| Play is considered an important part of child development as it aids in problem solving, social skills, language development and skills associated with school success. Play interventions have been developed to aid those students who may developmentally be lacking play skills. One population that has not been specifically studied is children who are native Spanish speaking children learning to speak English who may face difficulties because many skills are taught to them using a language they may not understand. This study examined the effects of a play intervention done in English on bilingual, Spanish and English speaking children's play skills. The participants included three preschool students one male (3 years 11 months) and two females (5 years 2 months and 5 years 4 months), who speak Spanish as a native language and also speak English. The intervention occurred twice a week for four weeks and followed a "Plan, Play and Review" method. All three children increased in the amount of time they spent in pretend play and the percentage of pretend play acts the completed according to observational data from the PIECES. Two children increased the highest level of play achieved while the third remained at the ceiling level. |
