Author: Ae-Hwa Kim; Sharon Vaughn; Batya Elbaum; Marie Tejero Hughes; Claire V. Morris Sloan; Dheepa Sridhar
Source: Journal of Early Intervention, Volume 25(3), Winter/Spring 2003, pages 189-205
This article reports the findings and implications of 13 early intervention studies conducted between 1975 and June 1999. These studies examined how choosing certain toys or setting up certain combinations of children with and without disabilities impacts the social behavior of 3-5 year olds with disabilities. The 13 studies included 213 children without disabilities, and 217 children with different types and varying degrees of disabilities. The authors analyzed the outcomes in regards to the toy effect (result of playing with a certain type of toy), group composition effect (how the children were mixed in the group), and the two combined. The purpose is to help current practitioners and future researchers in gaining a better understanding of how these two factors influence the play and social behavior of preschool age children with disabilities. Social toys included balls, dramatic play items, blocks, puppets, and miniature cars and trucks. Isolated toys included puzzles, Play-Doh, books, and art materials. The authors examine how social interaction and cognitive levels of play vary for children with disabilities, depending on types of toys and mixtures of children. Group composition (mixture of children) is looked at in terms of children with disabilities playing only with each other in a group, versus mixed groups of children with and without disabilities.
The authors conclude that there are positive outcomes associated with children playing with social toys, as well as in groups that include children with and without disabilities. In fact, results revealed little or no evidence favoring isolated toys or unmixed groups. The authors also discovered evidence of child-directed play being associated with more positive social behaviors than adult-directed play. Also significant was the finding that mixed groups did not interfere with development for the children without disabilities. The authors concluded with recommendations for teachers and parents regarding the availability of social toys, the provision of opportunities for children with and without disabilities to play together, size and ratio of groups, and direct teaching of targeted social behaviors for children with disabilities. The major limitation of this review is that only 13 studies were used. This is due largely in part to the fact that there has not been a great deal of research as of yet regarding these three variables and manipulation of them as an intervention. Findings also suggested that manipulating these three factors might not be sufficient for children with disabilities higher in severity, and therefore needs to be considered in conjunction with other interventions.
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