***async lecture: play occupations and playfulness

***what is play?

• play is the cognitive development of language, problem-solving, social interaction, creativity, and self-expression

• play is a sequence of developmental skills

• play is meaningful activities that promote health and wellbeing through everyday life

• influenced by:

  • culture

    • e.g., who does the child play with, what type of games do they play, what materials are used during the play?

  • social participation

    • e.g., whether the child has same-aged peers, peers at the same developmental level, etc.

  • socioeconomic level

    • e.g., toys family can afford/use

child’s occupation of play + ***emergence of play as an occupation

includes:

• play any spontaneous activity that provides enjoyment, entertainment, or amusement

• play exploration identifies appropriate activities, which include exploring play

• practicing play

• pretending (i.e., start giving their toys properties)

• following rules (+ creating their own rules too!)

• participation

emergence of play as an occupation

• play began to be considered an integral part of the human experience, important for the health and quality of life of the child, and not merely a method for developing other skills

• occupational therapy research on play in the 1990s and beyond attempted to address this charge and examined children in natural environments such as the home and classroom

• proposed that parents use two types of play strategies: segregation and inclusion

  • in the segregated strategy, play times were separate from other daily routines

  • in the inclusion strategy, play was incorporated into daily routines; parents use play routines to support their children’s learning

• object play

  • in infants, three types of object rules are learned by children:

  • (1) object property rules

    • the child’s internal representation of the properties of objects

  • (2) object action rules

    • the repertoire of actions on the objects

  • and (3) object affect rules

    • those factors affecting object choice and keeping play enjoyable

• Bundy’s work on playfulness (1997) focused attention on the attitudes of children while they play

  • Bundy theorized that the combination of elements together makes play playful

    • different elements of

    • playfulness,

    • intrinsic motivation,

    • internal control,

    • and the ability to suspend reality

  • each occur on a continuum; these elements are framed so that all players understand the context (i.e., this is fun)

• Knox (1999), in a qualitative study of preschool children’s play, also identified actions and behaviors that characterized playful children

  • the playful children showed flexibility and spontaneity in their play and in social interactions, curiosity, imagination, creativity, joy, the ability to take charge of situations, the ability to build on and change the flow of play, and total absorption

  • nonplayful children were less flexible and had difficulty with transitions or changes, expressed negative or immature affect or speech, often withdrew either physically or emotionally from play sequences, did not have control over situations, and tended to prefer adults or younger children for play

child’s occupation:

social participation

• behaviors that involve interacting with others through:

  • community, organizations

    • e.g., soccer camp

  • friends, peers

  • family

    • e.g., family puts in the effort to set up their child with friends/opportunities for socialization (usually with a family w/ a child of similar needs)

an OT perspective

• development of occupations

• influence of the community

• social participation

  • direct

    • they themself are directly in a game, community, etc.

  • indirect

    • vicarious learning through watching other role models e.g., through a family member (e.g., sibling) who is taking part in the game, community, etc.

• vicarious learning (^)

• learning through active participation

• specific, scaffolding, guidance, cueing, and reinforcement

• contexts for development

  • “people develop as participants in cultural communities; their development can be understood only in light of the cultural practices and circumstances of their communities”

  • examples of:

    • cultural contexts

    • social contexts

    • physical contexts

importance of context

physical

• playgrounds

  • e.g., specially designed for gross motor learning

• play spaces

• toys and materials

  • e.g., can support development

social

• interactions with parents and peers

• parenting style and playfulness

• sibling play

  • sibling can model appropriate play behavior (e.g., being a good team player/peer)

• changes in play with adult presence

  • children can feel more comfortable when a parent/caregiver is near them during play

• gender

  • type of activity they want to engage in

  • typically boys with gross motor activities and girls with sedentary activities

cultural

• perceptions of importance of play

  • e.g., some cultures may prioritize work > play for children

• cultural differences in children’s use of time

  • e.g., some cultures may prioritize school/studying > play for children

• different cultural forms of play

temporal

• changes throughout history

• changes throughout seasons or time of day

  • different types of outdoor vs indoor play during different types of weather

virtual contexts- the digital realm

• e.g., VR, zoom, other virtual types of games

intersection of contexts and impact on play

constraints to play

• effects of disability on play behavior

  • limit physical interaction with the environment

  • cognitive impairment on play

    • e.g., sequencing, understanding rules of play

  • sensory impairments on play

    • e.g., tactile difficulties (not tolerating certain sensations and textures)

