Purposeful Play

In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), play is not just a fun break—it’s a fundamental part of growth and skill development.

Play is how children explore the world. When a child picks up a toy, they begin to observe its details, which drives them to figure out how it works and how to play with it. Through play, children learn to communicate with others and develop problem-solving skills.

In ABA, we use play as a purposeful teaching tool to build communication, interaction, and attention skills, as well as to develop play itself in a developmental progression. Play evolves with the child’s age and abilities: it begins when the child looks at a toy and moves it to explore it, continues through active exploration, and eventually develops into pretend play.

Play is a key factor in increasing social skills among children, especially in the early stages of development, where play becomes the main connection between peers.

Here are some core types of play used in ABA:

🧩 Cause-and-Effect Play: This type of play helps children understand that their actions have consequences, like pressing a button on a toy to produce light or sound. It lays the foundation for understanding that communication has an effect: “Because I did this, that happened."

🧩 Functional Play: This involves correctly using objects, such as rolling a car or stacking blocks. It enhances imitation, fine motor skills, and understanding relationships between things, and most importantly, understanding the function of objects.

🧩 Pretend Play: In this type of play, the child uses their imagination to complete the game. For example, they might pretend to be a teacher explaining a lesson, or a firefighter putting out a fire. This play is very helpful for developing imagination and creative thinking skills.

🧩 Parallel Play (Peer Play): The child plays beside another child without direct interaction. You might see a child holding their toy and sitting near another child who is also playing, but each one is engaged in their own activity. This type of play encourages comfort around others and is a stepping stone towards cooperative play.

🧩 Cooperative Play (Social Play): At this stage, children begin to interact directly. They learn to share toys, take turns, accept losing, follow the rules of a game, and come up with shared ideas during play. This kind of play significantly builds social skills.

At Barrington Behavioral Health, we believe that play is a powerful language for connecting with children and an essential part of their development and skill-building journey.

Written by Sabha Alsaleh, QBA (Qualified Behavior Analyst) | IBA (International Behav