1Running head: AT AND PLAY2

5AT AND PLAY

Assistive Technology and Play ScenarioJulia HartThe George Washington University

BackgroundDavid is a 60-month-old boy with a speech delay and social skills deficits. He previously received services through Montgomery Countys Preschool Education Program (PEP), attending a preschool classroom two mornings each week to receive therapies and work towards his IEP goals. Davids parents decided to stop sending David to PEP in January and instead have him attend his private nursery school five full days each week. Davis also receives 1 h of speech and language therapy each week with a private therapist. David is in the process of beginning occupational therapy with a private therapist, to help prepare him for kindergarten in the fall. CommunicationDavid had nearly no language when he began attending his private nursery school last fall. Davids language skills have progressed dramatically over the past 18 months, but he still struggles to form full sentences when upset or frustrated. David occasionally misuses pronouns, prepositions, and appropriate verb tenses, but his language sounds nearly age-appropriate. Motor SkillsDavid has minor delays in both fine and gross motor skills. These deficits mostly manifest in tasks involving motor planning through novel situations and tasks requiring pencil and paper. David is able to complete nearly all play-related fine motor tasks. Social SkillsDavid shows minimal interest in his peers. He tolerates their presence, but generally does not seek out other children for play. David is more likely to interact with adults than children. David struggles with waiting his turn in group situations and can be impulsive when being asked to wait for a toy. Sharing is still a struggle for David, but he is more willing to give up a toy when a timer or objective source says he must. CognitionDavid possesses age appropriate cognitive skills. He identifies letters, counts, and has a firm understanding of many concepts. David possesses a fantastic sense of humor and enjoys telling and listening to jokes. Davids play is diverse and he creates complex scenarios with his toys. David often builds garages, rocket ships, and other creations that reflect upon his varied interests. Play Scenario

A dragon toy was selected for this scenario due to Davids interest in dragons (he was a dragon for Halloween) and the classs upcoming castle theme. Because David has no motor skill deficits, the switch will simply be used as a means of turning the toy on and off. Because David engages in complex play scenarios on his own, the play scenario with the dragon toy needs to be interesting and engaging for David. The goal for this scenario is to have David interact with a peer, taking turns with the dragon toy and working toward a common goal. Because he struggles in a group, David and one other child will be pulled aside to play with the dragon. Play will take place on a tiled floor, because the dragon will not operate on carpet. The children will be prompted that they must construct a castle that the dragon can knock down. Upon building a castle to their satisfaction, the children will take turns using the switch to turn the dragon on and move it to knock over the castle. Throughout the activity, David will be prompted to use appropriate social language with his peer. He will be prompted to ask his peer to contribute to the building, by asking, where should this go? or what should go here? When it comes time to knock the castle down, the children will take turns using the switch to make the dragon move. Once the first castle is demolished, the children will be encouraged to build another for the dragon to attack. This activity will support Davids progress toward several of his IEP goals. One of Davids goals is attending to an activity for at least 10 minutes, which he should be able to do with the highly motivating dragon. Another of Davids goals is to sustain an interaction with a peer for at least three exchanges. This activity should help David make progress toward this goal as well. ImplementationThis activity was not successful in meeting the social goals for David. He was highly interested in the dragon, but completely unwilling to share or take turns with the toy. Because of the novelty of the toy, and the fact that there are no other battery-operated toys in the classroom, other children were very interested in the noisy dragon. David did not like the fact that other children were involved in his play and got very upset when he was asked to take turns. Because this was Davids first day back at school after a two-week absence, he was tired and not fully cooperative by the afternoon when the activity took place. David enjoyed building a castle wall, but did not like the idea of someone else using the dragon to knock it down. ConclusionOverall, the introduction of this noisy switch-operated toy was not ideal for my classroom. The children are used to toys and materials that are more natural or open-ended and this battery-operated dragon was highly distracting for them. While I see the appeal of such loud and intense toys for children who lack the motivation to play with toys or who lack the motor skills necessary to manipulate other toys, the children in my class all possess great creativity and nearly all are able to develop interactive and imaginative play scenarios without my intervention. I would also say that such a loud toy is highly distracting in a school-based setting and may be more successful in a home, where it would be less disruptive. I brought the toy with me while babysitting over spring break and my four-year-old, typically-developing friend immediately set to work creating a village for the dragon to destroy (with no prompting from me).