ABSTRACT
Profound impairment in social interaction is considered to be the most important deficit that children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience during their life span (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2003; Scattone, 2007) and the most challenging area for treatment (Weiss & Harris, 2001). Undesirable social behaviors, such as poor eye contact or a lack of awareness of others, may hinder children with ASD from actively participating in simple social play or games (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Since play is considered the catalyst for social integration and since play enhances language development, social skills, and general cognitive functioning (Dauphin, Kinney, Stromer, & Koegel, 2004; Tsao & Odom, 2006), failure to appropriately interact during playtime can result in children with ASD remaining socially isolated and marginalized. It is generally known that children with ASD rarely engage in creative, spontaneous play activities and do not tend to initiate social contact or play interactively with typically developing peers. On the contrary, they have a preference for repetitive and ritualistic actions with toys (Williams, Higgins, & Brayne, 2006). Limitations in creative pretend play among children with autism relate to their restricted interpersonal communication and engagement (Hobson, Hobson, Malik, Bargiota, & Calo, 2013). On the other hand, more recent studies have shown that children with ASD can learn how to engage appropriately in play situations (Koegel, Vernon, Koegel, Koegel, & Paullin, 2012; Stagnitti, O'Connor, & Sheppard, 2012). And, moreover, there are an increasing number of studies that agree on the fact that children with ASD have both an understanding of pretense and a capacity for pretend play (Chaudry & Dissanayake, this volume; Douglas & Stirling, this volume; Jarrold, 2003; Maclean, this volume).
