A Review of Research into Pretend Play in Autism
Abstract
Autism is currently diagnosed, in part at least, on the basis of problems in imagination. The article reviews the empirical evidence of difficulties in pretend play in autism, and focuses in particular on individuals’ ability to engage in pretence in free play conditions, to produce pretence in more structured situations, and to make sense of pretend actions carried out by another person. These data suggest that individuals with autism have a marked difficulty in producing pretend play, but one that is reduced by providing substantial structure to the play situation or by testing comprehension of pretence. The implications of these findings for theories of pretend play in autism, in terms of an inability to conceive of non-literal situations, a difficulty in imposing a pretend usage on an object, or a failure to gain a benefit from engaging in pretend play, are discussed.
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Play has been shown to be impaired in children with ASD.
“Furthermore, play has been shown to be impaired in children with ASD (Jarrold 2003; Manning and Wainwright 2010)”
From Neurexin1α knockout in rats causes aberrant social behaviour: relevance for autism and schizophrenia (2025) · cites this paper as Jarrold 2003
Cites
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 · Cited by 8,599 · see citing works
Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind."
Leslie, A. M. (1987) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.94.4.412 · Cited by 3,379 · see citing works
Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf01531288 · Cited by 2,587 · see citing works
Infants with autism: an investigation of empathy, pretend play, joint attention, and imitation
Charman, T., Swettenham, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Cox, A., Baird, G., & Drew, A. (1997) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.5.781 · Cited by 813 · see citing works
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Play and developmental outcomes in infant siblings of children with autism
Christensen, L., Hutman, T., Rozga, A., Young, G. S., Ozonoff, S., Rogers, S. J., Baker, B., & Sigman, M. (2010) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-010-0941-y · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Faja, S., Dawson, G., Sullivan, K., Meltzoff, A. N., Estes, A., & Bernier, R. (2016) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1608 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Neurexin1α knockout in rats causes aberrant social behaviour: relevance for autism and schizophrenia
Achterberg, E. J. M., Biemans, B., & Vanderschuren, L. J. M. J. (2025) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-024-06559-z · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Importantly, ASD and SCZ manifest already in childhood or adolescence, indicating that the development of the social brain is a process vulnerable to early disturbances.”
Influential
- Authors
- Jarrold, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Jarrold, Christopher
- ORCID
- Jarrold, Christopher
- Venue
- Autism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2003-12
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 379-390
- ISSN
- 1362-3613 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7005
- OpenAlex
- W2169976209
- Cited by
- 211
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 0.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Autism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- pretend play, imagination, free play, structured play, figurative language, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Creativity, Humans, Imagination, Infant, Play and Playthings, Psychological Theory, Research Design, Social Behavior
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