Participation in Play and Leisure Activities of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children in Taiwan: A Preliminary Study

Chi-Ching Huang and Lin-Ju Kang
Additional contact information
Chi-Ching Huang: Graduate Institute of Early Intervention, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 33302, Taiwan
Lin-Ju Kang: Graduate Institute of Early Intervention, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 33302, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Participation in enjoyable activities is essential for the health and development of young children with and without disabilities. For preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is limited knowledge regarding their participation in play, learning, recreation, and social activities. This was a preliminary study that compares the participation between children 2–6 years of age with ASD ( n = 25) and age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) ( n = 25) children. The Chinese version of the Assessment of Preschool Children’s Participation (APCP-C) measures participation in play, skill development, active physical recreation, and social activities. Parents of the children in this study completed the APCP-C by structured interview. The results showed that children with ASD had lower participation diversity and intensity than TD children in play activities. A lower percentage of children participating in individual activity was found for children with ASD than TD children in most APCP-C activities. Professionals that serve young children with special needs are encouraged to partner with parents to provide playful and socially enhancing activities for preschool children with ASD.

Keywords: participation; autism spectrum disorder; children; play; recreation; leisure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5787/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5787/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5787-:d:563898

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().