Play and leisure skills

Preschool years

The ability to occupy oneself in self-satisfying play or leisure activities is clearly important in children’s development. If a child is not able to gain pleasure from playing with toys or other activities, they are likely to seek out adult attention or, over time, resort to passive entertainment provided by watching television and will miss out on self-motivated learning experiences. Temperament and attention, as well as mental ability, play a part in children’s ability to sustain play. Some children, such as those with limited attention spans, a tendency to be distractible or to be overactive and restless, may be more vulnerable and need more help to learn to occupy themselves.

In fact, research studies indicate that many children with Down syndrome develop good play skills, including representational or pretend play and that their play skills are often as good or better than those of children of similar developmental age, with or without developmental disabilities.^[1]

However, all play skills will be influenced by delayed motor skill development as noted by Anne Jobling in a recent review of the area.^[2] Fine motor skills are needed to manipulate toys, puzzles and building toys while gross motor skills will influence the ability to join in active games such as play in the park and social games in the playground. Despite delay, researchers indicate that the play of infants with Down syndrome progresses in the same way as that of other children but that there may be a tendency for more passive play and for more repetitive play, that is, repeating the same actions and activities more frequently and having a smaller repertoire of play actions.

Some children with Down syndrome may need more support than typically developing children to learn how to play, as they may be slower to explore toys and develop play activities for themselves. Initially this may be showing them what they can do with toys and taking turns in playing with the toy to model the play possibilities of the toy. Their ability to manipulate toys and play with construction toys such as Lego may be hampered by delay in developing the necessary fine motor skills.

When encouraging play, try to follow the child’s lead and extend (scaffold) their play. When helping children, avoid being too directive, always initiating and organising play, as this may reduce their ability to self-direct play over time, rather than encourage it.

Imaginative (pretend) play with dolls or cars may also need to be modelled to help a child to begin to engage in such play. Shared activities such as playing with toys and reading books together increase children’s ability to sit still and attend. Learning to play and to engage in enjoyable activities by oneself is an important life skill. As children with Down syndrome get older, many enjoy drawing, colouring and writing activities.

Play with other children is considered important for the social development of children, as they learn about relationships and how to co-operate in social play. In social pretend or imaginative play, children act out adult roles and social play is also considered to contribute to children’s growing understanding of themselves and self-identity. Some children with Down syndrome engage in social and pretend play with other children at home and at school, but some will need help to do so, perhaps by asking other children to think of ways of including them, and by sensitive adult support to facilitate such games.

Sporting and leisure activities such as swimming, gymnastics, dancing and football can all be started in preschool years with benefits for health and fitness as well as increased opportunities for social inclusion with other children. Many children who find quiet play with toys not very interesting or rewarding will enjoy physical activities such as playing football or swimming.

Primary school years

During the primary school years, play with other children becomes increasingly important and some of the issues around this have been discussed earlier in relation to children’s friendships. Some children with Down syndrome develop good pretend play skills and can enter into co-operative play with other children but others will have more difficulty. To encourage inclusion in the playground in primary years, it is important to identify the current play fashions, that is, the popular toys and games of the peers, and ensure that the child with Down syndrome is aware of these.

In addition to play skills, leisure skills become increasingly important in providing opportunities for social activities and for social inclusion. If a child or young person can swim, play football, dance, go bowling, or do gymnastics, for example, they will be able to benefit from games and club activities into adult life. Sporting skills will have benefits for health, fitness and motor development as well as for social contacts, social learning and friendships from infancy to adult life. Sporting skills provide opportunities for friendships with peers with or without disabilities.

Teenage years

Studies show that the leisure interests of teenagers with Down syndrome are similar to those of all teenagers. They are knowledgeable about the football or baseball teams, the current pop groups and the current TV soaps or popular TV series. Most teenagers enjoy discos and the opportunity to dance as well as community activities such as bowling, visiting the cinema or the theatre. Like most other people, they also enjoy the opportunity to eat out in restaurants, or have a drink and a game of snooker in the pub.

Teenagers are likely to need parental support and encouragement to develop their social lives, as few have the independent travel skills to go out and about in the community without support. They are at risk of spending more time in solitary pursuits such as watching the TV or video than typically developing teenagers.

The benefits of sporting activities become clear during the teenage years and several authors have drawn attention to the benefits of sports for young people with Down syndrome.^[3] [TODO: 58] The Special Olympics movement provides young people in many countries with a valued range of social experience with peers with and without disabilities. A range of leisure and sporting activities is available in all communities, from swimming, snooker, dancing and bowling to football, athletics and sports that need more specific skills. Sporting activities can also be important for health and fitness during the teenage years as there is an increasing tendency for young people to become overweight after puberty.

Several studies have identified the common tendency for teenagers and adults with Down syndrome to talk to themselves^[4,5] [TODO: 28, 59] and this self-talk may have a number of useful functions such as ‘helping to plan and practise alternatives of action, reviewing daily thoughts and actions, entertaining oneself when alone and venting feelings and frustrations that are not easily expressed to others’.[TODO: 59: p.209]. As identified in this list, self-talk may also be linked to a degree of social isolation as it can be talk to imaginary friends and talk during solitary activities in the bedroom.