Characteristics of Role Play in Preschool Children with Difficulties in Communication ²²⁴²

Play of preschool children with a low sociometric status is studied in the context of the development of psychological boundaries of “I” (“I” as self). Phenomenology of “I” psychological boundaries is investigated as well as the violation of those boundaries in preschoolers in the process of the play. Data are provided about specific features of play of children who are not accepted by peers, and the differences from peer-accepted child play are described (violation of the role and subject matter boundaries, inadequacy of the play space area, transition from play relationships into real one, etc.) as well as characteristics of the psychological boundaries of “I” in these children. The study involved 140 children of preschool age; the main group comprised 70 children who were not accepted by their peers. The study also involved mothers of those children (40 from control group and 40 from the study group). The results were processed with SPSS statistics software package; the significance of variation was checked by Х2 and Mann–Whitney criteria; correlation, factorial, and cluster analyses were also performed. All variations between groups are statistically significant at р < 0.01. The experimental data proved that there is a correlation between unformed psychological boundaries of «I», specific features of play, and peer relationship at preschool age. A correlation was also found between the violation of psychological boundaries of «I», disrupted interaction with the mother and a child’s personality features.

Keywords: psychological boundaries of «I», peer-unaccepted children, play, subject matter, play space, play content

Column: Play in the Life of a Modern Child