title: Quality of pre-school children's pretend play and subsequent development of semantic organization and narrative re-telling skills.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated if the quality of pre-school children's pretend play predicted their semantic organization and narrative re-telling ability when they were in early primary school. It was hypothesized that the elaborateness of a child's play and the child's use of symbols in play were predictors of their semantic organization and narrative re-tell scores of the School Age Oral Language Assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight children were assessed using the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment when they were aged 4-5 years. Three-to-five years after this assessment their semantic organization and narrative re-telling skills were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicate that the elaborateness of a child's play and their ability to use symbols was predictive of semantic organization skills. Use of symbols in play was the strongest play predictor of narrative re-telling skills. The quality of a pre-school child's ability to elaborate complex sequences in pretend play and use symbols predicted up to 20% of a child's semantic organization and narrative re-telling skills up to 5 years later.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides evidence that the quality of pretend play in 4-5 year olds is important for semantic organization and narrative re-telling abilities in the school-aged child.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University , Geelong , Australia.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stagnitti
authors.forename: Fiona M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012660:Semantics
keywords: Pretend play; narrative re-tell; semantic organization