Developmental Changes in the Free Play and Programmed Play of Children at Risk for Developmental Disabilities in an Early Child-Parent Support Group

Abstract

The present study examined effects of an early treatment group for parents and children through a longitudinal assessment of the children's behavior. The group's purpose was for developmental support and child-care support for parents and their children who had delays in communication skills or behavior problems. The parent-child pairs (N = 30) were assessed at the beginning and end of a 6-month period. Assessment sheets were used to record their behavior in free play and programmed play; other domains assessed included understanding skills, expression skills, activity, behavior problems, and the parent-child relationship. The mean age of the children at the first assessment was 30.9 months (SD = 8.6). Assessments of both types of play and all the domains were higher in the second assessment than in the first. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed the following: (a) the growth in expression skills and in the relations between the parents and their children was related to the children's growth in free play and programmed play, but (b) the children's growth in understanding skills was related only to their growth in free play. It was concluded that important skills for the two types of play are different. These findings and other findings from follow-up done after the group and case studies suggest that early group activities can be useful for assessment and early treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)