support imaginative play for children with disabilities. The main characters are Elephant and Piggie. In the book, Piggie says he is a frog. Elephant becomes worried about Piggie acting like a frog. Piggie is in fact a pig. Piggie explains that he is “pretending.” Piggie goes on to describe that pretending is acting like some- thing you are not. Piggie asks Elephant to pretend to be a frog. Elephant decides to pretend to be a cow. The book I’m a Frog by Mo Willems can be used to introduce the concept of imagina- tive play and to support imaginative play in the classroom and at home for young children with disabilities. Children with disabilities need to have access to toys. Toys will need to be adapted to meet the needs of the individual child with a disability. The child’s interests and preferences will need to be considered. Toys can be extended or built up for a child to have a better grip on the item. Toys may need to be stabilized in one area. The area may be a table, tray, highchair, or the floor. Toys and games may need to be simplified for children with disabilities to access. Toys or other play objects will need to be kept in close range to the child to facilitate play. Areas on the toy, game, or object may need to be highlighted for the child. If the child has a color preference the color can be used to highlight the object. Toys and games need to be kept within the child’s field of vision. Parents should bring toy access considerations to the IEP or IFSP team meeting for problem-solving and goal setting specific to the child’s individual needs.
tunities for communication and, as participation increases, it au- tomatically improves the quality and quantity of opportunities (Beukelman; Mirenda, 2005).
Developmental Doman
Example Play Activity
Adaptive Behavior
Ask for help social story in the dramatic play center Turn-taking games with family or peers
Communication
Fine motor
Draw with peers at the Art center
Gross Motor
Join peers, touch toys, access a switch toy, and take turns with peers Use a feeling card during play to ex- press feelings
Social-Emotional
Play is crucial for child development. Games give children pleasure and encourage them to go further, repeat, try and learn from their experiences (Ferland, 2006). Unfortunately, in the hustle and bustle of working toward core standards gameplay can be minimal or nonexistent. Peer-mediated Intervention is an evidence-based strategy for young children with disabilities that can be implemented to sup- port play. Typically developing peers are selected and taught to recognize and appreciate differences. The peers are taught the target behavior that will be used to facilitate the intervention. The adult leading the intervention plan should first model the use of a strategy. After the adult has modeled the intervention plan the peers can role play with one another to practice the skill or strategy. It is recommended that the assigned peer interacts with the child with a disability for 15 minutes daily. Imaginative play is essential for child development. Our cur- rent reality of regular screen time can limit opportunities for imaginative play. Children who have access to regular screen time may imitate the play or scenarios they have viewed on the screen instead of creating their own imaginative play scenario. Developmental psychologist Thalia Goldstein, Ph.D., studied 97 five-year-olds enrolled in Head Start programs. The kids were split into three activity groups. One group pretended to be ani- mals or other people; one group was read to, and a third group built with blocks. What was discovered was that the children who were in the dramatic pretend-play group increased their emotional control over the course of eight weeks during the study. Kids are learning what their emotions feel like in their bodies, what their emotions feel like in themselves and how they can begin to modulate and control those emotions. My challenge to providers, therapists and parents is to pro- vide access to play instead of pulling children out of play. IEP and IFSP goals should focus on play for all children under the age of six. The foundation of learning for children in the early childhood years is play. Our children with disabilities need to have play incorporated into their specially designed instruction. The children’s book I’m a Frog by Mo Willems can be used to
There are six stages of play • Unoccupied Play (birth-three months) • Solitary Play (birth-2 years) • Spectator/onlooker behavior (2 years) • Parallel Play (2+ years)
• Associate Play (3-4 years) • Cooperative play (4+years)
Often children with disabilities can get stuck in one stage of play. If providers focus on teaching a child how to build a tower and never move on to how to create a shared structure the child may become stuck in one stage of play. If a child has had limited access to play, they may be in an early stage of play and need in- tervention to move toward a more developmentally appropriate stage of play. As a child has access to experiences they will move through the stages of play. Children who are medically-fragile may have very limited exposure to play which impacts their overall development and stage of play. DIY (do it yourself) or Upcycling (whatever you want to call it) is one way to incorporate play for young children with dis- abilities. Providers that enter the home for children with IFSPs or those who are at home due to the child being medically fragile can bring in a simple empty paper towel or tin foil roll and ask the families to save them instead of throwing them out. Play- ing with a paper towel roll can be associated with fine motor standards for gripping, picking up, and hitting the objects to-
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