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Can I Learn to Play? Randomized Control Trial to Assess Effectiveness of a Peer-Mediated Intervention to Improve Play in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Play is often used in interventions to improve social outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Play is a primary occupation of childhood and, therefore, an important outcome of intervention. The Ultimate Guide to Play, Language and Friendship (PLF) is a peer-mediated intervention for 6–11-year-old children with ASD. A total of 68 dyads were randomized to either a 10-week treatment first or waitlist control group. Results revealed a significant moderate intervention effect from pre- to post-intervention, which was maintained to the 3-month follow-up clinic session and generalized to the home environment. The findings support that the PLF intervention can be used to positively improve play in 6–11-year-old children with ASD.

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, https://www.anzctr.org.au/ (ACTRN12615000008527; Universal Trial Number: U1111-1165-2708)

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, who kindly donated the costs involved with installation of the camera equipment and creating “The Ultimate Guide to Play” DVD. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship in supporting this research. The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr Richard Parsons for his assistance with the statistical analysis and Dr Lauren Parsons for her assistance with administering the intervention and data collection.

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, who kindly donated the costs involved with installation of the camera equipment and creating “The Ultimate Guide to Play” DVD. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship in supporting this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Cally Kent & Reinie Cordier

  2. School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Annette Joosten

  3. Discipline of Occupational Therapy, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Sarah Wilkes-Gillan

  4. Department of Occupational Therapy, Colorado State University, Colorado, USA

    Anita Bundy

  5. Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK

    Reinie Cordier

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  1. Cally Kent
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The authors of this manuscripts affirm that they made a significant contribution to the conception, design, analysis, or interpretation of data; participated in drafting the manuscript or reviewing and/or revising it for intellectual content; approved the final version of the manuscript; agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. CK conceived of the study and participated in all stages of the study, data collection, analysis and drafting the manuscript; RC participated in all stages of the study including design, analysis, interpreting results and helped to draft the manuscript; AJ participated in all stages of the study including design, interpreting results and helped to draft the manuscript; SWG participated in its design, interpretation of results and helped to draft the manuscript; AB participated in the design, interpretation of results and helped to draft the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cally Kent.

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Kent, C., Cordier, R., Joosten, A. et al. Can I Learn to Play? Randomized Control Trial to Assess Effectiveness of a Peer-Mediated Intervention to Improve Play in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 1823–1838 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04671-5

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