ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concepts of play: the developmental benefits of play, disability, intervention in the lives of children with special needs, labeling, and the meanings ascribed to these phenomena. On the one hand, a psychological perspective supports the idea of intervention in play to increase meaning for the player. On the other hand, variables of mislabeling, sociocultural, and environmental factors interfere and challenge the notion of “normality.” Individual reflected meaning for the players, significant others, culture, and the community at large is the third hand. Overall, trying to understand the meaning of play and intervention for children with disabilities requires attention simultaneously to multiple contexts and multiple constructs. The thread that ties this chapter together is the issue of whether play is real for the player, the other, and whose reality is it?
