Undergraduate theater students rarely get the chance to work on a major world premiere, but this year hundreds of them will. Currently, more than 70 colleges and universities are participating in "365 Days/365 Plays," an ambitious project from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Every week, as they mount their portion of this epic…

Young children construct understandings of gender during the preschool years. They accurately apply common gender stereotypes to toys by the time they are three and readily predict their parents' opinions about gender-typical and cross-gender play. This study involved 3- and 5-year-old children in identifying "girl toys" and "boy toys". It also…

We investigated how 14-month-old infants know what others know. In two studies, an infant played with each of two objects in turn while an experimenter was present. Then the experimenter left the room, and the infant played with a third object with an assistant. The experimenter returned, faced all three objects, and said excitedly "Look! Can you…

Three parents of children with autism were taught to implement the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP). Data were collected on parent implementation, multiple measures of child language, and play. The parents were able to learn to implement the NLP procedures quickly and accurately with beneficial results for their children. Increases in the overall…

After an introduction which briefly discusses emotional, therapeutic, phenomenological, cognitive, and developmental perspectives on play, this volume presents the complete texts of all the main lectures and a few short papers that were given at the International Symposium on Play, Play Therapy, and Play Research. Papers in part 1 concern certain…

Intended to encourage children to develop their imaginations naturally, with only a small amount of help from adults, this book presents over 125 activities for creative and pretend play for young children. The book's introduction describes the importance and benefits of pretend play, the adult's role, and needed materials and space. The…

Details four developmentally appropriate dramatic play experiences for integration into the classroom curriculum to extend dramatic play into a classroom play experience. Provides guidance in turning dramatic play into a project, launching the play process, readying the performance, problem solving, playing the play, and enjoying the outcome.…

As more and more early childhood programs implement response to intervention, the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) will be the tool of choice for fast, reliable, and ongoing progress monitoring. That's why every program needs this book, the only quick guide to conducting the popular IGDIs accurately and efficiently. Bringing…

Based on theory and research, social aspects like friendship and sense of relatedness are fundamental in the development of children's cultural identity and achievement of outcomes. It is argued that this is a motivational aspect often neglected in research studies focusing on students' motivation and learning. Theory and research on motivation…

Development and behavior during the first 2 years of life was assessed retrospectively by the parents to 23 adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome and 13 typically developing adolescents and young adults. The groups were matched on chronological age and the participants were within the normal range of intelligence. The questionnaire,…

This study examined the relationship between preschool children's understanding of others' minds, as indicated in their performance on a false beliefs task, and the quality of their social interaction in shared pretend play. Participating were 48 pairs of preschool children enrolled in 4 preschools in both Singapore and the United Kingdom.…

Since imaginative play has been found to be related to multiple social and cognitive skills, it is important to explore possible family variables that are significantly related to such behavior. The purpose of the study was to examine the level of imaginative and social play of children in relation to three family issues: (a) family structure…

One of the situations in which the child spends much time is informal, outdoor play settings. Much of this time is spent in spontaneous play in neighborhoods, around the dwelling unit, and on designated playgrounds. Unstructured and spontaneous play is an important part of a child's development. It is through unstructured, child-initiated play…

This paper describes and illustrates an approach to reading which combines the language experience approach (LEA) and imaginative play. The LEA and the components of the lesson are briefly reviewed. Imaginative play and its descriptive components are identified and explained. The procedure for combining the two elements is roughly as follows: The…

Examines discourse patterns in playmaking to see if they differ from those found in more traditional settings. Indicates that playmaking can foster students' empathy, utilize their logic and creativity, and provide them with the experience of working in a group to a common end. (JD)