vation differs from that of parents with able-bodied children, and the difference between attitudes and actual behaviour.
AcknowledgementsWe would like to express our gratitude to Mrs Elizabeth Stephenson, Senior Occupational Therapist, Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, for permitting this pilot study to be carried out and for providing the necessary information.Our thanks also go to all the parents of children with motor-learning difficulties who participated in this study, for without their help, interest, time and cooperation it would not have been possible.Rnally, we wish to thank Mrs Margaret Middler for all the time she has given up to typing this paper.
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This article introduces some of the theoretical principles that inform the use of play in the treatment of children with disabilities. A number of competing definitions of play and its functions are briefly discussed. Both educationalists and child psychotherapists make claims for the value of play but tend to offer quite different explanations of why it helps vulnerable children, whilst animal ethologists stress the role of play in promoting survival and adaptation. Some of the key ideas of historically important play theorists, including Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Froebel, Montessori and Piaget, are mentioned.
Although children with impairments probably need more play experiences than other children in order to realise their developmental potential, they often cannot be left to get on with play unaided. Sensory, perceptual and motor difficulties, together with disorders of attention and learning, may seriously inhibit play behaviour. Some children may be barred from activities simply because expectations of them are low or because caretakers tend to overprotect them. Play is not only the most natural but also the most effective form of therapy for children and so this article attempts to equip the therapist with faith in his/her own role as a companion in play.
Twenty-five primary school aged children with physical impairments from three special schools and matched able-bodied controls from three ordinary primary schools in the Greater Manchester area participated in the study. It was designed to explore the traits that each group would attribute to a visibly physically impaired target. It was assumed that if a set of traits were to be selected consistently then this might reflect an underlying social stereotype. The majority of able-bodied respondents assigned seven traits to the 'disabled' target and this finding was in line with that of researchers who suggest that children stereotype those who are physically impaired. Children who themselves had a physical impairment appeared not to hold stereotypical beliefs about those who were 'handicapped'.
Unless a therapist has a good grasp of the sequence of normal play development, he/she is unable either to assess a child's current developmental level accurately or to suggest play activities which are appropriate for the child. The study of play is complex and only two of the main categories of play can be discussed here, each from babyhood to school age. It is not only children with impairments who are disadvantaged developmentally and a brief mention of social class related differences in play behaviour is made. The article also looks critically at the quality of play research in its comparison of old and new developmental inventories.
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