Children's play behaviors are generally fun for them, but the same cannot be said for children who need clinical help. Play therapy seeks to resolve psychosocial difficulties and reestablish a child's ability to play and function normally (O'Connor, 2000). Ecosystemic play therapy (EPT) integrates a variety of techniques and theories to create a…

The purpose of this study was to determine if levels of teacher education and experience would influence how teachers respond to children's play needs in a preschool classroom. The interactions of eight teachers--three of whom were categorized as high education/high experience, three as low education/high experience, and two as low education/low…

This article is based on materials gathered from qualitative research interviews among eight-year-old and nine-year-old children participating in an after-school programme (ASP) in Oslo, and investigates how bodily play affects their sense of coherence (SOC). In line with Maurice Merleau-Ponty, children's lived experiences are regarded as layered…

This study describes the communication repair behaviors used by nonverbal students with developmental disabilities in the interactions they were involved in with their teachers during free play activities. All children were students at centers serving student with developmental disabilities at Anadolu University in Turkey. Data were collected by…

Aim: To investigate the relationship between motor ability and early social development in a cohort of preschool children with cerebral palsy (CP). Design: Population-based cohort study. Methods: Participants were 122 children with CP assessed at 18, 24 and 30 months, corrected age (ca). Motor ability was measured by the Gross Motor Function…

This study evaluated Children's Friendship Training (CFT), a manualized parent-assisted intervention to improve social skills among second to fifth grade children with autism spectrum disorders. Comparison was made with a delayed treatment control group (DTC). Targeted skills included conversational skills, peer entry skills, developing friendship…

According to a 2009 report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), at least 68% of American households now play video games, and half the parents in America now play video games with their children. Grandparents are in on the action, as well. In addition, nursing homes and senior centers are now incorporating video games into their…

Four-year-olds are still learning through discovery of materials. They are excited to share what they have been doing with their parents. And although they are capable of working together under the direction of the teacher, they are much more excited to share individually. This article illustrates how family day in the 4-year-old music class can…

The relationship between maternal ADHD symptoms and maternal language was examined in a community sample of 50 mothers of infants age 3-12 months. It was hypothesized that higher maternal symptoms of ADHD would be related to lower quality of maternal language use. Recordings of mothers' speech were coded for complexity and elaboration of speech…

In this literature review, we examined 30 years of play-literacy inquiry through a quantitative lens in order to identify, assemble and summarize studies of sufficient methodological strength to form a corpus of research that encourages meta-analytic thinking. First, a multi-phase search of the literature was conducting yielding 192 studies that…

Teaching Spanish at the K-5 level is a passion of mine, and the author would like to share some of the practical applications that she finds most rewarding and effective. She has found enthusiastic response to the creation of detailed language learning kits that are rooted in storytelling, but expanded to include home-made board games,…

Discusses criteria of young children's dramatic play and various definitions of pretend play characteristics. Delineates differences and similarities between dramatic play and drama. Concludes that the term "dramatic play" can cover all kinds of pretend play, including symbolic, representational, imaginative, fantasy, thematic,…

Parents and child specialists are o?ften concerned about the role imaginary companions play in children's lives. Recent research shows that the creation of an imaginary companion is a common and healthy type of pretend play. There are many di?fferent kinds of imaginary companions, including those based on various types of props as well those that…

As professors working in faculties of education for the past ten years researching digital gameplay and the design and development of games for education, the authors have often been asked whether digital games are good or bad for children. The discourse of good/bad is a slippery one and the authors believe that digital games, like television,…

Children with autism were selected to be in high-approach and low-approach groups based on a median split of their proximity-seeking behavior with adults (looking at, approaching and touching adults) during videotaped interactions. The same videotapes of those two sets of interactions were then coded and analyzed for the adult partners' behaviors.…