Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:1–7
DOI 10.1007/s10643-014-0638-5
Using Play to Build the Social Competence of Young Children
with Language Delays: Practical Guidelines for Teachers
Lindsay R. Dennis • Nancy Stockall
Published online: 8 April 2014
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract Social competence and social communication
development can be concurrently supported through
intentional thought and planning on the part of the early
childhood special educator. In this article, we present
suggestions for how teachers can effectively plan for and
implement interventions to support these two areas, all
within the context of play. The levels of play, awareness,
exploration, and problem solving can be utilized by
teachers to provide experiences for children, specifically
those with language delays, to enhance and refine their
social competence skills, while also furthering their lan-
guage development. It is important for teachers to provide,
to the extent possible, an environment that is arranged to
allow for multiple opportunities to practice these skills,
while also keeping in mind the child’s preferences and
interests. Implementation of the suggested strategies can
support children with language delays, as well as their
peers, in becoming more successful with using their social
communication skills to appropriately navigate social sit-
uations within the context of play.
Keywords Play
Developmental delay
Social
competence
Preschool
Language delay
L. R. Dennis (&)
School of Teacher Education, Florida State University,
1114 W. Call Street, 2208D, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
e-mail: lrdennis@fsu.edu
N. Stockall
Language, Literacy, and Special Populations, Sam Houston State
University, PO Box 2119, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA
e-mail: nxs016@shsu.edu
Introduction
Sara is getting ready to start a new school year in her
preschool classroom. As an early childhood special edu-
cator, she has been teaching children with disabilities for
several years and continues to search for new and inno-
vative ways that she can meet the needs of all the children
in her class. Sara spends a great deal of time planning her
environment such that children feel welcome, safe, and
secure. This year, Sara wants to incorporate activities and
routines that target the area of social competence, specif-
ically within the context of play. Sara is particularly
interested in strategies that will allow her to develop
children’s social skills and focus on key skills in the area of
language. But, what are these strategies and how does she
go about incorporating them into her classroom routine?
Social competence is recognized as crucial for chil-
dren’s early adjustment and readiness for school (La Paro
and Pianta 2000; McClelland et al. 2000; Raver and
Knitzer 2002). As a multidimensional construct, social
competence consists of skills associated with self-regula-
tion, self-efficacy, and positive relationships with adults
and peers (Fantuzzo et al. 2007). Social competence is the
ability to integrate cognitive, affective, and behavioral
states to achieve goals in a social context. Therefore, social
competence may also be referred to as how well children
get along with peers and adults and establish successful
relationships (Ashiabi 2007).
Most often, socially competent children can easily learn
strategies for interacting comfortably and positively with
others during their experiences at home or at school. Chil-
dren who struggle socially, for example, children with lan-
guage and/or other developmental delays, may have
particular difficulty navigating situations that require anger
management, social skills, emotional regulation, and
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2 Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:1–7
friendship skills. Because development of these skills is not
necessarily automatic for these children, they may require
additional targeted interventions (Webster-Stratton and Reid
2003).
As children begin their formal schooling years, they face
increasing demands for displaying appropriate social
competence skills. Such skills include inhibiting reactions,
complying with rules, and initiating and sustaining positive
relationships with teachers and peers (Campbell and Von
Stauffenberg 2008). Positive relationships with others are
built upon solid language skill development that fosters
children’s abilities to understand and comply with the
behavioral expectations of the school environment. Expo-
sure to a responsive and expansive language environment
within the context of warm, positive relationships sets the
stage for positive language learning (Dickinson and Smith
1994). Moreover, researchers report that positive teacher–
child relationships are associated with later school success
(Pianta 1992; Pianta et al. 1997; Pianta and Walsh 1996).
