Symbolic Play and Early Language Development in Normal and Mentally Retarded Children
- 1 September 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Speech Language Hearing Association in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
- Vol. 26 (3), 404-411
- https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.2603.404
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship of early language development and symbolic play behaviors in normal and mentally retarded children. Piaget' type IIA symbolic play, the ability to represent one object with another, was assessed by employing an object stimulus gradient. Forty children served as subjects: 20 normal and 20 trainable mentally retarded youngsters, 10 each at MLU Stage Pre-I and MLU Stage I. The results of a three-way ANOVA revealed significant main effects of MLU Stage and object condition and a significant interaction of MLU by object condition. The MLU Stage Pre-I children demonstrated significantly more restricted symbolic play than did the MLU Stage I children regardless of developmental status. A Pearson product-moment correlation between MLU and mean symbolic play score showed a high positive correlation between the two variables. Symbolic play which involves the use of one object to represent another was found to be a strong correlate of early language development.This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Language Comprehension in Sensorimotor Stages V and VIJournal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1980
- Language and Sensorimotor Development During the Early Period of Referential SpeechJournal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1978
- Ordinality and Interdependence of Representation and Language Development in InfancyChild Development, 1978
- Preschool Children's Use of Objects in Symbolic PlayChild Development, 1978
- A Developmental Sequence of Agent Use in Late InfancyChild Development, 1977