Assessing Play in Children Developing with Delays: A Scoping Review

Research demonstrates children developing with delays evidence less elaborated play than children developing typically, but methodology for evaluating play is inconsistent. This scoping review reports clinical populations studied and categorical terms used categorizing object play, and compares these categories with a contemporary comprehensive analysis of children’s play. Thirty-four peer-reviewed articles were analyzed for characteristics, definitions, origins, and differentiation of play category descriptions, and comparison to the 21 categories identified in our study of children’s play from 8 to 60 months (Lifter et al., Acta Psychologica 224:103524, 2022). Findings indicated categories across studies tended to overlap with several of the 21 categories, suggesting widely used categories do not capture nuances in play development. Increased standardization and specificity in play assessment can improve interventions to benefit children developing with delays.