Hello, I am Psychologist Rumeysa Topgül. Based on the feedback from you and my clients, I will meet with you on this platform with my articles at regular intervals whenever I have time. I will tell you the answers to your questions about Child-Centered Play Therapy, a pioneering technique that I use and adopt with great pleasure when working with children. Child-Centered Play Therapy, founded by Garry LANDRETH, is the most researched and most established school of play therapy techniques. It is effective for all children's problems except organic disorders between the ages of 2-12. Although average sessions are in the range of 12-18 sessions, they may last longer depending on existing problems or problems that may arise over time in therapy. It is also useful to explain what we mean by organic disorders. Organic problems are neurological problems such as MR, ASD, ADHD, and SLD that require special training. Play therapy only works in treating the reflected problem caused by these disorders, not in treating these disorders.
So what psychological problems does this therapy technique heal in children?
Eating problems, sleep and speech problems. All these issues that reflect on us as relational problems, defecation problems, boundary problems, school problems, behavioral problems are the area of interest of Child Centered Play Therapy. Child-Centered Play Therapy gets to the root problem underlying the problem reflected in the above headings and treats it. The same problem may occur as different behavioral patterns. Every child is special and their needs are different.
What are the root problems that are the basis of the reflected problems? Root problems; There may be trauma issues, parenting attitudes, stress issues and needs issues. Parental attitudes, divorce, moving, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, primary and secondary needs of the child are some of the subheadings.
Playing games is for the child exactly what chatting and talking is for adults. Play is the child's language. The function of Child-Centered Play Therapy is to heal the child by using his/her language. When we talk about today's children, unfortunately, we may not be able to meet their secondary needs due to their living standards. play games for kids We may not be able to provide suitable environments where children can move freely, explore and express their emotions. By the way, it is worth remembering that the free time period for secondary school age children is 2 hours, for primary school age 3 hours and for kindergarten age 5 hours. The game is like a rehearsal of the life where the child prepares for the future and puts himself into every role. Taking away play from a child is the same as taking away a child's development. The world average shows us that children play for 5 minutes with their mothers and only 50 seconds with their fathers. However, spending half an hour playing time with children from the age of 2 will be enough for them. Play therapy finds itself at the intersection between the child's inner world and outer world, and in this area, it meets the child's needs through play, enabling the child to get out what is inside him, to realize it, to restore it and to cope with it. If your child has the problems mentioned above that last for at least a month, it means that your child is giving you signals, just like the problems in our body. It is a situation that should not be neglected and you should definitely consult a play therapist.
Finally, it is useful to mention one more tip: letting your child play without guidance, allowing this and reflecting your child's feelings, words and behaviors back to him/her. It should be one of the important attitudes you should acquire as a parent. I hope my article contains sufficient answers to the questions you have in mind. Stay healthy and goodbye.
Read: 0