Unfortunately, children who lack or rely on underdevel-
oped skills in the social domain may have difficulty con-
necting with teachers and classmates, or appropriately
expressing themselves using effective communication. Such
deficits can result in withdrawn or aggressive behaviors
instead of successful communication (Denham and Weissberg
2004; Merrell and Gueldner 2010). Further, evidence shows
that children who lack social competence experience a delay
in the acquisition of fundamental academic skills (Barbarin
et al. 2006), as behaviors and other difficulties interfere with
their ability to act in ways that are conducive to learning.
Children need opportunities to engage in social inter-
actions as a means to practice and perfect their social
strategies. The preschool years can provide these oppor-
tunities as they are a critical time for the development of
many skills that are essential for long-term school success.
In this article, we highlight key practices that should be
considered by teachers as they focus on building children’s
social competence, within the context of play, while also
enhancing their social communicative skills. Sample
vignettes will be provided throughout the article to illus-
trate practical application of the suggested strategies. It is
important to note that before considering different types of
interventions, the preschool teacher should utilize several
forms of assessments including dynamic and curriculum-
based assessments, as well as routines-based observations
(Bagnato et al. 2010), in order to determine a child’s
developmental skill levels.
Social Communication and Play
Play is the primary context in which children build their
emergent social communicative skills, as well as establish
123
social competence (Mathieson and Banerjee 2010). Using
social communication in play allows the child to satisfy their
needs and desires, control the behavior of others, participate in
a social exchange, express opinions or feelings, engage in
fantasy, obtain information, and provide information to others
(Athanasiou 2007; Craig-Unkefer and Kaiser 2002; Zigler and
Bishop-Josef 2004). All of these social communicative
behaviors coalesce to form a strong capacity for a child’s
establishment of social competence. Here, social competence
is described as the ability to use socially desirable behaviors
within varying contexts to establish healthy relationships.
Play helps young children learn about their intellectual,
social, symbol, and language world. When children par-
ticipate in play, they enrich their social communication as
they use different conversation patterns, flexible and
expressive tones, and apply the language rules. Social
communication nurtures social and symbolic play. The
children’s symbolic play promotes their social communi-
cation (Saracho 2003), allowing them to make predictions
and test out solutions to problems. The following sections
describe the different processes of play and provide prac-
tical suggestions for building social competence within the
context of language focused activities.
Levels of Play
Research suggests that play can advance a child’s ability to
develop purposeful, goal-directed behavior or executive
functioning (Anderson 2002). Thus, play can become the
context that fosters growth in such skills as attention,
memory, and cognitive flexibility. From this perspective,
play can nurture particular processes such as awareness,
exploration, and problem solving. These levels of play
move from simple to more complex processes, are derived
from a synthesis of the theoretical research on cognitive
neuroscience (Anderson et al. 2008; Bernier et al. 2010;
Carlson et al. 2004; Dowsett and Livesey 2000; Garon
et al. 2008; Rushton 2011; Rushton et al. 2010), and serve
to organize executive functioning.
Awareness
In developing awareness, the child must be able to attend to
the environment, people and objects, experience stimula-
tion, perceive objects and people, use and understand
gestures, and vocalize. These foundational skills enable the
child to gain access to the social environment and create a
readiness to learn. However, some children with delays in
social communication have difficulty attending to the
environment, or establishing joint attention with others.
These children need direct instruction from the teacher in
order to take advantage of play opportunities, while con-
currently building their social competence.
Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:1–7
A 3-year old little boy has recently been diagnosed with
pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). He seldom ini-
tiates contact with others, but seems to perseverate on
shiny objects that spin. At home he prefers to spin the lids
of pans and silverware. When these items are removed, he
often screams and cries. The preschool teacher wants to
establish a connection between herself and the child, so she
creates a responsive environment by first bringing similar
pots and pans into the housekeeping center. She then imi-
tates the child’s motor movements and vocalizations. When
he spins a lid, she takes it and spins it too. Then she hands
it back to him. In this way, she initiates a turn taking
routine with the child by establishing joint attention to
another object. The teacher also uses gestures, directing
the child to spin the lid as she hands it back to him. She
immediately praises him for responding to her request. As
this turn taking routine becomes reinforced, the teacher
begins to verbally prompt the child to look at her before
she returns the lid to him.
