Preschools and kindergartens will become the happiest environment for children when they adopt innovative thinking about the value of active playful learning, have only developmentally appropriate expectations, manage behavior solely with kindness, and, in general, foster healthy social-emotional development and create a joyful, positive…

Children with autism spectrum disorder often lack fundamental play skills, which can aid development with social, language, and imitation skills (Boutot et al. 2005). The purpose of this study was to extend the previous literature that successfully combined video modeling and matrix training. Matrix training is an efficient way of teaching that…

Self-regulation is a critical emergent developmental competency that lays the foundation for children's later psychosocial health and academic achievement. Recent work indicates that physical activity and energetic play opportunities support children's self-regulation in the early childhood classroom. Many early childhood programs offer…

At a young age, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit restrictive/repetitive or stereotypical behaviors that hinder their participation in the general community. The play activities of children with ASD often lack creativity, diversity, and flexibility due to deficits in social and communication abilities. Play activities for…

This study examined the effects of using behavioral skills training (BST) to teach peer models to engage students with moderate to severe developmental disabilities in interactive play. Two separate multiple-baseline across participants designs were used to determine the effectiveness of BST on the peer models' implementation of the procedural…

In light of the growing phenomenon of parent-child digital co-play of online games, we conducted a study to understand the different ways of digital co-play and how they can offer opportunities for the child's learning. We analyse four cases of parent-child digital co-play on "Let's Play" gaming videos with "Roblox" on YouTube.…

Peer-mediated intervention (PMI) within the inclusive early childhood setting increases social exposure between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing peers. However, PMI research to date has provided limited data on the adherence of strategies taught to typically developing peers during training. The present study…

This study assessed the effects of portable video modeling on social interactions of four children with autism, three boys and one girl, 4- to 5-year-olds, in preschools in Iceland. Participants were shown 1-min videos on a small handheld device where a peer model initiated social interactions and played with two peers. A…

This paper explores the perceived benefits of and barriers to, using puppets in early years classrooms and childcare settings. An online survey of 121 early years educators revealed that puppets are widely, but infrequently, used in the early years, and are largely found to be valuable pedagogical tools by those that use them. Puppets were…

The purpose of this study was to describe how experienced emergent writing teachers supported 4-year-olds in writing their own messages during the learning centers period of the preschool day. Data were drawn from two, year-long qualitative studies of early writing instruction. Adult participants were three researcher-teachers who worked in…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an intervention in which childcare providers (CCPs) are coached to support toddlers' gesture use during every day classroom routines. Method: This study uses a multiple-baseline across strategies single-case experimental design to examine the impact of a coaching intervention on three…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of using video-enhanced activity schedules on a laptop on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of schedule following, and pretend play skills in children with ASD. In addition, social validity data were collected from the teachers and the mothers of the participating children. Four…

Play is a universal activity that is an integral part of childhood experiences and aids in the development of important skills. While most children naturally engage in play, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not follow the typical pattern of play development and often exhibit delays in play skills. One of the defining characteristics…