Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2018 Apr;46(3):639-654. doi: 10.1007/s10802-017-0324-3.
Developmental trajectories of children's pretend play and social engagement, as well as parent sensitivity and stimulation, were examined in toddlers with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, high risk; HR) and toddlers with typically-developing older siblings (low risk; LR). Children (N = 168, 97 boys, 71 girls) were observed at 22, 28, and 34 months during free play with a parent and elicited pretend play with an examiner. At 28 and 34 months, children were asked to imagine the consequences of actions pantomimed by the examiner on a pretend transformation task. At 36 months children were assessed for ASD, yielding 3 groups for comparison: HR children with ASD, HR children without ASD (HR-noASD), and LR children. Children in all 3 groups showed developmental changes, engaging in more bouts of pretend play and obtaining higher scores on the elicited pretend and transformation tasks with age, but children with ASD lagged behind the other 2 groups on most measures. Children with ASD were also less engaged with their parents or the examiner during play interactions than either LR or HR-noASD children, with minimal developmental change evident. Parents, regardless of group, were highly engaged with their children, but parents of HR-noASD children received somewhat higher ratings on stimulation than parents of LR children. Most group differences were not accounted for by cognitive functioning. Instead, lower social engagement appears to be an important correlate of less advanced pretend skills, with implications for understanding the early development of children with ASD and for early intervention.
发展轨迹的孩子的假装游戏和社会参与，以及父母的敏感性和刺激，在有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD，高风险；HR）的哥哥/姐姐的幼儿和有正常发育的哥哥/姐姐的幼儿（低风险；LR）中进行了检查。在自由游戏中观察了 22、28 和 34 个月的儿童（N=168，97 名男孩，71 名女孩），并与一名检查者一起进行了诱发的假装游戏。在 28 和 34 个月时，孩子们被要求想象检查者在假装转换任务中模仿动作的后果。在 36 个月时，对儿童进行了 ASD 评估，得出了 3 个比较组：有 ASD 的 HR 儿童、没有 ASD 的 HR 儿童（HR-noASD）和 LR 儿童。所有 3 组儿童都表现出了发展变化，随着年龄的增长，假装游戏的次数增多，诱发的假装游戏和转换任务的得分也更高，但 ASD 儿童在大多数指标上都落后于其他 2 组。与 LR 或 HR-noASD 儿童相比，ASD 儿童在游戏互动中与父母或检查者的互动也较少，几乎没有明显的发展变化。父母无论属于哪个组，都与孩子高度互动，但 HR-noASD 儿童的父母在刺激方面的评分略高于 LR 儿童的父母。大多数组间差异与认知功能无关。相反，较低的社会参与似乎是假装技能不发达的一个重要相关因素，这对理解 ASD 儿童的早期发展和早期干预具有重要意义。
