A Comparison of Play Activities and Routines Used by Early Intervention Providers and Parents

The purpose of this research is to investigate the types of play and the use of play within daily routines that early intervention providers, parents of children with disabilities, and parents of typically developing children use with children under the age of three. It is important to research the current use of play by parents and providers to explore how play can be used most effectively to help children learn in other developmental domains. Two online surveys were created and distributed, one for early intervention providers and one for parents. The data from the surveys suggests early intervention providers and both parent groups engage in a wide variety of play activities. However, parents of children with disabilities reported using substantially more technology and videos than parents of typically developing children or early intervention providers. The data from the study also indicates that play is incorporated into daily routines by both providers and parents. Both parent groups reported more frequent use of play in most routines than providers. The findings of this study reveal that early intervention providers and parents of typically developing children are more closely aligned in the play activities they utilize with parents of children with disabilities being the most dissimilar. When looking at routines, both parent groups are more similar in their frequency of use of play in daily routines, while early intervention providers generally use routines less frequently than parents. Future studies could look at which play activities are most beneficial for children as well as why providers report using routine less than parents.