A Summary Of The Decline Of Play In Sensory Issues

In the Washington Post dated September 1, 2015 an article entitled The Decline of Play in Preschoolers-and the Rise in Sensory Issues written by Angela Hanscom, was published. The article depicted a story about the Hanscom’s oldest daughter and her success in pre-school. Hanscom enrolled her daughter in a preschool whose focus on the child’s academic enrichment was similar to her own. In addition to enrolling her daughter in the school, Hanscom increased the number of organized play dates with children her own age, enrolled her daughter into music and dance lessons, and took her on trips to local museums. Hanscom even partnered with other parents and neighbors for “enrichment classes to practice sorting, coloring, counting, numbers, letters, and to practice sitting (Hanscom, 2015)”. While the efforts of preparing her daughter to thrive academically succeeded, Hanscom’s found out later that her child would be decline in other areas.

The teacher found that the child was also having trouble with controlling her emotions while displaying anxiety and sensory issues. As schools are limiting the amount of free play time in order to “meet the growing demands for academic readiness that is expected before children enters kindergarten (Hanscom, 2015)” , children become easily frustrated, less attentive, and demonstrate an inability to control their emotions. It is said that children learn best through meaningful play experiences, that is critical the developmental