Behavioral Health Articles
Play Therapy, Part I
by Semra Kecelioglu, LCSW
Most of us know that being a child and playing go hand in hand. But if a child needs counseling, Play Therapy effectively helps her “tell” and work through experiences that may be the cause of troubling behaviors. So what can a therapist do for a child just by playing with her? “I play with my child all the time and he still has nightmares,” some parents may think, or, “Play is just a waste of time; my kid isn’t accomplishing anything to help him in real life,” or, “Play Therapy is just a hoax to take your money.”
If we think about how central an activity play is for children, that they do it at all times and places, and that it is their natural form of communication, we begin to notice that playing is not just for fun but allows a child to accomplish very important things. “What things?” “Why do they have to play to do that?” “Why can’t they just talk to communicate?”
A child’s world is made up of concrete realities. He is not fully capable of abstract thinking until about age 11. A small child is not yet fluent with language. A child, still developing the ability to think and speak, is not able to focus on the intensity of what she feels in a way that she can express well enough using words. A child has to digest new information and experiences every day while his own brain, body, and emotional capabilities are changing. During play a child uses bodily senses and movement with objects that can be seen and held but are often symbols for something else. “Through the manipulation of toys, the child can show more adequately than through words how he feels about himself and the significant persons and events in his life,” states child psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott. He can make his inner world visible. Children explore and orient themselves to the world of space and time through play.
Before age 11 children have difficulty sitting still for long periods. If they are expected to, they have to focus energy on this non-productive activity. In play, however, they discharge energy, practice and prepare for life’s duties, relieve frustrations, get physical contact, appropriately discharge the need to compete and be aggressive, and learn to get along with others. They can exercise and develop their imaginations freely. Children express their individuality and personality in play, as well as learning to draw on inner resources. Most importantly, play provides a way of changing what may be unmanageable in real life to something manageable through symbolic representation. Different ways to cope can be explored. Garry Landreth, a play therapy researcher, says that time spent in play may be one of the few periods during childhood when children feel more in control, thus more secure. A child who is allowed to play freely has a chance to act out situations that are disturbing, conflicting, and confusing.
Important differences were seen in the way adults and children expressed themselves and coped in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Adults tended to talk about their experiences over and over. Children who went through the same experiences expressed their reactions through their play. They built towers out of blocks and crashed make-believe airplanes into them. They constructed toy buildings that burned and crashed to the ground and made wailing sounds for sirens; people figures were killed, and the ones who were injured were rescued in toy ambulances.
Semra Kecelioglu, LCSW, is a clinical social worker for Franziska Racker Centers at the McEvoy Center, OCM-BOCES in Cortland. She also has a private practice at Copeland Ave. Associates in Homer.