A Synthesis of Occupational Behavior and Sensory Integration Concepts in Theory and Practice, Part 1. Theoretical Foundations (pediatric practice, play development, general systems theory) Wendy Mack This series of two artIcles presents a model of play development for use m pediatric occupational ther- apy. Proposmg to unify the theo- retIcal approaches of sensory inte- gration and occupational behavior, the model uses playas the unifying link between these two apparently different approaches. This first article reviews the major concepts of sen- sory integratzon and occupational behavior, In addition to dIscussing the differences and similarities between the two. General systems concepts are used as a framework upon which a model of play development is constructed. Three hierarehicallevels of play are described-sensorimotor, construc- tive, and social-with each broken down mto several developmental steps. T he purpose of this paper is to present a perspective that unifies two seemingly different approaches to occupational therapy with children: the occupational behavior view of play espoused by Mary Reilly (J), and the sensory integration theory of A. Jean Ayres (2). The conception of these two approaches as a unified whole was developed by the authors while graduate students of occupational Jerry Ernest Lindquist therapy. We observed that the dif- ferences between the two approaches seemed to lead many in the profes- sion to consider them mutually ex- clusive frames of reference. In-depth study of basic concepts, however, revealed them to be more comple- mentary than contradictory. This paper represents an effort to syn- thesize sensory integration and oc- cupational behavior concepts into a model of play development upon which occupational therapy prac- tice with handicapped children can be based. Jerry Ernest Lindquist, M.A., OTR, is an occupational therapist at the Speech and Language Development Center, Buena Park, Californza. Wendy Mack, OTR, is an occupa- tional therapist at the Speech and Language Development Center, Buena Park, Callfornza. L. Diane Parham, M. 1., OTR, 1S a doctoral student In the (;raduate School of Education at the Unz- versity of California, Los Angeles, and is an occupational therapist at the Ayres Clinic, Torrance, California. L. Diane Parham We considered play the key link between sensory integration and occupational behavior approaches. Most behavioral scientists would agree that, al though the com plexity of play renders it difficult to define, a basic characteristic of play is that it is intrinsically motivated behavior that is experienced as pleasurable. A more concise definition is not attempted here. Rather, Reilly's view (1) of playas a multidimen- sional sys tem for adaptation to the environment is accepted. Her view is consistent with Vandenberg's approach to playas an integral part of the process underlying tool use and social and motor development (3). A general systems approach was found useful for organizing the complexities of play development in this study. Discussion of play development is limited to the early years of life, but many of the con- cepts presented could be applied to the understanding of human behav- ior throughout the life span. This paper is divided into two sections. Part I aims to synthesize theoretical concepts from both oc- cupational behavior and sensory integration approaches. After a re- view of the two approaches and a discussion of their differences and similarities, a model of play devel- The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 365 Downloaded From: http://ajot.aota.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/journals/ajot/930386/ on 06/18/2017 Terms of Use: http://AOTA.org/terms