2016 Gatlinburg Conference Poster
PS-41
Title: Symbolic Play as a Behavioural Cusp in Early Development of Social Communication Skills
Authors: Soo Wee Ho, Dennis Moore, Angelika Anderson
Introduction: Social communication development is conceptualised as part of one's adaptive behaviour. Systematically building
the capacity for representational or symbolic play may facilitate the development of representational thought linked to symbolic
language development (Landa, 2007). This research investigated the importance of teaching symbolic play acts as target
behaviours in early interventions, in terms of its impact on communication and language development. A behavioral cusp is any
behavior change that brings the organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching
consequences (Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1997, pp. 533). It is hypothesized that symbolic play skills, when acquired, will lead to the
development of new behaviours, by bringing the child into contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching
consequences, illustrating the concept of a behavioural cusp (Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1997).
Methods: A developmental trajectory approach was used to examine the unfolding of communication, language and play skills
of two groups of children longitudinally over three time points, one with ASD and the other neurotypical group. A single case
symbolic play intervention study was layered over this developmental trajectory study. This is a partial systematic replication of
the targeted symbolic play intervention study conducted by Kasari and her colleagues (Kasari et al., 2006). One target child from
the ASD group of four children received daily targeted play intervention over a ten-week period.
Results: From the developmental trajectory study, the neurotypical group of children made better progress compared to the
group of children with ASD, both in their language and in their play skills.
The child receiving targeted interventions made gains in her play skills. Post-interventions, the child's proportion of play involving
indiscriminate actions fell from 38.5% to 22.8%, which is a decrease of 15.7% of developmentally least advanced level of play.
Even though language skills were not explicitly targeted, she made gains in language skills, especially in her expressive
communication as assessed by Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition. Her Expressive Communication standard scores increased
from 88 (21st percentile rank) to 98 (45th percentile rank) post-interventions, and to 104 (61st percentile rank) at a three-month
maintenance probe.
Discussion: This study shows evidence of collateral gains in auditory comprehension and expressive communication from a
targeted symbolic play intervention. The findings support the notion that symbolic play was a cusp behaviour in that it leads the
organism to "come into contact with new reinforcers" (Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1997, pp. 534). These naturally occurring reinforcers
then promote a new learning cycle which continued to spur further learning. This study has provided evidence that targeted
symbolic play may be a cusp to early development of communication skills, with collateral gains in language skills. Going beyond
using play as a backdrop to teaching various skills, the author argued that symbolic play targets are worthy early intervention
goals by themselves.
References/Citations:
• Jordan, R. (2003). Social play and Autistic Spectrum Disorders: A Perspective on theory, implications and educational
approaches. Autism, 7(4), 347-360. doi: 10.1177/1362361303007004002
• Kasari, C., Freeman, S., & Paparella, T. (2006). Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism: A
randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(6), 611-620. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01567.x
• Landa, R. J. (2007). Early communication development and intervention for children with autism. Mental Retardation
and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 13(1), 16-25. doi: 10.1002/mrdd.20134
• Rosales-Ruiz, J., & Baer, D. M. (1997). Behavioral cusps: A developmental and pragmatic concept for behavior analysis.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, 535-544. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1997.30-533