Yoga for Symbolic Play 107representation. He suggests that language is the most complex
of the symbolic capacities. Additional examples of the symbolic
function are deferred imitation, the ability to imitate absent objects
or events, and drawing. Symbolic functions such as pretend play
and deferred imitation require imaginal representation, the capacity
to hold an image in mind without seeing it in the present moment.
Educators from different perspectives have also stressed the
importance of play. For example, Parten (1932) emphasized
the development of children’s socialization during play using the
well-known taxonomy of solitary, parallel, associative, and
cooperative play. Play also provides children with an opportunity
to practice learned skills, promote abstract thought, problem solve,
and increase conceptual knowledge (Ellis 1973). Westby (2000)
provides a speech-language perspective on the development of
children’s play. She developed a scale that addresses the stages
of play in relation to language development in children who are
presymbolic (ages 8 months through 17 months) and symbolic
(ages 17 months through 5 years).
Stages of play development
The first presymbolic stage of play development maps onto the
prelinguistic intentional phase of language acquisition, which lasts
from about 8 months through 12 months. The hallmark of this
phase, as noted in Chapter 2, is the infant’s purposeful intentional
two-way communication through a variety of nonlinguistic means
including gaze, gesture, and vocalization. The next presymbolic
stage of play from about 13 to 17 months occurs during the one-
word phase of language development when infant-toddlers acquire
their first words. For children who are presymbolic, the Westby
Play Scale (Westby 2000) focuses on the cognitive prerequisites to
language including object permanence, means-end problem solving,
and object use in addition to early communication. The symbolic
stage of the scale focuses on four aspects of play that develop over