The current study investigated the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase a child's engagement in sociodramatic play. Griffin, a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, participated in a play group with two typically developing peers and ten sets of play materials pertaining to a specific theme. Baseline sessions indicated that Griffin engaged in lower rates of sociodramatic play and higher rates of isolate and other play compared to the typically developing peers. The Instructions to Peers intervention consisted of giving instructions to the peer participants prior to each play session, and the Structured Sociodramatic Play intervention consisted of the experimenter engaging Griffin and the peers in sociodramatic play with five sets of play materials prior to each play session. A larger play group with four typically developing peers (two of the peers were participants in the first play group) and five sets of play material themes was used to test for generalization. Results indicated that giving instructions to peers did not have an effect on the amount of sociodramatic play Griffin engaged in. The Structured Sociodramatic Play condition increased Griffin's levels of cooperative play to levels similar to the typically developing peers, and increased his sociodramatic play during some sessions. No differences in play occurred in the generalization setting or with untrained play materials in either setting. A discussion of limitations and factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of the interventions is included.

Thesis advisor: Mariela Páez / Across preschool classrooms in the United States, free play comprises the largest percentage of children’s daily activity time (Chien et al., 2010; Fuligini et al., 2012). During free play, preschoolers may frequently engage in sociodramatic play (SDP), or pretend play where groups of children take on assigned roles with implicit rules (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Research has demonstrated the academic and social benefits of SDP engagement (e.g., Diamond et al., 2007); however, much of this work has addressed SDP in curricular and intervention contexts, in which teachers play a large role in facilitating the play. Fewer studies have explored SDP in free play contexts with minimal teacher scaffolding, and even fewer have studied this play in classrooms comprised of cognitively, culturally, and linguistically diverse students, such as those participating in Head Start programs. This study investigated individual and peer factors that relate to SDP occurring in the context of free play among children (n=50) in five diverse mixed-age Head Start classrooms. A mixed methods approach was used to examine relations between children’s individual characteristics and abilities, classroom peer networks, and SDP outcomes. Sources of data included: 1) naturalistic observations of children’s free play, 2) assessments and demographic surveys of individual children, and 3) sociometric and semi-structured interviews with child participants. Results from multiple regression and hierarchical cluster analyses were merged with case studies of children who engage in exemplary amounts of SDP to enhance the understanding of individual and peer factors related to sociodramatic play. Findings indicated that narrative skills, home language background, gender, membership in a cohesive peer subgroup, and teacher presence were related to high amounts of SDP engagement. Implications for future research and for preschool practitioners are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The purpose of my study was to explore and describe the applicability of fairy tale-based sociodramatic play in developing social skills among high-functioning children with autism. My conceptual framework was based on existing theory relating to high-functioning children with autism, the development of social skills, sociodramatic play and fairy tales,. I followed a qualitative research approach, guided by an interpretivist epistemology. I employed an instrumental case study design and conveniently selected a school that specialises in the accommodation of learners with autism. I purposefully selected three high-functioning children at the school as primary research participants, and their parents/caregivers as well as one educator from the foundation phase class at the school, as my secondary research participants. I developed and implemented a fairy tale-based sociodramatic play intervention, conducted face-to-face interviews and assessments of levels of social functioning, and utilised observationas- context-of-interaction as data collection methods. I relied upon audio-visual methods and a reflective journal as methods of data documentation. Three main themes emerged as a result of the inductive data analysis and interpretation that I completed. Firstly, I found that the primary participants displayed an improved tendency to ask for help and express their feelings after they had received fairy tale-based sociodramatic play intervention. Secondly, I found that certain additional changes in social experience and behaviour had occurred during the course of the research process, such as an apparent improvement in turn-taking, problem-solving and perspective-taking abilities, and an increased involvement in peer relationships and peer support. Despite the apparent changes in the participants’ abilities to ask for help and express their feelings, a few areas of no change also emerged. No change was observed in the primary participants’ tendency to not seek help from peers, as well as their tendency to rely on their body language, rather than on verbalisation, to ask for help and express feelings. Based on the findings, fairy tale-based sociodramatic play can therefore be regarded as a valuable tool for the development of the social skills of asking for help and expression of feelings among high-functioning children with autism. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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