In the vignette, the teacher establishes a social connec-
tion with the child and introduces him to a social context of
play. By personalizing the housekeeping area with the
child’s objects of interest, she creates an opportunity for
him to engage in play around others. Research indicates
that typically developing peers can be taught to engage in
sustained interaction with children who have delays, when
provided with instructions and modeling (Goldstein et al.
1997). Therefore, the teacher will want to remember to
model her turn taking play with the child, so that his peers
can successfully interact with him also. This peer interac-
tion in play can provide opportunities for the child to gain
popularity with other children (Gertner 1994).
Additionally, the teacher may consider using peer
mediated interventions as they provide opportunities for
social interactions among children, resulting in increased
social competence between children with and without
disabilities (English et al. 1997). Peer mediated interven-
tions provide training to typically developing peers to ini-
tiate, prompt, and reinforce social interactions with their
peer buddy, thereby resulting in improvements in social
play behaviors of the children (Bass and Mulick 2007).
Sharing book experiences can provide an opportunity for
the child to build and enhance his peer relationships, while
also supporting communication development.
While observing the child in the library corner with a
more competent peer, the teacher moves in to help estab-
lish a context for peer mediated instruction. She prompts
him to show the picture of a red truck in the book saying,
‘‘Look at your friend. Tell him what you see in the picture.’’
The child initiates a conversation by saying, ‘‘Look, it’s a
truck.’’ When the peer looks at the picture, he responds by
expanding upon the child’s comment stating, ‘‘Yes, it’s
really big, like the one we saw outside yesterday.’’ The
3
teacher encourages the child to add content to the con-
versation by prompting him to tell the peer what other
trucks he has seen. The teacher continues to prompt him
when necessary to keep the conversation going.
The teacher’s intentional planning of the environment
promotes children’s active engagement, learning, partici-
pation, and membership. Additionally, she is careful to
follow the child’s lead, build social routines, and imitate
the child’s motor movements and vocalizations (Brady
et al. 2004; Gros-Louis et al. 2006). Several other
research based instructional strategies are listed in
Table 1.
Exploration
Young children move into exploratory play which involves
observation, exploring materials, applying their own rules,
initiating routines, and responding to others initiations.
Again, these skills often need to be intentionally designed
for children with language delays as they construct a
foundation for social communication, and thus, enhance
social competence. The teacher continues to create a
responsive environment for the child with PDD by bringing
in objects or books that meet his needs and interests. By
talking with the child’s parents, the teacher discovers that
he also shares a keen interest in trucks. He is especially
interested in toys that make sounds, so the teacher brings in
several toy trucks and has adapted them by tying jingle
bells to the cabs, as a way to draw his attention to the sound
and thus, the truck. She places the toy trucks in the building
corner.
After setting up the environment for exploration, the
teacher holds a new truck in her hand and waits for the
child to look at it. If he fails to look after 3 seconds, the
teacher prompts him by saying, ‘‘Look, it’s a truck with
bells.’’ When the child looks at the truck, the teacher waits
for him to gesture or signal that he wants the truck. Once
he initiates the interaction, she praises him and provides
him with the truck. As he explores the truck, the teacher
comments on his actions using several new words and
sounds. She narrates his play saying, ‘‘The truck is going
on the road (blocks). It is going slow. Now it is going up the
hill, ‘Ring Ring’ the truck is going to a fire. My turn.’’ The
teacher takes the truck and runs it down the hill (a row of
blocks) and rings the bell. Then she says, ‘‘Your turn. You
can ring the bell too.’’ She continues to take turns with the
child, and focuses on specific words that she has planned
for in her lesson. For this particular child, many of these
words are basic concepts such as under, over, through,
behind, and beside, that help build his receptive language.
