Pretend play predicts receptive and expressive language trajectories in young children with autism

The effect of pretend play in 2 to 5-year-old children with ASD was investigated in the largest and the longest observational study to-date. Parents assessed the development of 7,069 children quarterly for three years on five subscales: combinatorial receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health. Pretend play was associated with superior developmental trajectories: 1.9-fold faster improvement of combinatorial receptive language (p<0.0001), 1.4-fold faster improvement of expressive language (p<0.0001), and 1.3-fold faster improvement of sensory awareness (p=0.0009). Pretend play had little effect on sociability and health. The strong association of pretend play with combinatorial receptive language remained significant even when controlling for expressive language. Similarly, the effect of pretend play on expressive language remained significant even when controlling for combinatorial receptive language. The effect of pretend play on combinatorial receptive language (but not on the expressive language) was stronger than the effects of seizures, sleep problems or high-TV exposure. The strong effect of pretend-play supports earlier studies indicating that it is an important stepping stone for language acquisition, particularly, the acquisition of combinatorial language.