Children with ASD are characterized by impairments in socialization and communication, as well as by the presence of repetitive behaviours and limited interests. Their impairment often influences their participation in everyday ac-tivities and by extension their social engagement in playful activities with their peers is affected. Researches set play as the leading activity for a child’s development, because it is identified as the means that can deliver various mental tools and teaching strategies to preschoolers. Purpose of this systematic literature review is to identify play interven-tions that describe the procedures aiming in promoting the social engagement of preschoolers with autism. This review will also examine the people that implemented these interventions, in order to provide information and guid-ance for all professionals and educators that may need them. Search in the three databases, ERIC, CINAHL and PsychINFO was performed. Seven articles were found to meet all criteria and were divided based on the similarities on the design and the procedures that were followed. The results of the study led to three play interventions that used the ASAP and JASPER intervention programs in order to examine the social communication of children with autism leading to their social engagement. The remaining findings resulted in four different kind of interventions that use play as the context for either increasing social engagement or promoting engagement of students with ASD with their peers. These interventions include auditory, dance and video modelling interventions. The Zone of Proximal Development was used as the theoretical framework to support the ideas mentioned, since it points out the role of play in the child’s development. However, this study highlights the need for further investigation regarding the pro-motion of social engagement of preschoolers with ASD. The level of the social engagement of children with ASD are rarely investigated in the natural context of schools during their everyday peer-to-peer play interactions.

The number of preschool children displaying externalizing emotional and behavioral difficulties is constantly increasing. At the same time, these children often lack social and emotional skills as well. Even though more and more children display this noticeable behavior and preschool teachers are constantly reporting being overwhelmed with these children’s behavior in preschool, a high number of children do not receive any support or intervention. Play provides appropriate means to support children’s social and emotional development as play has a significant importance in young children’s development. The aim of this systematic literature review is to get a better understanding through previous research on which play interventions have been found to facilitate the social-emotional development in preschool children with externalizing emotional and behavioral difficulties. Six studies with six different play-oriented interventions have been identified through this review. The results show that all interventions had either positive outcomes on the social-emotional development or show a decrease in emotional or behavioral difficulties. The factors which have been found as facilitating to these outcomes were use of play, intervention setting, awareness of others, involvement of licensed professionals, a safe environment and culturally and ethnically representative toys. This review provides a comprehensive overview on effective play-based interventions in preschool setting. However, further research is needed to examine individual environmental, familial and participation factors as well as specific training for preschool teachers. / Die Zahl der Kindergarten Kinder mit externalisierenden sozial und emotionalen Verhaltensauffälligkeiten steigt permanent an. Gleichzeitig zeigen diese Kinder oft ein Defizit in sozialen und emotionalen Kompetenzen. Obwohl die Anzahl der Kinder mit diesen Verhaltensauffälligkeiten immer weiter ansteigt und auch Erzieher/Innen immer wieder darauf hinweisen, dass sie mit dem Verhalten der Kinder überfordert sind, erhalten viele Kinder keine Förderung. Spiel bietet einen angemessenen Ansatz, um Kinder in ihren sozial-emotionalen Kompetenzen zu unterstützen. Es ist bewiesen, dass Spiel eine signifikant positive Auswirkung auf die sozial-emotionale Entwicklung von Kindern hat. Das Ziel dieser systematischen Literaturanalyse ist es ein besseres Verständnis über bereits bestehende spielorientiere Förderangebote und deren Auswirkung auf die sozial-emotionale Entwicklung von Kindergarten Kindern mit externalisierenden sozial-emotionalen Verhaltensauffälligkeiten zu erhalten. Sechs Studien mit sechs unterschiedlichen spielorientierten Förderangeboten wurden während der Analyse identifiziert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass alle Förderangebote entweder positive Auswirkungen auf die sozial-emotionale Entwicklung hatten oder sozial-emotionale Verhaltensauffälligkeiten reduziert wurden. Fördernde Faktoren auf die Auswirkungen der Angebote waren die Anwendung von Spiel, der Rahmen, in der das Angebot stattgefunden hat, das Bewusstsein der Anwesenheit anderer, die Einbindung von geschulten Fachleuten, eine sichere Umgebung und die Anwendung von kulturell und ethnisch repräsentativem Spielzeug. Diese Analyse gibt einen umfassenden Überblick von spielorientierten Förderangeboten, die im Kindergarten umsetzbar sind. Es besteht jedoch ein Bedarf an weiterer Forschung, die individuelle Aspekte aus der Umwelt, der Familie und der Teilhabe der Kinder berücksichtigt. Außerdem ist es von Bedeutung, dass Erzieher/Innen die Möglichkeit für eine bessere Schulung bekommen, um mit den Verhaltensauffälligkeiten der Kinder besser umgehen zu können.