This course is designed to give an overview of Dr. Carol Westby’s stages of symbolic play in typically developing children, as well as the relationship between symbolic play and cognitive, language, social and literacy development. Patterns of play in children with various developmental diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorder, will be described. Informal methods for observing and evaluating play skills will be explored. The elicitation and facilitation of language through symbolic play will be discussed. Case examples and videos of symbolic play sessions will be presented.