Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience significant challenges with play, thereby affecting their development of language skills, emotional development, cognitive development, and social connections with others (Freeman & Kasari, 2013). Parent-child relationships influence many aspects of a child’s life including participation in joint play, which is when two or more individuals are playing together (Waldman-Levi, Finzi-Dottan, & Cope, 2019). There are several factors hindering parent participation in play including knowledge of play, understanding of sensory processing and its impact on play, communication during play, and mindful parenting. The following chapters discuss the evidence and theories supporting the development of the proposed program, Play 4 Parents. Play 4 Parents is an in-person group training program designed to enhance play skills of parents of children with ASD. The program uses a variety of teaching strategies, such as direct teaching, strategy practice, and at home hands-on practice. Through program participation it is anticipated that parents will gain an increase in parental sense of competence, a decrease in perceived stress, and improvements with parent-child play interactions.

This diploma thesis in its theoretical and practical parts focuses on free play of children in pre-school facilities. Kindergarten is the place of early secondary socialization of the child and that's why one part of the diploma thesis is centred on this theme. The theoretical part helps for a deeper understanding of play, especially with 2-4 year old children and builds a foundation for the research. The practical part, based on one year's observation, monitors development of free play of a homogeneous group of children and finds how the quality of play changes with individuals as well as the group. Another focus lies on comparing two separate groups of children in their free play - one group having long term experience with free play and one without such regular experience. The main method of the research is observation. The results of the research points to the importance of free play for a pre-school age child and confirms the influence of free play in the process of early secondary socialization.