Play behaviors of children with developmental delays in the preschool period and their comparison with their peers with normal development

Hereditary and environmental factors have an impact on development, and some children experience delays in one or more developmental areas compared to their peers. Play is an effective tool in assessing and supporting development. Play behaviors vary according to the age and developmental level of the child. In this study, it was aimed to examine the play behaviors of children with developmental delay in preschool period and to compare them with their peers with normal development. Causal comparison method, one of the quantitative research designs, was used in the study. The study group consisted of a total of 60 children aged 49-71 months, 30 normally developing and 30 developmentally delayed children aged 49-71 months attending state kindergartens and preschools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Erzurum in the 2022-2023 academic year. The Denver-2 Developmental Screening Test was applied to the children, and the groups of children with normal development and children with developmental delay were determined. For both groups, the "Play Behavior Scale for 36-71-month-old Children" developed by Metin Aslan (2017) was completed by the children's teachers. When the data were analyzed, since normal distribution was observed, Independent Sample t-Test analysis, one of the parametric tests, was used to compare the groups. In all children and children with normal development, boys played more rough and tumble plays than girls, while gender did not make any difference in play behaviors in children with developmental delay. When the age variable was examined, play behaviors did not differ in all children and children with normal development, while 61-71-month-old children exhibited quiet behavior more in children with developmental delay. When the play behaviors of children with normal development and children with developmental delay were compared, it was observed that children with developmental delay preferred silent behavior and rough and tumble plays more than their peers with normal development, while they preferred social plays less. It is recommended to support the play behaviors of children with developmental delay that differ from their peers. Keywords: Developmental delay, Play, Play behaviors, Preschool period.