Parental beliefs on the role of early childhood play in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Parents' beliefs about play and academic focus are important elements that determine the developmental pathways of children with autism spectrum disorder. The objective of this research was to assess the degree to which parents hold beliefs about play support and academic focus and the relationship between these beliefs and the effects of socio demographic factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 parents of children with ASD, purposively selected from the Savar and Mirpur branch of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Bangladesh. The Parent Play Beliefs Scale (PPBS) was used to collect data. Results showed that 71.75% of parents indicating their strong play support, emphasizing activities providing social, emotional and cognitive development through play. On the contrary, the focus on academic activities was significant only in 12.01% of parents, which is relatively lower than the priority of structured academic outcomes. There were gender differences, where female parents’ play support scores were higher (73.35 ± 5.85) than male parents (68.89 ± 7.08). Male parents had slightly higher academic focus (12.48 ± 2.55) than female parents (11.73 ± 2.89). In addition, play support was particularly strong among highly educated parents and housewives, but academic focus was consistently weak for all groups. This study found a significant negative correlation (r = -0.277, p<0.05) between play support and academic focus; that is, when play support increased, academic outcomes decreased. These results indicate that parental education programs should incorporate both play based and academic oriented strategies tailored to the parental needs. In order to develop balanced intervention frameworks that meet the individual developmental needs of children with ASD, collaboration amongst health professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs), early intervention specialists and parents is essential. Keywords: Parental Beliefs, Play Support, Academic Focus, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Early Childhood Development, Parent-Mediated Interventions.