Pretend-Play AbilityScore 600–700: Your Next Steps

A Pretend-Play score in this band tells you your child is already weaving little stories — and now you know exactly how to help that imagination grow.

In short

A Pretend-Play AbilityScore in the 600–700 band means your child is showing emerging, developing pretend-play skills — things like feeding a doll, making a toy car "go", or copying everyday actions. This is a band that responds beautifully to gentle, playful support, so the next step is a clinician-guided plan that builds on what your child can already do, rather than a cause for worry. With warm, everyday play and the right encouragement, most children steadily extend their pretend-play into richer, more imaginative stories.

What this band means and where to go next

Pretend-play — feeding a teddy, pretending a block is a phone, acting out "shopping" — is one of the clearest windows into a child's social imagination, language and flexible thinking. A score in this range suggests the building blocks are present and growing, and that targeted, play-based support can help them flourish.

Good next steps:

• Confirm the picture with a clinician. A single ability band is one piece of a much bigger story. A qualified clinician reads it alongside language, social and play development to give you a clear, calm direction.
• Build on the play your child already enjoys. Follow their lead — join in, narrate what's happening, and gently add one new idea ("shall teddy have a drink now?") to stretch the story.
• Pair pretend-play with language and social goals. Pretend-play, talking and turn-taking grow together, so a plan often weaves them into the same playful sessions.
• Coach the everyday. Small, repeatable play routines at home and at nursery turn ordinary moments into rich practice.

When to seek a fuller check

Book a developmental check sooner if your child shows very little spontaneous pretend-play, prefers to line up or spin objects rather than use them in play, rarely imitates everyday actions, or if pretend-play has noticeably slowed or stopped. These are reasons to look more closely with a clinician — not to worry alone.

The Pinnacle way

AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional — never from an app or a number alone. Understand how your child's profile is built in what the AbilityScore is and how it is calculated, explore how play and social communication are nurtured through our speech and language therapy, and start from our home page to find a centre near you. Backed by 2.5 billion+ data points and 25 million+ therapy sessions, support is shaped around your individual child.

Trusted sources

American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org) guidance on play and early development; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association guidance on play, language and social communication; WHO Nurturing Care framework on responsive, play-rich early childhood.

Next step — Want a clear, reassuring plan for your child's pretend-play? Book an assessment with a Pinnacle clinician.

This is general information, not a diagnosis — individual assessment and diagnosis require an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.