An important achievement for all students is the ability to function independently throughout the school day. For students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), activities that other students may find easy, such as transitioning from one location to the next, organizing their learning materials, and completing assigned activities, can be very…

The present study assessed the effects of video modeling on acquisition and generalization of variation in the conversational speech of two boys with autism. A video was made showing several versions of several topics of conversation, thus providing multiple exemplars of each conversation. Video modeling consisted of showing each child a video…

In recent years, the research on teasing and bullying has grown dramatically and is coupled with a rise in the development of intervention programs targeted to teachers, principals, and parents. Ultimately the goal of these programs is to reduce or eliminate teasing and bullying within school settings. The aim of this project is to clarify how…

Play is widely acknowledged to be an integral part of human development and children with autism often experience substantial delays in the development of play behaviors. This review updates older reviews by covering the last 10 years of research targeting functional and symbolic play in children with autism. The review differs from other reviews…

This article examines how play is affected by computers and digital toys. Research indicates that when computer software targeted at children is problem-solving oriented and open-ended, children tend to engage in creative play and interact with peers in a positive manner. On the other hand, drill-and-practice programs can be quite boring and limit…

The current study examines the impact of racial representation on character identification and postgame play hostility. Examining data from Black and White participants, results suggest that cueing racial attributes influences identification and elicits stereotyping and hostile outcomes. Specifically, White players displayed more hostile thoughts…

Child solitary and collaborative mother-child play with 21 children with Down syndrome and 33 mental-age-matched typically developing children were compared. In solitary play, children with Down syndrome showed less exploratory but similar symbolic play compared to typically developing children. From solitary to collaborative play, children with…

This study develops a structural equation model to describe the effect of two groups of factors (type of commitment and play context) on the violence experienced during intimate partner conflict. After contrasting the model in adolescents and university students, we have confirmed that aggressive play and the simulation of jealousy and anger…

All teachers can be supportive of children's active play by running, jumping, and playing with them and by reducing the time spent simply standing around "supervising" their play. In this article, the authors describe the benefits of active play and offer some encouragement that will get teachers and their coworkers to run around with children.…

Young children learn through play. This has long been acknowledged in the writings of educational theorists dating back as far as Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel and is strongly supported by current early childhood research. Play is at the heart of contemporary early childhood pedagogy, and this has led to a strong belief in the importance of an…

Experts acquire domain-specific skills as a result of the activities in which they participate throughout their development. We examine the domain-specific activities in which two groups of elite youth soccer players participated between six and 12 years of age. Our goal was to examine early participation differences between those who progressed…

Many people fear that play-fighting or rough and tumble play is the same as real fighting. There is also a fear that this rough play will become real fighting if allowed to continue. Most of all, parents and teachers fear that during the course of rough and tumble play a child may be hurt. To provide for and allow children to play rough without…

This article is based on an ethnographic study of children's everyday life in Swedish preschools. The ethnography is used to explore children's strategies for influencing, defending and constructing the social order of a preschool institution. The focus of our concern is on how the children, in their interactions with each other and with the…

Several membership companies of the International Playground Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) are helping differently-abled children to have access to play equipment and opportunities. These IPEMA membership companies, and others, are driven by the principles of Universal Design (UD), a new concept in playground design that helps ensure…

Two aspects of children's early gender development--the spontaneous production of gender labels and gender-typed play--were examined longitudinally in a sample of 82 children. Survival analysis, a statistical technique well suited to questions involving developmental transitions, was used to investigate the timing of the onset of children's gender…