Autism and symbolic play

TLDR

Autistic children show impairments in symbolic play, yet prior studies have used inadequate definitions or failed to examine spontaneous play, and defining symbols as second‑order representations could link social and pretend deficits. The study aims to adequately test the symbolic deficit theory of autism. The authors conducted an experiment designed to address prior methodological issues and found that autistic children are severely impaired in producing pretend play compared to non‑autistic retarded and normal controls. The results confirm that autistic children are severely impaired in producing pretend play, supporting the symbolic deficit theory.

Abstract

Recent work suggests autistic children are impaired in their symbolic (or pretend) play. However, such studies have either used inadequate definitions of ‘pretend’, or have not examined spontaneous play. An experiment is reported which attempts to overcome these difficulties This confirms that autistic children are severely impaired in their ability to produce pretend play, in contrast to non‐autistic retarded and normal controls. This is discussed in terms of the symbolic deficit theory (Ricks & Wing, 1975). It is argued that when a ‘symbol’ is defined as being a ‘second‐order representation’, this theory has the potential to link both the social and pretend impairments in autism. The theory awaits more adequate testing.