Describes the Parent As A Teacher Inventory (PAAT), a composite attitude scale in which parents describe: (1) their feelings about various aspects of the parent-child interactive system, (2) their standards for assessing the importance of various aspects of child behavior and (3) their values concerning child behavior. (SB)

The creative use of leisure time will become increasingly more important as our society moves away from the work ethic philosophy. (JD)

Through his play a child extends himself into areas which he has difficulty entering verbally. If counselors are to communicate effectively with children, they must consider this important dimension and provide at least limited opportunity for the child to utilize play as a natural part of his effort to communicate. (Author)

Describes how children in rural Venezuela are trained in agricultural skills by the extended family. The highly organized training encourages play and exploration as important elements in familiarzing children with implements and methods of food production. It is suggested that rural school planners draw ideas from the rural family's educative…

A study indicates that adult leisure activities are evenly divided between having started in childhood and in adult years; a large percentage of these activities originated within the setting of the family as a social unit. (JD)

Deals with a cognitive-developmental approach of children's understanding and expression of their emotions. A technique that has emerged in the context of a recent play therapy case with a six-year-old girl is presented. This technique seems to hold promise for facilitating the young child's understanding and expression of polarized feelings.…

This study focused on the kinds of cognitive behaviors preschool and kindergarten children engage in while playing in a solitary, parallel, associative or cooperative manner. The effects of socio-economic status, developmental level, and the use of specific materials on social and cognitive levels of play are discussed. (BD)

The Early Intervention Effectiveness Institute established by Utah State University will increase the knowledge base concerning efficacy of various types of early intervention with handicapped children. Let's Play to Grow is a recreation and support program for disabled children and their families with approximately 200 clubs and 6,000 members…

Discusses the history and theory of drama therapy and illustrates it through case studies. Makes suggestions for counselors who wish to use drama to promote psychological development. Notes that using dramatic activities allows counselors to view the inner world of their clients through symbolization, characterization, and interaction. (ABB)

The article explores the use of drama in counseling gifted, creative, and talented students. Five constituent instruments (stage, subject, director, auxiliary egos, audience) in the psychodramatic method are described as well as the four techniques (double ego, mirror technique, role reversal, soliloquy technique) basic to the psychotherapy…

Evaluation of a peer-mediated intervention which promoted communicative interaction by handicapped preschoolers through the teaching of facilitative strategies to three handicapped and three nonhandicapped students revealed increases in response rates of handicapped subjects during free play and maintenance (without initial prompting) of peer…

Analysis of two- to five-year-olds' (N=26) responses to queries regarding utterances they made during free play indicated that social context interacted with response type, demonstrating that the initial utterance had a role in response determination and was important to the contingent query sequence. (Author/CB)

Presents anecdotes from nursery school daily records which illustrate significant learning experience through cooperative work and play. Suggests that children process and learn information by playing with that information. (NH)

The effectiveness of two workshops provided for teachers and aides in a day care center was studied. Training was effective in increasing caregiver verbal involvement with children during play, but was less effective in reducing the number of verbal directives delivered by caregivers to children. (PCB)

Toronto's Sexual Abuse Treatment Project (SATP) is described. Results of the evaluation of the first 18 months of the program are reported. The role of a specialized sexual abuse therapy program within a child welfare setting is discussed. (Author/BN)