Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 28, No. 4, 2001
Early Childhood Special Education
Scripted Play as a Language Intervention Strategy for
Preschoolers with Developmental Disabilities
Phyllis Miles Neeley,
1
Richard A. Neeley,
2
Joseph E. Justen, III,
2,3
and Carla Tipton-Sumner
2
INTRODUCTION children and one child with disabilities. The children
with disabilities were diagnosed as behavior disordered
The importance of play activities in the learning
and language delayed. After teaching scripts, the sub-
and development of young children is well documented
jects with disabilities did not exhibit positive changes in
(Ferguson, 1999: Hammer, 1998; Morrison & Rusher,
free play behavior but did exhibit clinically significant
1999). A number of investigators have focused on ways
changes in social and communicative interaction.
to enhance play skills of children with developmental
Likewise, Goldstein and Cisar (1992) used scripted
disabilities hoping to improve their cognitive, language,
play with nine children from an integrated preschool
and social skills (Lifter, Sulzer-Azaroff, Anderson, &
program. Three triads comprised two normally develop-
Cowdery, 1993). The purpose of this clinical study was
ing children and one child with autistic characteristics.
to explore the effects of teaching sociodramatic play
Following the scripted play training, all three children
through the use of a script on generalized free play be-
with autistic tendencies exhibited an increase in social
havior and learning in preschoolers with developmental
behavior. Two of the three children demonstrated sig-
disabilities.
nificant gains in social behavior in the scripted play
The term “script” was first used by Schank and Ab-
contexts. It was also noted that all three children dem-
elson (1977) to explain how individuals organized their
onstrated gains in verbal interaction as the study pro-
knowledge of familiar situations such as routine activi-
gressed.
ties and events. There is evidence to suggest that young
The results of these studies suggest that improve-
children organize information in a scriptlike form that
ments in cognition, language development, and social-
outlines the order of events in those situations with
ization may be positively correlated to the child’s acqui-
which the child is most familiar (Nelson, 1981; Nel-
sition of more sophisticated play behaviors. These
son & Gruendel, 1979; Nelson & Seidman, 1984). If this
findings also suggest that more sophisticated play be-
is the case, the coaching of young children in the use of
haviors can be facilitated using a scripted play paradigm.
such scripts appears to have the potential for producing
If free play skill is to be used as an index of improve-
a positive impact on play behavior.
ment in cognition, language, and socialization, then the
Although there has been limited research on the ef-
accurate and reliable measurement of free play behav-
fectiveness of scripted play as a teaching strategy for
iors becomes an important clinical task. This study was
children with developmental disabilities, the few exist-
developed to determine whether the teaching of socio-
ing studies have reported favorable results. Goldstein,
dramatic play through the use of a verbal script would
Wickstrom, Hoyson, and Jamieson (1988) conducted a
result in more sophisticated free play behaviors in pre-
study providing scripted play training to six children.
schoolers with developmental disabilities.
Two triads were composed of two normally developing
CLINICAL METHODOLOGY
1
Northeast Arkansas Comprehensive Learning Center.
Described in this paper is a clinical investigation of
2
Arkansas State University.
the feasibility of using scripted play as a means of in-
3
Correspondence should be directed to Joseph Justen, Department of
creasing sophistication of free play in children with se-
Special Education, P.O. Box 1450, State University, Arkansas 72467;
e-mail: jjusten@kiowa.astate.edu
vere developmental disabilities. Emphasis in this clinical
243
1082-3301/01/0600-0243$19.50/0 2001 Human Sciences Press, Inc.