In addition to setting up the environment to motivate the
child, the teacher recognizes the importance of pausing and
waiting to encourage his initiations. Additionally, the
123
4 Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:1–7
Table 1 Interacting to enhance social language in play
Play processes Characteristics of children with
language delays
Awareness Few vocalizations
Few spontaneous imitations
Few communicative gestures
Reduced rate of nonverbal
communication
Limited attending behavior
Lack of shared attention to people or
objects
Exploration Less likely to apply own rules
Infrequent initiation of routines
Less likely to respond to initiations of
others
May not acknowledge another person’s
speech
Less alert to play as compared to same
age peers
May not greet others
Problem Solving Lack of focus on items in vicinity
Difficulty generalizing from on context
to another
Difficulty adapting to rules systems
Limited vocabulary
Articulation errors
Difficulty making connection to prior
learning
May be distractible
Indiscriminate use of scheme (i.e.
mouths all objects)
May not use objects or body to make
event recur
Uses repetitive approach to solve
problem (bangs box to get it open)
Seldom talks to self or others to problem
solve
teacher responds to his initiations by imitating, inter-
preting, or commenting on his actions (Goldstein et al.
2002).
The teacher also posts several photographs of trucks to
the wall around the building area, and adds several books
that include fire engines and police cars. In the library, she
adds additional truck books, and also includes the iPad with
an application that has sounds and pictures. Reading to a
child individually makes it easier for the teacher to respond
to the child’s needs and questions, which in turn boosts
their attention and engagement (Al Otaiba 2007). The child
can be allowed to select their favorite book, or sit in a
particularly cozy spot in the classroom.
123
What teachers do Research base
Create a responsive environment Brady et al. 2004
Follow child’s intentional lead Gros-Louis et al. 2006
Build social routines McGowan et al. 2008
Imitate child’s motor and vocal tasks
Verbally prompt for eye gaze
Model appropriate gestures
Provide child with desired object or action
Initiate turn taking by imitating child
Perform an action that the child finds funny DiCarlo et al. 2009
When child initiates a routine, oblige with offering Zucker 2010
the next act to complete it McCauley and Fey 2006
Model new sounds and words Goldstein et al. 2002
Provide the child with an object contingent on
looking
Pause and wait to encourage initiations
Respond to initiations by imitating, interpreting, or
commenting
Repeat and focus on particular words while
playing
Offer a variety of books and toys based on child’s Cirrin and Gillam 2008
interests McCauley and Fey 2006
Select books with lively pictures that are colorful Goldstein et al. 2002
Use toys that encourage talking English et al. 1997
Comment on images Bass and Mulick 2007
Produce self-directed speech (talk about what they
are doing)
Ask open-ended questions
Use wait time
Respond to child by expanding the child’s
utterance (and wait)
Use parallel talk (comment on actions of child)
Model rather than correct phonological errors
(child says ‘‘tup,’’ adult models, ‘‘cup’’)
Use peer mediation to establish relationships
among peers
Given the child’s interest in trucks and cars, the teacher
intentionally stocks her classroom library with books on
this topic, and notices he has recently begun spending more
time in this area. One day, the teacher notices he has
selected a book that he seems interested in, so she joins him
and begins to read with him. As they are turning pages, the
teacher asks, ‘‘What do you see on this page?’’ The child
responds with, ‘‘Truck.’’ The teacher responds, ‘‘Yes, there
is a big red truck on this page, and it is scooping the dirt!’’
In this way, she is responding to, and elaborating on the
child’s response. A few pages later, another truck is
included in an illustration at which time he excitedly says,
‘‘Truck scoop!’’ the teacher praises his efforts.
Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:1–7
The teacher can continue to build the child’s social
communication skills by identifying other key vocabulary
words, and asking him to repeat the word, and providing
encouragement for his attempts. As the child’s vocabulary
continues to develop, the teacher should keep in mind that
signs or approximations may be very appropriate, and
should recognize and accept them as communicative
attempts. Further, she should be intentional and thoughtful
when providing explicit instruction within the context of
storybook reading. For example, the words should be
connected to the context of the story through the use of a
clear child-friendly definition. One suggestion for the target
word load could be fill up. Further, multiple opportunities
to repeat and produce the word should be provided, and
have a connection to everyday life. The teacher could ask
the children to describe a time when they have seen
something loaded on a truck. Finally, opportunities for
practice can be embedded in the daily classroom routine
(Spencer et al. 2012). The teacher could add several dif-
ferent size trucks and wagons to the play area with objects,
such as loading the wagon with milk cartons for daily
snack.
Problem Solving
In problem solving play, the young child needs to examine,
investigate, focus, and generalize his knowledge and skills
to differing contexts. This is a time when the child will
begin to build upon the early play routines, expanding and
adapting the play by adjusting to different rule systems,
and relating new information to prior knowledge. This is a
prime time for introducing books and visual materials to
the child with language delays. As in selecting toys, the
teacher will want to select books and pictures with the
child’s preferences in mind. These preferred items can help
him to focus and sustain his interest so that the teacher can
ask him to build upon his receptive language and encour-
age his use of words.
Keeping in mind the child’s preferences for toy trucks
and cars, the teacher guides his attention to the pictures
and books in the building center. Continuing in the play
routine, the teacher picks up one of the toy trucks. She
prompts him to look at the pictures on the wall and says,
‘‘Show me the red truck.’’ When he points or gestures
towards the red truck the teacher praises him and asks,
‘‘Where is your truck?’’ When he retrieves the toy truck the
teacher guides his attention by saying, ‘‘Look, the truck is
empty. What might go in the truck?’’ He looks at the blocks
and then places one in the back of the truck. He looks up at
the teacher. She affirms his actions and models the sen-
tence, ‘‘Yes, the blocks can go in the truck.’’ In this play
episode, the child learns to connect iconic symbols with
actual objects, perceive attributes of objects, identifies the
5
information given and that which needs to be determined,
considers possible strategies, executes the strategy, and
checks the accuracy of the solution by looking at the tea-
cher. The child builds upon the processes of both aware-
ness and exploration, moving towards problem solving.
Adult mediated strategies, such as these, allow adults to
provide the support necessary for children with language
delays. Furthermore, research indicates enhanced cognitive
flexibility can be taught, and is linked to increases in later
reading comprehension (Cartwright et al. 2010). The tea-
cher provides opportunities to talk about words and story
meanings, building upon the child’s flexibility in thinking.
She also uses several specific strategies in her interactions
with the child. She creates high interest activities, elabo-
rates on his current play level, provides joint attention to
objects, and labels objects all in the context of play (Kasari
et al. 2008; Lifter 1996). The teacher also provides
responses contingent upon the child’s communication
attempts, and models language in socially appropriate
ways. Adult mediated interventions such as these help to
engage children in play, and increase their opportunities for
learning early language and social skills.
Conclusion
Social competence and social communication development
can be concurrently supported through intentional thought
and planning on the part of the early childhood special
educator. In this article, we present suggestions for how
teachers can effectively plan for and implement interven-
tions to support these two areas, all within the context of
play. The levels of play, awareness, exploration, and
problem solving can be utilized by teachers to provide
experiences for children, specifically those with language
delays, to enhance and refine their social competence skills,
while also furthering their language development. It is
important for teachers to provide, to the extent possible, an
environment that is arranged to allow for multiple oppor-
tunities to practice these skills, while also keeping in mind
the child’s preferences and interests. Implementation of the
suggested strategies can support children with language
delays, as well as their peers, in becoming more successful
with using their social communication skills to appropri-
ately navigate social situations within the context of play.
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