Effectiveness of pretend play intervention package in natural context for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Limitations in social interaction and communication in children with ASD negatively affect the development of play skills. For this reason, it is necessary to support the play skills of children with ASD from the early childhood years. This research aims to examine the effect of natural developmental-behavioral play intervention in the natural context on the development of play skills in children with ASD. The research was designed with a multiple probe model with the inter-participant probe phase, which is one of the single-subject research models. Data on social interaction and communication skills, and social validity were also collected in the study. Research findings show that children with ASD acquire and maintain the targeted play skills in the natural context and generalize to different play behaviors. Social validity findings show that the mothers of the children were satisfied with their participation in the study and the development of their children. Social comparison findings show that children with ASD increase their level of pretend play to a level closer to their peers, even if they do not reach the same level as their peers. The results of the research showed that the participants learned the targeted pretend play, similar to the teaching pretend play researches in the literature. In addition to the literature, it shows that the participants create pretend play games by using their own imagination and ability to get rid of reality without adult guidance and reinforcement processes. Furthermore, pretend play behaviors are excluded from the rote, and the game skills can be gained with interventions suitable for the nature of the play.