The Effects of Group Play in the Psychological Development of a Child with Down Syndrome

Objective. The aim of this article is to evaluate the effects of group play in the psychological development of a seven year old child with Down syndrome. Method. The program was designed according to proposals of historical and cultural conceptions of playing activity and psychological development. A pretest and posttest assessment was carried out. During the study, intersubject and intrasubject comparison evaluation was conducted. Qualitative analysis of both experimental and control cases was applied. Results. The analysis demonstrated that the group play encourages positive development of communication, social interaction, expression of emotions, voluntary activity, object-activity and symbolic function of the child. The control case did not show same results during psychological assessment post-test. Conclusion. The application of social role-play in groups of children with developmental retardation produces positive outcomes provided that the predominant type of activity and the level of psychological development is taken into account in order to ensure that children with this medical condition benefi t from the intervention.