UNASSIGNED: Play is important for mental health and well-being. Descriptions of autistic play have typically focused on \"deficits\" and are based on comparisons to neurotypical \"norms\". According to the neurodiversity paradigm, it is important that autistic voices are highlighted and that difficulties, differences, and strengths are explored. With this in mind, we designed the present study to focus on the experiences and perspectives of autistic people concerning the topic of autistic play.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a consultation with autistic stakeholders, as well as with parents and teachers of autistic individuals to help us design the study and interview questions. We used semi-structured interviews with 22 autistic adults aged 18-57 years (clinically confirmed diagnosis, n = 21; self-diagnosed, n = 1) who live in the United Kingdom. We analyzed the data using interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify themes.
UNASSIGNED: We found important commonalities and differences in the ways that socialization in play, imaginary play, and flow (a state involving intense focus on the play) are experienced. Autistic adults discussed the importance of both solitary play and social play, with solitary play having an important recuperative function. They also reported preferences for parallel play and playing with similar autistic people. They also discussed imaginary play experiences, including social role-play and grounded-in-reality play, and the dual nature of flow experiences during play.
UNASSIGNED: The findings of this study contrast with deficit-focused understandings of autistic play and build on neurodiversity-informed studies. We highlight, for example, the importance of considering the different circumstances under which solitary play or social play are preferred, as well as the importance of taking an individual approach to play. We encourage wider understanding and acceptance of these play preferences and experiences to support autistic people\'s well-being.
Why is this an important issue? Usually, descriptions of autistic play are negative and are based on what non-autistic people think autistic play should be like. We think that it is important to challenge this by exploring autistic play in a more balanced way and focusing on what autistic people say about their play. What was the purpose of this study? We wanted to find out how autistic adults experience play. We were also interested in how they think their play is different from non-autistic play. What did the researchers do? We asked autistic and non-autistic people to help us design our study and interview questions. We interviewed 22 autistic adults and asked them about their play now or when they were younger. We then analyzed the data using a qualitative method called interpretative phenomenological analysis. This meant that we could identify themes covering the group\'s views and experiences. What were the results of the study? We found a range of play experiences and different ways in which some autistic adults play. Many autistic adults talked about the importance of both playing by themselves and with others, with solitary play described as being recuperating. Some described preferring play that involves playing nearby other people without necessarily interacting with them directly. Many preferred to play with similar autistic people. Several autistic adults discussed engaging in imaginary play activities such as role-play and preferring play that is based on reality. They also described the benefits and limitations of something called a flow state, which involves intense focus on the play. What do these findings add to what was already known? Our findings highlight how autistic adults like to play and different ways some autistic adults experience play. For example, we highlight the situations where solitary play and social play are preferred, and the importance of understanding that different people like to play in different ways. What are potential weaknesses in the study? We did not involve autistic people beyond consultation. We think that a better understanding of autistic play can come from using approaches with greater autistic involvement, such as co-production. Most of our participants were White, highly educated, and primarily communicate using speech. We do not know if other autistic people would experience play in a similar way. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future? Understanding and acceptance of the ways in which autistic people like to play can help support autistic people\'s well-being. In practice, this involves limiting the use of supports that aim to make autistic people\'s play “normal” and instead encouraging authentic autistic play.

Limiting children\'s screen time has become a new parenting challenge. Due to the high attractiveness of media and digital devices, many children experience painful transitions in screen time to other activities. Screen time tantrums is a new concept that describes children\'s negative affect screen time limits. Knowing the factors that increase children\'s negative reactions will be helpful in parents and educators practice to prevent screen time tantrums or enrich children\'s nondigital activities, making them attractive alternatives to the media. Based on theoretical insights into the coping mechanisms of frustration and anger in preschool children, this study was aimed to explore the effects of executive functions skills, family activities, and children\'s play behavior with real toys on screen time tantrums. Sample included 654 caregiver-child pairs (M children age = 70.3 months, SD = 4.02). Results confirmed the hypothesis that play behavior with real toys is a stronger preventor of screen time tantrum than EF skills. The findings suggest that supporting play activity in preschool children might help them to avoid strong negative affects due to screen time limitation. The results of this study may be also considered as a support for the theoretical assumptions that play can be considered as a universal way of coping with frustration and anger in childhood.

