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Corbett, Eurgenia L.

Communication Sciences

2005

MS

The purpose of this descriptive study is to characterize the nature and frequency of "language play" used by children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) within the context of play. The "language play" of three children with ASD between the ages of four and six was tabulated and analyzed into the following six categories: phonological, morphological, syntactical, semantic, pragmatic, and combination play. The nature and frequency of these "language play" types was compared over time to that of three age-matched typical peers. Additionally, the frequency of "language play" was tabulated and compared between the presence and absence of an adult interventionist. The source for this analysis was written transcripts of peer-mediated play baseline and intervention sessions, taken from a larger intervention study. Results revealed that children with ASD use "language play" when playing with typically developing peers. Further, children with ASD, used "language play" more often in play than their typically developing peers. Additionally, the presence of an adult facilitating play between a child with ASD and a typically developing peer impacted the use of "language play" so that its frequency increased overall. The findings of this study support further examination of the development of "language play" in children with ASD and the role it may play in their linguistic and social development.