Although the relation of elicited play to verbal IQ and its constituent subtests fell short of statistical significance, elicited play predicted poorer verbal working memory on the Digit Span test, confirming that this measure of the development of symbolic play competence in infancy may provide AZD5363 solubility dmso an early indicator of verbal working memory ability or early

executive function. The relation of symbolic play in infancy to FASD diagnosis at 5 years was examined using analysis of variance (Table 7). Whereas spontaneous play was unrelated to diagnosis, mean elicited play levels were lower for infants subsequently diagnosed with FAS/PFAS and also for the nonsyndromal heavily exposed infants when contrasted

to the abstainers/light drinkers. Post hoc tests showed that elicited play scores this website were lower for both the FAS/PFAS (p < .01) and other heavy exposed (p < .025) infants compared with abstainers/light drinkers. This study confirms the association between fetal alcohol exposure and elicited play in this heavily exposed Cape-Colored population that was first reported in a moderately exposed, inner city African American cohort in Detroit. In both the Cape Town and Detroit cohorts, the observed relation of prenatal alcohol exposure to spontaneous play was attributable to being reared in a less optimal social environment. In contrast, in both cohorts the association with elicited play remained significant after controlling for these influences, Sitaxentan indicating an impact of prenatal alcohol that is independent of the adverse effects associated with being raised

in a less optimal social environment. The effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on elicited play suggests that this exposure is associated with a delay in the development of competence as the infant proceeds through the stages of mastering symbolic play. Alternatively, prenatal alcohol exposure may interfere specifically with the child’s ability to model his/her behavior to that demonstrated by the examiner, a capacity that plays an important role throughout early cognitive development. The replication of these findings in a sample of children whose ethnic and sociocultural background differs markedly from the original Detroit cohort and the distinct effects of alcohol exposure and environment on these two forms of symbolic play attest to the robustness of these effects. These data also demonstrate that the social environment plays a critical role in the rate at which the infant progresses through the stages of both performance and underlying competence in mastering symbolic play, as indicated by both the spontaneous and elicited play measures. Bradley et al. (1989) distinguish between process and status environmental factors in relation to mental development.