Free play is essential for children\'s development and for their physical, mental, and social health. Opportunities to engage in outdoor free play-and risky play in particular-have declined significantly in recent years, in part because safety measures have sought to prevent all play-related injuries rather than focusing on serious and fatal injuries. Risky play is defined by thrilling and exciting forms of free play that involve uncertainty of outcome and a possibility of physical injury. Proponents of risky play differentiate \"risk\" from \"hazard\" and seek to reframe perceived risk as an opportunity for situational evaluation and personal development. This statement weighs the burden of play-related injuries alongside the evidence in favour of risky play, including its benefits, risks, and nuances, which can vary depending on a child\'s developmental stage, ability, and social and medical context. Approaches are offered to promote open, constructive discussions with families and organizations. Paediatricians are encouraged to think of outdoor risky play as one way to help prevent and manage common health problems such as obesity, anxiety, and behavioural issues.

In this experiment, we studied a rodent model selected over 57 generations for high or low rates of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during maternal separation as pups. We investigated the influence of this breeding on the adult animals\' subsequent vocal output, comparing acoustic variables across developmental stages. We hypothesized that selection on pup USV rate would impact adult USV production without affecting lower frequency calls. Contrary to this hypothesis, we found neither number of USV calls or other acoustic variables to differ among selected adult lines. Instead, we found that pup USV selection mainly affected adults\' low-frequency (human-audible) calls. Furthermore, low-frequency vocalizations did not fully fit a predicted correlation between body weight and fundamental frequency: high line males, although the heaviest on average, did not produce the lowest fundamental frequencies. Our findings suggest that selection for early ultrasonic vocal behaviour pleiotropically results in changes in anatomical production mechanisms and/or neural control affecting low-frequency calls.

There are increasing demands for Participatory Arts-Based (PAB) programs involved in health research to better evidence outcomes using robust quantitative evaluation methodologies taken from science, such as standardized questionnaires, to inform commissioning and scale-up decisions. However, for PAB researchers trying to do this, barriers arise from fundamental interdisciplinary differences in values and contexts. Researchers are required to navigate the tensions between the practice-based evidence produced by the arts and the evidence-based practice sought by psychologists. Consequently, there is a need for interdisciplinary arts-science collaborations to produce alternative methods of evaluation that are better aligned to PAB approaches, and which combine systematic rigor with a sensitivity to the values, contexts and strengths of this approach. The current article centers on the development of an alternative transdisciplinary analytic tool, the Participatory arts Play Framework (PP-Framework), undertaken as part of an arts-psychology collaboration for a UK AHRC-funded PAB research project: Playing A/Part: Investigating the identities and experiences of autistic girls. We present details of three stages in the development of the PP-Framework: 1. preliminary emergence of the framework from initial video analysis of observational data from participatory music and sound workshops run for 6 adolescent autistic girls (aged 11-16); 2. identification and application of modes of engagement; and 3. further testing of the framework as an evaluation tool for use in a real-world setting, involving professional musicians engaged in delivery of a creative music project at a center for homeless people. The PP-Framework maps types of participation in terms of performative behaviors and qualities of experience, understood as modes of play. It functions as a vehicle for analyzing participant engagement, providing a tool predicated on the processes of working in creative participatory contexts while also being sensitive to the esthetic qualities of what is produced and capable of capturing beneficial changes in engagement. It offers a conceptual approach for researchers to undertake observation of participatory arts practices, taking account of embodied engagement and interaction processes. It is informed by understandings of autistic performativity and masking in conjunction with an ecological understanding of sense making as being shaped by environments, social relations and sensing subjectivity. The framework has the potential to be a bi-directional tool, with application for both practitioners and participants.

Play spaces are important components of paediatric healthcare environments. They provide children with critical opportunities to experience the social, emotional, and developmental benefits of play while in healthcare settings for appointments or hospitalizations. These spaces can help to mitigate stress, provide a sense of normalcy in unfamiliar environments, and facilitate social engagement for children and their families. Given the benefits of play spaces in paediatric healthcare settings, it is important to understand how these spaces can be designed to enhance children\'s inclusion and quality of care. The aim of this scoping review was to explore the current understanding of paediatric play space design. Using search terms related to children, health care, and play space, six interdisciplinary databases were searched over a 30-year period. The search found 2,533 records from which eighteen were included for review. Findings suggest that although it is well-documented that play spaces offer valuable social and emotional benefits, little is known about the specific design features that can and should be incorporated to enhance play opportunities and ensure that they benefit all children and families. Further, the literature mostly considers play spaces in the context of designated play or recreational rooms. Scholars are encouraged to consider how play opportunities can be incorporated into the designs of paediatric healthcare environments beyond the boundaries of these rooms. Future studies should also consider the diversity of play space users, including children of varying ages and abilities, to create more accessible and inclusive paediatric play spaces for children and their families. Advancing knowledge on play space design can help to optimize the quality of these important spaces and to ensure their designs meaningfully enhance children\'s play experiences and quality of care.