  • hearing impairments on play

  • interpreting and integrating sensory input

    • e.g., having over-stimulating sensitivities, like loud environments

***types of play:

stage 1; years

• solitary play

• birth-2 years

***types of play:

stage 2; years

• parallel play

• 2+ years

***types of play:

stage 3; years

• associative play

• 3-4 years

***types of play:

stage 4; years

• cooperative play

• 4+ years

***children’s occupations, performance skills, and contexts:

infants; years

birth to 2 years

• 6 to 12 months

  • play occupations

    • exploratory play

      • touching, feeling, mouthing, grasping, dropping

      • watching themselves in the mirror

      • exploring their bodies

    • social play

      • responding to parents, expressing emotions with them, bonding (e.g., smiling)

  • performance skills

    • regulatory/sensory organization

      • engagement in play with parents, other family members, other peers, etc. = good regulation!

    • fine motor/manipulation

      • not much, but often picking up and dropping objects to explore

    • gross motor/mobility

      • not much, but purposeful engagement with different gross-motor movements (e.g., reaching, grasping, moving legs, kicking, etc.)

    • cognitive

      • not much, but there is a sensory need to organize and bring pleasure (e.g., needing to put things in their mouth)

    • social

      • reciprocal interactions w/ their caregivers (e.g., smiling)

• 6-12 months

  • play occupations

    • exploratory play

    • functional play

      • starting to understand cause and effect (e.g., may be exploratory with picking up things and dropping them, but with the added component of understanding the consequences)

      • starting to understand that toys have a function

    • social play

      • some repetitive and imitation movements, e.g., pat-a-cake

  • performance skills

    • regulatory/sensory organization

    • fine motor/manipulation

    • gross motor/mobility

    • cognitive

    • social

• 12-18 months

  • play occupations

    • relational and functional play

      • understanding use of body and understanding, spatially, where to go to get the object they want (i.e., knowing “this is me” vs “this is the object”

    • gross motor play

      • can actually physically move and get an object (e.g., through crawling, walking, climbing, etc.)

      • can make some transitional movements

    • social play

      • more sophisticated, as they can move and grab things

      • ^ will show these things to parents, give/share with others

      • can point

      • can even say single words

  • performance skills

    • regulatory/sensory organization

    • fine motor/manipulation

    • gross motor/mobility

    • cognitive

    • social

• 18-24 months

  • play occupations

    • functional play

      • can play with “push toys” to fulfill a function (e.g., shopping cart, lawn mowers)

    • gross motor play

      • run, climb, transitional movements; go around obstacles

    • pretend or symbolic play

      • can understand that objects have meaning and symbolism (e.g., crown= princess)

    • social play

      • expands as a result of the ability to pretend to be something else, i.e., pretend play

  • performance skills

    • regulatory/sensory organization

    • fine motor/manipulation

    • gross motor/mobility

    • cognitive

    • social

***children’s occupations, performance skills, and contexts:

(1) preschoolers; years

3-4 years

• play occupations

  • complex imaginary play

    • more creative situations (e.g., you’re not just a princess, you’re also a princess stuck in a castle waiting to be saved by a prince fighting a dragon right now)

  • constructive play

    • using objects to build

    • understanding you can make things with objects (e.g., using couch materials to build a fort)

  • rough-and-tumble play

    • when children can understand proprioception (body awareness of bones and joints)

    • children want to have high sensory experiences; good to allow for this so that the child can become more proficient in their movement patterns

    • e.g., pillow fights, jumping from high surfaces

  • social play

• performance skills

  • fine motor/manipulation

  • gross motor/mobility

  • cognitive

  • social

***children’s occupations, performance skills, and contexts:

(2) preschoolers; years

4-5 years

• play occupations

  • games with rules

    • flexible rules as children continue to play with more and more kids

  • constructive play

    • e.g., legos

  • social play; dramatic play

    • definitive rules and themes to their play; more characters and different roles; thicker plots and various activities

• performance skills

  • fine motor/manipulative

  • gross motor/mobility

  • cognitive

  • social

***children’s occupations, performance skills, and contexts:

kindergartners; years

5-6 years

• play occupations

  • games with rules

    • starting to understand the concept of winners and losers

  • dramatic play

  • sports

    • e.g., little league, resulting in being apart of…

  • social play

    • more teams and communities

• performance skills

  • fine motor/manipulation

  • gross motor/mobility

  • cognitive

  • social

***children’s occupations, performance skills, and contexts:

middle childhood; years

6-10 years

• play occupations

  • games with rules

    • starting to understand what they’re good at and what they’re not good at; subsequently, only continuing to do activities they are good at

