Play behaviour is one significant factor in detecting possibility of "atypical" psycho-social development in children at risks of developmental disorders. Such children often have limited play skills. Research indicates the long-term impact of positive early life experiences and secure attachment between a child and their parent. However, this is often compromised when children have developmental difficulties, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

This doctoral research examines the effectiveness of play in child development and the importance of parents’ role in establishing positive interactions with children with ASD, through the use of the Parent Learn to Play (PLP) program, which intends to advance play skills in children. However it may also improve parents’ confidence in assisting their children, and consequently social-cognitive and social-emotion outcomes in children. It integrate concepts including “being with the child”, responding to the child’s interests and cues whilst encouraging the development of imaginative play skills. The focus is on psycho-social aspects of interactions whilst ensuring the play aspects are taught in a directive, active and child-centered manner. The PLP program is in its infancy in research and previous studies which focused on investigating changes in children’s play skills did not investigate parent-child relationships or social-emotional aspects resulting from the intervention, hence this doctoral research.

The PLP program focus is on connecting with the child by responding to their lead to maintain the interaction, whilst introducing new skills to expand the child’s play skills. Consequently this assists with positive parenting and competence. Each week a new concept relating to play is introduced, discussed and modeled to parents to implement with their child over the week.

The outcome measures to be utilised in this doctoral research will assist with measuring the parent, child, and parent-child responses over time, and will also complement aspects addressed between the assessment tools.