Self-regulation during pretend play in children with intellectual disability and in normally developing children

Abstract

This study investigated the symbolic behavior and the self-regulation in dyads of children with intellectual disability and of normally developing children. Specifically, these processes were studied in link with the children's characteristics (mental age, linguistic level, individual pretend play level). The sample included 80 participants, 40 children with intellectual disability and 40 normally developing children, matched according to their mental age, ranged from 3 to 6 years old. First, a developmental assessment was performed (about cognitive, language and pretend play dimensions); then, in peers dyads, the children were elicited to pretend play by means of four kinds of material referring to four types of scripts (tea party, doctor, transportation, substitute objects eliciting creativity). The average symbolic behavior in individual and dyadic play contexts did not differ in both groups, but the average self-regulation in the group with intellectual disability was lower than in the normally developing group. Some positive partial correlations were obtained between mental age, language abilities, individual pretend play, dyadic pretend play and several self-regulatory strategies in both groups although they varied in importance between groups. Clusters analyses showed that individual and dyadic pretend play explained self-regulation in children of both groups. Specifically, in both groups, the higher was symbolic behavior in creativity context, the higher was self-regulation.

Introduction

This study explored the symbolic behavior and self-regulation in children with intellectual disability in dyadic pretend play situations. Specifically, the impact of children's characteristics (mental age, presence or absence of intellectual disability, linguistic level, individual pretend play level) on their levels in symbolic behavior in dyads and on their level in their self-regulatory strategies was examined. Our research is based on an integrated model of self-regulation that defines this process as following: to attain an identified objective, the person plans, explores the means at his or her disposal, maintains his or her attention and motivation during the problem solving, evaluates and adjusts his or her actions and when necessary, solicits the social environment by asking for help, joint attention or approval. The self-regulatory strategies were transposed into categories of observable indicatives in order to analyze the child's verbal and non-verbal behavior (Nader-Grosbois, Normandeau, Ricard, & Quintal, in press).

Self-regulation abilities develop more accurately during preschool period, it represents a significant cognitive-developmental hallmarks and an important achievement associated with social, behavioral and academic competence (Bronson, 2000, Flavell, 1977; Gilmore, Cuskelly, & Hayes, 2003; Kopp, 1982, Pressley, 1995). Preschool children are more and more capable of true inner self-regulation, in using rules, strategies and plans to guide their behavior (Kopp, 1982). Moreover, in this period, they become more and more interested by mastery challenges, they are more and more able to solve problems and they control task progression more efficiently. Several authors took an interest in this development during infancy and childhood (Chang & Burns, 2005; De La Ossa & Gauvain, 2001; Gardner & Rogoff, 1990; Hudson, Shapiro, & Sosa, 1995; Nelson-Legall, 1987, Puustinen, 1998; Sethi, Mischel, Aber, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 2000; Stipek, Recchia, & McClintic, 1992; St-Laurent & Moss, 2002; Winnykamen, 1993). According to Bronson (2000), even if the self-regulation evolves with age, there are also individual differences in this development in children at the same age. So, in our study, we hypothesized a positive link between mental age and self-regulation level in normally developing children and in children with intellectual disability. Cuskelly, Zhang, and Gilmore (1998) considered the self-regulation to be one of the key features of development in children with Down syndrome as in typically developing children. But some authors pointed the self-regulation as an overall deficient process in persons with intellectual disabilities (Whitman, 1990) and described them as being dependent and having an external locus of control (Zigler & Balla, 1982); because of their inability to effectively self-regulate and the negative consequences associated with failure, they usually look to others for assistance (Whitman, 1990). These persons cannot cope with a new situation and they experience difficulty in transferring their knowledge. According to Shapiro (1986), these difficulties can be due to the low expectations of the society about their abilities. He suggested that they can be taught to manage their own behavior. Lanfaloni, Baglioni, and Tafi (1997) explained the limitations in these persons’ adaptive behavior by an inappropriate development of regulators. As Blanc et al. (2000) observed, the dysregulation of activity is probably a general cognitive disorder which is implied in infantile autism and in intellectual disability. Glenn and Cunningham (2002) reported that, in individuals with Down syndrome, self-regulation development is delayed, as in other developmental areas: the pattern of sequence is maintained but the rhythm is slower and the plateaus are more extended. Other authors identified some specific deficiencies in self-regulation in children with intellectual disability, as following: particular difficulty in planning, in monitoring and in flexibility in problem solving (Gilmore et al., 2003; Goodman, Fox, & Glutting, 1986; Kopp, Krakow, & Johnson, 1983); in self-regulated attention (Berry, Gunn, & Andrews, 1984; Goodman, 1979, Kopp, 1990, Kopp et al., 1983; Landry & Chapieski, 1989; Paparella & Kasari, 2004); difficulties in request (Fidler, Philofsky, Hepburn, & Rogers, 2005; Mundy, Kasari, Sigman, & Ruskin, 1995); poor task persistence and high help elicitation during task achievement, in using objects and finally, low self-motivation (Diener & Dweck, 1978; Glenn & Cunningham, 2002; Ruskin, Kasari, Mundy, & Sigman, 1994a). In our study, we postulated some specific deficiencies in self-regulatory strategies in children with intellectual disability such as self-attention, self-motivation and planning in dyadic pretend play situations.