    • also starting to understand what they enjoy- likes and dislikes

  • crafts and hobbies

  • organized sports

  • social play

• performance skills

  • fine motor/manipulation

  • gross motor/mobility

  • cognitive

  • social

***what is leisure

nonobligatory activity that is intrinsically motivated and engaged in during discretionary time, that is, time not committed to obligatory occupations such as work, self-care, or sleep

• identifying and planning opportunities based on skills, interests, opportunities

play assessments

mostly observational; observation of the way a child plays (playfulness or style)

• Child Occupational Self Asessment (COSA)

• Test of Playfulness (ToP)

• developmental competencies

  • Revised Knox Preschool Play Scale

play deprivation

extreme deprivation can lead to

• delayed development

• self stimulation (as they do not receive sensory experiences from their environment)self-stimulation

• difficulties with social interaction

  • e.g., not knowing how to play with others and develop social norms through imitation, modeling, etc.

• difficulties with mental health

working with families

• play is a powerful way to develop a child’s development within a family, community, and classroom

• it is important for the family to explore the meaning of play for the child

• understand the routines of the family and work within them

• strengthening cultural identity

• using games that are familiar to the family, making it easier for them to use

• engaging parents

• having shared goals to aid with playfulness

• adapting the appropriate play activities into the family’s routine to promote participation skills, playfulness, and play experience

adapting play for children with disabilities:

the presence of a disability

• it is difficult to describe the impact of the disability on the development of play of a child with disabilities

• each disability varies on the limiting factor

• disability can influence a child’s ability to play in various ways:

  • limited movement

  • cognitive impairment

  • sensory impairment

adapting play for children with disabilities:

limitations of motor skills and movement

• limitations in performance skills can influence' the child’s ability to play

• motor skills involves movement and interaction with objects

• processing skills understanding and processing the task

• communication skills conveying the needs and social behavior

adapting play for children with disabilities:

interventions

• establish what the child can manage

• establish clear rules

• set limits

• give praise and positive feedback to the child

  • always praise the desirable behavior for reinforcement!

• make sure the child achieves activity using the just right challenge

• ignore disruptive behavior and redirecting child back to the task at hand

adapting play for children with disabilities:

adapting play

• adapting the environment, using various materials or positioning a child

• when adapting a toy, always consider the developmental age, skill, and the interest of the child

• minimize steps of a task, change materials size, simplify the activity

summary

• play is the primary occupation of all children

• play as an occupation involves levels of developmental skills and means to motivate a child

• play involves the child’s environment and areas of playfulness

• Ot addresses the play development of a child with disabilities by

  • adapting play activities

  • designing play environment

  • family participation as well as skill development

  • incorporating play activities into the family routines

***model of playfulness- Parham and Fazio (2008)

model of playfulness

• observing and assessing playfulness or the disposition to play, and the way a person approaches play

• systematic observation of playfulness and the environmental support

• 3 elements

1. intrinsic motivation

2. internal control

   1. child can control their temperament and their movements in order to engage in play activity

3. freedom to suspend reality

   1. being able to be engaged in a fantasy world- creative play with inanimate objects with interesting characteristics

• additional element (Bateson): framing

ToP (Test of Playfulness)

test of playfulness

• purpose: assess the play of children and adolescents

• population: 6 months- 18 years old

• context: natural setting (indoor/outdoor)

• scoring: ToP keyform

• difference in means for children typical and atypical development

• reliability concerns (playmates and activities can impact score)

  • used mostly as an observational assessment, and not a standardized assessment, as it’s hard to standardize naturalistic observations (in which you must just observe)

***TOES (test of environmental supports)

another part of the ToPs

• assess influence of environmental support on a child’s playfulness

• in conjunction with ToP

• naturalistic context

• facilitate changing environmental supports

• steps

1. determine what motivates the child

2. assess the elements of the context (caregivers, playmates, and space)

• meaningful score

• consultative model

  • assess what environmental changes might be supporting or limiting and then make recommendations to make environmental adaptations that are supportive for the child

play intervention

• play is used 3 ways

  • as a tool

    • complete an activity analysis to determine that a specific skill may be developed by engaging in a play activity or with a certain toy

  • as a reward

    • an incentive for the completion of some other form of “therapy” work

  • as an occupation

    • focus is on the play itself and the development of play performance or play skill, playfulness or the attitude during play, or intrinsic motivation and exploration of play preferences

facilitating playfulness

therapist is playful

• attitude

• body language

• speech

• model playfulness

• novelty

• imaginary play

• having fun

be playful

do something:

• spontaneous

• fun

• intrinsically motivated

• internally controlled

• emphasizing the process

• include a pretend or “as if” component

additional roles of OT

• education of others

• coaching

• advocacy and focus on physical wellness, quality of life, and mental health