Development of Play Activity Checklist for Childen with Mental Retardation

The present study attempts to develop and standardize a ‘Play Activity Checklist for Kids with Mental Retardation’ (PACK-MR). The final format of this 60 item checklist was drawn from an initial item pool onoo items. Itl was administered on a sample of 140 children with mild and moderate mental retardation between chronological ages of 6–18 years and mental ages of 3–12 years. The sample included 71 boys and 69 girls. The results indicate that a sequential hierarchy exists in play activities of children proceeding from simple to complex, general to specific and/or concrete to abstract modes of play. It also proceeds from’ solitary and no-rule based play to social and rule based play activities. The range of play activities include search games, exercise activities, solitary or group play, toy or pet play, thinking, quizzing or questioning games, etc. The age and diagnostic condition of the child are significant variables in influencing the range and type of play activities in children with mental retardation. A two week test-retest reliability coefficient for PACK-MR on a sub sample of 70 children is 0.99. Its concurrent validity against another standardized behavior scale is high (r: 0.84). The developed tool is recommended for use in planning and programming play based intervention therapies for children with mental retardation.