Play or hard work: unpacking well-being at preschool.
Free-play lowers well-being for preschoolers with DCD, and group play does not fix it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched preschoolers during free-play. They compared kids with probable DCD to typical peers.
They scored how happy and relaxed each child looked. They also noted how much time each child spent in group play.
The study used a quasi-experimental design. No one changed the play; they just observed.
What they found
Kids with DCD showed lower well-being scores. They looked less happy and more stressed.
Group play lifted well-being for typical kids. For kids with DCD, the same group play had no benefit.
In short, free-play feels like hard work to children with movement challenges.
How this fits with other research
Fahmie et al. (2013) studied the same preschool room two years earlier. They saw that kids with DCD were both the aggressors and the victims more often. Together the papers paint one picture: free-play is rough social territory for these children.
Dolev et al. (2023) extends the story. They found that when teachers stay non-intrusive during one-on-one play, kids with developmental delay make bigger gains later. The 2015 study shows group play does not help; the 2023 study hints that adult-guided, child-led play might.
Friedling et al. (1979) used free-play to predict treatment gains in severely disturbed children. Their positive finding seems to clash with the 2015 negative result. The gap is methodological: the 1979 paper looked at individual play style, not group play, and used it as an assessment tool, not a well-being booster.
Why it matters
If you serve preschoolers with DCD, do not assume group free-play is a break. It can be a stressor. Offer smaller, adult-scaffolded play or parallel-play options. Track well-being during play the same way you track language or motor goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Well-being or quality of life is thought to give a more accurate picture of the impact a condition has on day-to-day functioning than traditional outcome measures. This study sought to examine the relationship between engagement in play and well-being for preschool children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). A quasi-experimental design was used with two independent groups of preschool children aged 4-6 years with (n=32) and without (n=31) probable DCD. Play skills were assessed using the Play Observation Scale based on 30min of videotape of free-play at preschool. Well-being was assessed using a parent-proxy version of the Revised Children Quality of Life Questionnaire (KINDL(R)). Spearman rho correlations were performed to examine the relationship between play and well-being. Well-being at preschool was significantly lower for the children in the DCD group however overall well-being was not significantly different. Engagement in type of social play (solitary, parallel or group) was found to predict well-being for the typically developing children. For the children with DCD, engagement in group play was not associated with well-being. An explanation for this difference may be that children with DCD may not experience free-play at preschool as "play" but rather as hard work. Further research is needed to determine why children with DCD experience lower well-being at preschool than their peers and to investigate children's perceptions of free-play. This may enable teachers and therapists to better support children with DCD in the preschool environment.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.12.003