ABSTRACT
Late in the second decade of the twentieth century a young scientist observed the verbal interactions of children. These observations led this scientist, Jean Piaget, and others into complex studies of the relationship between children's thought and language. As in other areas of competence Piaget showed that children progressed from a limited self-centered use of language to a broad-based other-centered use of language. Language for the young child is an extremely personalized form of expression. The chapter presents of those studies and attempts to identify components of play situations that seem to facilitate comprehension. Children's thought is dependent on experience and social interaction. One of the most prevalent events in early childhood that provides both experience and social interaction is play. The natural outgrowth of this thinking is the hypothesis the play is facilitative to children's aural language comprehension. The chapter demonstrates quite clearly and simply that the more opportunities children have to play, the higher quality the play.