To elicit this self-regulation, different contexts can be put in place toward the children. Pretend play constitutes an original context for self-regulation assessment since learning situations are the most used context in previous studies. Pretend play appears in the second year of life. Its development follows a gradual and quite predictable trajectory, characterized by more and more complex levels. Three underlying mechanisms support its development: decentration, decontextualisation and integration (Hughes, 1999). Neopiagetians (Bates, Benigni, Bretherton, Camaioni, & Volterra, 1979; Bretherton, 1984, Nicolich, 1977) proposed a categorization of the symbolic behaviors according to different dimensions. Bretherton (1984) analyzed pretend play evolution according to the structural components of the script: the roles a child plays, the actions he mimes and the objects he uses. Higginbotham and Baker (1981) considered four categories of social participation during pretend play, from solitary play to cooperative play. This theoretical background founded the elaboration of the coding grid for dyadic pretend play (in Appendix A), used in our study.

The preschool children's language level participates in the development of self-regulation: they begin to use speech as a mean to control action and thought; so, their language become an important mediator for self-regulation (Bronson, 2000). Several properties of language help to maintain control: language assists memory, emotional regulation, though, reflection, planning and building, rebuilding and recombining in memory to form new concepts, plans and solutions for problems (Bronson, 2000). Language is an important tool to learn (by means of verbal instructions) and to engage (by means of self-verbalisations) in self-regulation. Whitman (1990, p. 354) thinks that the role of language, in analyzing tasks, in developing and implementing strategy-selection, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement procedures, is self-evident. When speech is internalized (about 4 years of age), it plays an effective role in self-regulation and is used as an inner mode of mental organization to monitor behavior and to guide their own thought processes and actions (Luria, 1961, Vygotsky, 1962). Socio-developmental theorists explained that children become progressively less managed by external verbal directives and more by their self-verbalisations that are gradually internalized. According to Whitman (1990), the individuals with intellectual disability, because of their extensive language deficiencies, are delayed in developing self-regulatory control; they have difficulty acquiring and improving their knowledge, to convey what they know and to learn to use self-instruction. So in our study, we postulated a positive link between linguistic level and self-regulation level in normally developing children and in children with intellectual disability.

Moreover, according to Vygotsky (1962), pretend play and imagination are particularly important in children's development because this skill allows them to specify their own challenges, objectives and actions toward their goals. During pretend play episodes, children follow social rules, without external control and they use usually speech (Kraft & Berk, 1998). However, few studies have investigated the link between pretend play and self-regulation. The influence of pretend play level on self-regulation abilities of children in other contexts (clean-up, problem solving) has been studied (Elias & Berk, 2002; Rosen, 1974). It has been shown that experiences of pretend play during infancy contribute on a major part to the development of self-regulation. When the child is playing, he actively organizes stimuli into models inducting comprehension of social norms and (s)he regulates one's behavior according to these norms (Elias & Berk, 2002). Sylva (1976) considered the contribution of pretend play in problem solving. Other authors focalised on self-regulation within the framework of pretend play (Garvey, 1977; Kraft & Berk, 1998; Mead, 1934). Blanc et al. (2000) compared the regulation of symbolic activity in children with autism and in children with intellectual disability. They supposed that the dysregulation of activity affects the pattern of mental representation (as shown by the specific disorder of pretend play in infantile autism) and in the same way the development of communication which, to be effective, requires the activation of consistent and regulated mental representations. They obtained significant negative relations between scores in pretend play and scores in dysregulation in children with intellectual disability; so, their regulation deficit interfered with the pretend play function. In our study, we postulated in both groups of children: firstly, a positive link between total scores in individual pretend play, in dyadic pretend play, and overall self-regulation; secondly, the individual and dyadic pretend play levels can contribute to the variability of the self-regulation level. We also hypothesized that the relations should vary in importance between specific self-regulation strategies (planning of one's action, evaluation of effects of one's action, use of one's resources, management of one's attention and motivation) and specific pretend play components (involvement, roles, actions, objects, social participation).