The Effects of Group Play in the Psychological Development of a Child with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Objective.
The aim of this article is to evaluate the effects of group play in the psychological development of
a seven year old child with Down syndrome.
Method.
The program was designed according to proposals of
historical and cultural conceptions of playing activity and psychological development. A pretest and posttest
assessment was carried out. During the study, intersubject and intrasubject comparison evaluation was
conducted. Qualitative analysis of both experimental and control cases was applied.
Results.
The analysis
demonstrated that the group play encourages positive development of communication, social interaction,
expression of emotions, voluntary activity, object-activity and symbolic function of the child. The control case
did not show same results during psychological assessment post-test.
Conclusion.
The application of social
role-play in groups of children with developmental retardation produces positive outcomes provided that the
predominant type of activity and the level of psychological development is taken into account in order to
ensure that children with this medical condition bene
fi
t from the intervention.