The Science of Play Therapy
and interpersonal skills, adaptive behaviors, plasticity, creativity and resilience (Kellman & Radwan, 2021). Science has shown us the truth of play therapy’s impact on the mind, body, and heart.
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Play allows children to grasp social interactions using their natural language of play (Landreth, 2012). Play also contributes to establishing relationships with peers accompanied by the recognition of social rules, instructions, and causality, and allows children to explore their emotions through games, sharing, and acceptance in peer groups
14 | PLAYTHERAPY | June 2022 |
www.a4pt.org
| PERIDOT GILBERT-REED, LPC-S, RPT
lay therapy myths abound: “You just sit around and play games the whole time.”; “Why would a child come to play here when they can play at home?”; “Play therapy is not real therapy.” Fortunately, neuroscientists have
(Genç & Çakmak Tolan, 2021). Play therapy, whether individual or in a group, helps moderate externalized behaviors like physical or verbal aggression (Ritzi et al., 2017; Blalock et al., 2019).
In addition to improving children’s social knowledge, play also has the language of play to express themselves and learn from social and emotional cues, to help moderate emotions, develop empathy and the ability to take another’s perspective, and improve self-control (Agarwal & Ray, 2019; Genç & Çakmak Tolan, 2021; Hashmi et al., 2020).
caregivers, which is the result of a synchronization between a child’s genetic receptiveness and the emotional environment provided by
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