best predictors of child compliance in the home. (Author)

The analysis of discrete dyadic sequential behavior and, in particular, the problem of forecasting future behavior from current and past behavior in such data is the main theme of the present article. We propose to use multivariate multinomial logit models and the potential of which will be demonstrated with data on Imagery play therapy. In such a…

The role of sensory reinforcement was examined in programing multiple treatment gains in self-stimulation and spontaneous play for four developmentally disabled children (eight to ten years old). (Author/SBH)

A study of 22 children with autism and 19 children with mental retardation found that, when prompted, school-age and adolescent subjects with autism did not differ from children with mental retardation in production of functional play acts and situationally appropriate object substitution, but did produce fewer novel pretend play acts. (CR)

Notes the omission of a historical perspective in the research papers in this special issue on prosocial and aggressive play. Maintains that the past several hundred years can be characterized as a time of domesticating children's play, and that more research on rough-and-tumble play is needed. (LB)

Categories such as commanding, requesting, and explaining were used to analyze communicative intentions in conversations of 108 children, aged five through nine, during three sets of play activities varying in task specification and leadership role assignment. Results showed that the frequency and variety of communicative intention categories…

Siblings, mothers, and fathers in nine families of a child with autism were observed in dyadic play interactions with the autistic child. Parents exhibited more play behaviors toward children than siblings, but the autistic children initiated more interactions toward siblings than toward parents. Vineland Adaptive Behavior scale scores correlated…

This study examines age and sex differences in nurturant behaviors displayed toward a male infant by 60 subjects, both male and female, from three age groups: preschoolers, preadolescents, and young adults. The infant was 12 months old at the onset of the study and 16 months when the testing was completed. Each subject was videotaped for seven…

A study involving eight boys with autism and eight boys with Down syndrome (ages 6-10) with similar adaptive behavior levels used an ecological approach to study the in-depth structure of the behavior stream. Narrative records were collected and analyzed based on duration and frequency of behaviors. Each record was analyzed by marking the behavior…