Imaginative Play: A Teaching Strategy for the Socio- Emotional Development among Preschool with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The study investigated the effect of imaginative play on socio-emotional development of children with ASD. The study employed an experimental pre-test-post-test control group design. which involved two groups, 10 children with ASD. The sample was selected using non-probability sampling, focusing on purposive sampling method. The researcher conducted observation regarding socio-emotional skills of the participants inside the classroom, reviewed records, teacher’s journal and assessed the children using Phil. ECCD Checklist for socio-emotional domain. The result established that the participants in the experimental group manifested slight delay in their overall development while the control group manifested suggesting delay in their overall development. It revealed that the participants in the experimental group had higher socio-emotional levels than the control group. Based on the observations, the tea party, play kitchen, and superhero contributed to the socio-emotional development. The researcher recommended this study should be disseminated to teachers and administrators of the school to continue the employment of imaginative play for socio-emotional skills development, imaginative play be tried out to other learners with disabilities specifically those with delays in socio-emotional aspect. Longer period should be given to the experiment, teachers should be aware of the different learning needs and interest of their learners to help the choice of imaginative play to facilitate learning, the schools should provide more varieties of play materials to children with ASD to improve their socio-emotional skills, and the future researchers should use the results to enrich and find ways to help children with ASD improve their socio-emotional skills.