Assessment of pretend play in Prader-Willi syndrome: a direct comparison to autism spectrum disorder.
Kids with Prader-Willi syndrome show pretend-play deficits that look like autism—so use the same partner-based fixes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zyga et al. (2015) watched kids with Prader-Willi syndrome and kids with autism play.
They used a standard pretend-play test with and without a partner.
The goal was to see if PWS looks like ASD on this skill.
What they found
Both groups scored below age norms on their own.
When a partner joined, both groups improved the same amount.
Pretend-play deficits in PWS mirror those in autism.
How this fits with other research
Gilbert (2003) already showed that kids with autism need structure to show pretend skills.
Olena’s finding matches this: adding a partner helped both PWS and ASD kids.
Hobson et al. (2009) added that autistic kids do the motions but miss the fun and creativity.
The new data say PWS kids follow the same pattern, so target the social joy in both groups.
Why it matters
If you run play-based assesments, expect low scores from kids with PWS just like ASD.
Add a partner or prompts before you write “can’t pretend.”
Plan goals for shared imagination and fun, not just the steps.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Bring a peer or adult into the play corner and re-test pretend skills before labeling them absent.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) are at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including pervasive social deficits. While play impairments in ASD are well documented, play abilities in PWS have not been evaluated. Fourteen children with PWS and ten children with ASD were administered the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) (Lord et al. in Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule manual. Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, 2006) as part of a larger project. A modified Affect in Play Scale (APS; Russ in Play in child development and psychotherapy: toward empirically supported practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, 2004; Pretend play in childhood: foundation of adult creativity. APA Books, Washington, 2014) was used to score ADOS play activities. Results indicate both groups scored below normative data on measures of imagination, organization, and affective expression during individual play. In addition, the inclusion of a play partner in both groups increased all scaled scores on the APS. These findings suggest children with PWS show impaired pretend play abilities similar to ASD. Further research is warranted and should focus on constructing and validating programs aimed at improving symbolic and functional play abilities within these populations.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2252-1