Play behavior and cognitive flexibility in autistic and non-autistic children
Presentation Type
Abstract
Faculty Advisor
Erin Kang
Access Type
Event
Start Date
25-4-2025 9:00 AM
End Date
25-4-2025 9:59 AM
Description
Children learn and develop cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional skills through pretend and symbolic play from a very young age. Imaginative and creative play behaviors are vital aspects of child development; however, autistic children are typically observed engaging in repetitive, non-symbolic play (González-Sala et al., 2021). Autistic children often show reduced cognitive flexibility (Geurts et al., 2009), which contributes to less engagement in imaginative play, impacting creativity and social pretend play skills. This study compared the imaginative/creative play between autistic and non-autistic children, and explored facets of cognitive flexibility as predictors of creative play using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (Lord et al., 2012), and Flexibility Scale (Strang et al., 2017). Only 51.5% of autistic youth (vs. 82.2% of non-autistic youth) demonstrated age-appropriate imaginative/creative play behavior, with 20% of autistic youth showing significantly atypical behavior. Lower imaginative play was positively correlated with parent-reported generativity challenges (r=.281, p=.006) and negatively correlated with self-reported social flexibility problems (r=-.241, p=.026), with the latter only seen in autistic youth. Consistent with research supporting that imaginative play enhances cognitive flexibility (Putri et al., 2024), imaginative play is reduced in youth with parent-reported generative challenges. Interestingly, autistic youth with social inflexibility may engage in more creative play, suggesting that in self-directed play, where the situations observed are less socially constrained, autistic children are offered more opportunities to express their creative and imaginative capacities. Understanding these relationships may inform interventions focusing on how play can be used to support flexibility skills, potentially promoting socio-cognitive development in autistic children.
Play behavior and cognitive flexibility in autistic and non-autistic children
Children learn and develop cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional skills through pretend and symbolic play from a very young age. Imaginative and creative play behaviors are vital aspects of child development; however, autistic children are typically observed engaging in repetitive, non-symbolic play (González-Sala et al., 2021). Autistic children often show reduced cognitive flexibility (Geurts et al., 2009), which contributes to less engagement in imaginative play, impacting creativity and social pretend play skills. This study compared the imaginative/creative play between autistic and non-autistic children, and explored facets of cognitive flexibility as predictors of creative play using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (Lord et al., 2012), and Flexibility Scale (Strang et al., 2017). Only 51.5% of autistic youth (vs. 82.2% of non-autistic youth) demonstrated age-appropriate imaginative/creative play behavior, with 20% of autistic youth showing significantly atypical behavior. Lower imaginative play was positively correlated with parent-reported generativity challenges (r=.281, p=.006) and negatively correlated with self-reported social flexibility problems (r=-.241, p=.026), with the latter only seen in autistic youth. Consistent with research supporting that imaginative play enhances cognitive flexibility (Putri et al., 2024), imaginative play is reduced in youth with parent-reported generative challenges. Interestingly, autistic youth with social inflexibility may engage in more creative play, suggesting that in self-directed play, where the situations observed are less socially constrained, autistic children are offered more opportunities to express their creative and imaginative capacities. Understanding these relationships may inform interventions focusing on how play can be used to support flexibility skills, potentially promoting socio-cognitive development in autistic children.
Comments
Poster presentation at the 2025 Student Research Symposium.