| The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a literacy-based intervention on the conventional pretend play skills of preschool children who are visually impaired. The intervention involved experience books, real objects, story-reading, and role-play, which are common strategies used to teach children with visual impairments. A multiple-probe single case design across story sets was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Two participants completed the study, one with low vision and one with no functional vision. Free play sessions were conducted during each visit to measure the effect of the intervention on the dependent variables, which required the participant to generalize behaviors from the intervention sessions. Data were analyzed within and across participants.;Visual analysis showed an experimental effect with two of the three stories for the participant with low vision and no effect of the intervention with the second participant. A clear functional relationship was not demonstrated. Analysis of intervention sessions showed increases in the conventional pretend play of both participants, particularly the second participant, who showed no consistent change during free play sessions. Generalization to other material sets was not demonstrated. Maintenance data for both participants were limited, but promising in that both participants showed at least one instance of increased conventional pretend play after the end of the intervention.;The findings from this study contribute to the knowledge of play skills of young children who are visually impaired. Additional research is necessary to further investigate the influence of each component of the intervention, the involvement of peers as play partners, and investigating other ways to experimentally measure pretend play. |
