Empowering and Educating Parents to Implement a Home Intervention: Effects on Preschool Children’s Engagement in Hands-on Constructive Play
Coach parents to adjust home time, space, and emotional supports to boost preschoolers’ hands-on constructive play.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Thompson and team taught parents of preschoolers with developmental delay how to set up home supports.
Parents learned to pick play times, clear space, and give calm praise.
The researchers used a multiple-baseline design across families to test the package.
What they found
When parents added the supports, kids spent more time in hands-on constructive play.
Visual analysis showed a clear link between the supports and the jump in play.
How this fits with other research
Gerow et al. (2019) also had parents deliver ABA at home, but aimed to cut toddler stereotypy. Thompson flips the target: boost play instead of trimming problem behavior.
Matson et al. (2011) ran a six-week group class for parents of disruptive preschoolers. Thompson swaps the group format for one-on-one home coaching, yet both yield positive child change.
Wing (1981) first showed moms could run prompt-fading packages for fear reduction. Thompson updates the idea: modern parents arrange environments, not prompts, to grow play skills.
Why it matters
You can coach parents to tweak time, space, and praise instead of running direct therapy yourself. Try a quick parent tutorial, then watch constructive play rise during home sessions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Constructive play is a creative process-oriented activity that promotes children’s engaged learning through building and designing with materials. This study investigated a parent-implemented intervention to promote active engagement in constructive play for preschool-aged children at risk for developmental delay. This study utilized a single-subject multiple-baseline across-participants design with four participants. Visual analysis of the data identified a functional relation between the temporal, physical, and social–emotional environmental support provided by the parents and the children’s active engagement in constructive play. Parents reported the intervention as meaningful to their lives, indicating strong social validity. These findings highlight the importance of centering and working with parents in their home environment and provide evidence that empowering parents to provide support and minimize barriers facilitates children’s active engagement in constructive play.
Behavioral Sciences, 2024 · doi:10.3390/bs14030247