Increasing simple toy play in profoundly mentally handicapped children. I. Training to play.

The team worked with eight kids . All had profound intellectual disability.

Staff used praise and small food treats each time a child touched a toy. Sessions ran for 20 minutes.

The goal was to see if this simple reward plan would spark real, constructive play.

Toy touching went up a little, but kids still did not build, stack, or pretend.

Scores for independent play stayed flat. The training beat doing nothing, yet the gain was tiny.

Pisman et al. (2020) later showed parents can mix language goals into play and keep it fun. Their kids stayed interested because moms followed the child’s lead.

Anonymous (2019) also saw no staff-training benefit, but with adults in group homes. Both null results warn that training staff alone may not move the needle.

Mazur et al. (1992) proved kids with ID can learn new skills when peers do the teaching. Peer delivery, not just praise, may be the missing piece.

If you run play programs for profoundly impaired learners, do not stop at “touch the toy.” Add peer models, caregiver turns, or embedded language. Start with a quick preference check like Buhrow et al. (2003) to be sure the toy is wanted, then build small play chains, not single contacts.