Children with disabilities demonstrate fewer complex pretend play behaviors than children with typical development, which might limit their social participation in early childhood settings. A multiple-probe design was used to examine the relation between a single prompt procedure--constant time delay--and the acquisition, maintenance, and…

Play is a "critical" intervention goal for children with autism in inclusive settings because it sets the occasion for social interactions and communication with peers, caregivers, and teachers, and provides an authentic context for embedding instruction. Furthermore, several research studies have found "pretend" play to be a predictor of social…

The purpose of this article is to describe two studies that examined the effects of training and coaching on preservice teachers' implementation of an intervention focused on teaching play to young children with disabilities. A multiple-baseline across teachers single-case research design was used to systematically examine the relation between…

The purpose of this article was to describe a taxonomy of pretend play for children with disabilities based on a systematic review of the literature to characterize pretend play. Thirty-seven studies were identified as measuring pretend play in children with disabilities. Several inconsistencies were found in the measurement of pretend play across…

A multiple probe design was used to examine the relation between teachers' use of the system of least prompts, contingent imitation, and praise, and the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of pretend play by 4 children with disabilities. The teachers' use of the intervention package was functionally related to increases in the children's…

The purpose of this study was to analyze literature regarding interventions for promoting pretend play in children with disabilities. Sixteen studies were found using experimental designs to evaluate pretend play interventions with children with disabilities. The results were analyzed across the targeted pretense behaviors, participants,…