On the surface, fear and humor seem like polar opposite states of mind, yet throughout our lives they continually interact. In this paper, we synthesize neurobiological, psychological, and evolutionary research on fear and humor, arguing that the two are deeply connected. The evolutionary origins of humor reside in play, a medium through which animals benignly explore situations and practice strategies, such as fight or flight, which would normally be accompanied by fear. Cognitively, humor retains the structure of play. Adopting a view of humor as requiring two appraisals, a violation appraisal and a benign appraisal, we describe how fear-inducing stimuli can be rendered benignly humorous through contextual cues, psychological distance, reframing, and cognitive reappraisal. The antagonistic relationship between humor and fear in terms of their neurochemistry and physiological effects in turn makes humor ideal for managing fear in many circumstances. We review five real-world examples of humor and fear intersecting, presenting new data in support of our account along the way. Finally, we discuss the possible therapeutic relevance of the deep connection between humor and fear.

Digital devices such as iPads are prevalent in children\'s play from an early age. How this shapes young children\'s play is an area of considerable debate without any clear consensus on how different forms of play are brought into the iPad interaction. In this study, we examined 98 play activities of children in two preschool settings, featuring 2 and 4-5-year-olds, their play with iPads and non-digital artefacts. Three analytical approaches were used: an index built on a digital play framework [Bird, Jo, and Susan Edwards. 2015. \"Children Learning to Use Technologies Through Play: A Digital Play Framework.\" British Journal of Educational Technology 46 (6): 1149-1160. doi:10.1111/bjet.12191 ], a quantitative description of the index, and a qualitative interaction analysis of children\'s play. Results show how play with iPads is characterised as less ludic than play with other artefacts, and diverges from the age-typical norms of play. We discuss what these results might mean for children\'s play in contemporary early childhood settings and for children\'s learning.

This article aims to reflect on the images of childhood in videos featuring child YouTubers playing, analyzing the nature of play portrayed in them and its relationship with the child\'s right to play and be protected against any form of exploitation.
METHODS: A documentary study of 100 videos shared on YouTube was conducted, subjected to categorical content analysis with an emphasis on the modes of participation of adults and children in dialogues with the platform\'s languages present in the videos.
CONCLUSIONS: The boundaries between children\'s artistic expression and child labor exploitation are becoming increasingly challenging, with legal discussions presenting difficulties in regulation due to the home environment and predominant parental control. The analysis reveals how the videos are perceived as standardized commodities, hiding the concrete work behind an image of apparent spontaneity.
CONCLUSIONS: The research highlights contractual digital risks for children, focusing on those related to commercialization. The analyzed videos reflect an instrumentalization of the child\'s basic right to play, associated with market interests, an aspect that takes on the contours of child labor exploitation, compromising the freedom to play spontaneously.

Pediatric hospitalization is a common experience that may increase children\'s sense of isolation and impinge on their social-emotional wellbeing. Educators and medical practitioners could minimize these negative effects of hospitalization if they were able to listen to the voices of the children and, therefore, better meet their needs. This qualitative study provides an overview of how children with a medical condition actively construct and organize their thoughts and feelings about illness, life in hospital, and relationships. We extrapolated from a collection of children\'s narratives from a previous more comprehensive study (consisting of 379 narratives from children in 29 public hospitals across Italy, age range 3-14 years). Narratives grouped under the headings \"Me and my illness\" or \"Me and the others\" were selected and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to identify the richness and complexity of children\'s experience. Results showed that children\'s description of their illness was affected both by cognitive and social factors. For children, the concept of feeling ill or well is not linked only to the fact that they are in hospital for a medical condition; rather, it is influenced by their ability to form relationships with others, play, be active, and feel alive within the hospital environment. Listening to narratives can deepen our understanding of children\'s illness-related experiences and how they make sense of their situation. A set of practice implications are presented to help health professionals and educators to improve their listening capabilities and better prevent adverse pediatric hospitalization outcomes.