Technology in Play for Children With Physical Disabilities: the Dice Model of Play

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

robots: LEGO robots with adaptation according to child's age and developmental skills.

conventional: A pack of conventional play tools consists of dolls, teddy bears, miniature wild animals, and small cars. All are available, and the child can choose to play with them.

Study summary

Play is an important activity for children. Almost all children play, but what is play? It is not easy to define play. In the past, people believed that children played to burn their energy. Now, it is known that play is important for children's growth. Some kids with disabilities cannot play. Many experts use play to teach children specific skills. People often forget that play is a child's right. It is important to help all children play. The first step is to define play and find what features are important in helping a child with a disability play.

There are some models of play. But they are not complete. They do not look at play as a whole. Some models are just about playfulness, and some are about playing with others. Having a model that defines play helps researchers and clinicians think about play and the different parts of it. Then, when a child cannot play, experts can fix the part that is not working. Investigators want to introduce a model of play in this project. Investigators want to edit and complete it in three steps. First, Investigators will ask parents and children with disabilities about things that help or do not help them play; then, investigators will give Lego robots to children that they will build with help and play with them for a few weeks. And at the end, investigators will ask therapists and other experts about our model of play. This model will be edited during the study.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Test of Playfulness — before the session 1, after session 8, after session 16, each time 10 to 20 minutes.
  The Test of playfulness (TOP) version 4 (Bundy, 1998) is an observational test that covers four main elements of playfulness: intrinsic motivation, internal control, freedom of reality, and framing within 29 Likert scale related to extent, intensity, and skillfulness and is used for children between 15 months and 18 years old. Upper scores means better play skills, no cut-off score.
• The Child Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA-2) — before the session 1, after session 8, after session 16, each time 18 minutes for 3 years old children and 30 minutes for 4-8 years old children.
  The Child Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA-2) provides a play tool pack consisting of two different sets: conventional and symbolic play tools. Percentage of Elaborated Play Actions (PEPA), Number of Object Substitutions (NOS), and Number of Imitations (NIA) are reported for conventional, symbolic, and general pretend play. Higher PEPA and NOS and lower NIA scores show better play skills. There are Z-scores for each age range that child can be compared with typically developed children.
• The Pretend Play Enjoyment-Developmental Checklist (PPE-DC) — before the session 1, after session 8, after session 16, each time almost 10 minutes for parents and 10 minutes for researcher.
  The Pretend Play Enjoyment-Developmental Checklist (PPE-DC) measures play enjoyment and covers some aspects of pretend play, such as sequences, storytelling, playing with dolls, object substitution, roleplay, and social interaction, from parents and experts prospectives within two different scoresheets, items are defined for different developmental ages and by choosing one item, the play developmental age in each subcategory can be estimated. Play enjoyment score is better when is higher.

Trial sites (1)

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