The present research examines the ability of children as young as 4 years to use models in tasks that require scaling of distance along a single dimension. In Experiment 1, we found that tasks involving models are similar in difficulty to those involving maps that we studied earlier (Huttenlocher, J., Newcombe, N., & Vasilyeva, M. (1999). Spatial…

Finds that (1) playfulness is a trait related to divergent, creative thinking; (2) allowing young children to play with objects can lead to increased performance on problem solving and divergent thinking tasks involving the same or similar objects; and (3) play training leads to short term gains in young children's cognitive performance.…

Social and cognitive values of different play materials for 21 normal and 21 handicapped preschool children were examined. Analyses showed that handicapped preschoolers exhibited comparable amounts of symbolic play but lower quality of symbolic play than that shown by nonhandicapped preschoolers. Symbolic play by handicapped children depended much…

Five papers are presented from a 1982 conference on "Developmental and Clinical Aspects of Young Children's Play." In the first paper ("Cognitive Characteristics of Young Children's Play,") S. Rogers summarizes J. Piaget's theories on developmental stages, discusses the relationship of practice play to learning, and then…

The development status of the communicatory behavior of 11 autistic children (4 to 9 years old) was assessed during free play sessions under two conditions: when teachers were present to direct the children's behavior and when teachers were absent and the children played among themselves. (Author)

Explores the relations among combinatorial capacities in language, symbolic play, blockbuilding, and nonsemantic action sequences within a sample of 18- to 24-month-old children, as well as assessing the developmental level of a selected subset of concepts. (HOD)

This paper examines the interrelationship between children's acquisition and use of symbols and the development of imaginative play. The paper focuses on the use of pretend play as an expression of the child's capacity for symbolic functioning and as an index of intellectual development. The first section of the paper reviews developmental changes…

This study examined (1) the level of symbolic capability as revealed in play, (2) the use of spontaneous vocal imitation, and (3) the nature of certain classes of words occurring in spontaneous infant language. Facets of child behavior were examined during the period of single-word utterances and early multiword combinations with a view to…

Play behaviors of infants who had normal hearing or were deaf were observed during free play with their mothers, at ages 9, 12, and 18 months. Participants included 15 dyads of children who were deaf and mothers who were not, 15 dyads of children and mothers who were both deaf, and 15 dyads of children and mothers who both had normal hearing.…