Essay On Play Therapy

Play therapy is a counseling technique that uses objects such as toys, clay, or sand trays to help both adults and children solve problems that they may face on a daily basis. Play therapy also promotes social development. During play therapy sessions, the counselors observe and reflect the child’s behavior. Since children cannot verbally express their feelings like adults, play therapy is very effective for them because it allows them to express themselves through toys. The more I work with children during the after school hours in my community, the more I become interested in becoming a registered play therapist. I remember several incidents when I was a little girl growing up in grade school. I only acted out what I saw my parents
The child began the session by playing with the sand tray. The girl pretended that the sand was ice cream and gave it to the counselor. After the child gave the counselor some ‘ice cream’, she screamed and told the counselor do not eat it’. In addition, I immediately noticed that she pretends to be a teacher. The girl told the counselor that kids who wear a certain color were troubled children. After the girl told the counselor about what troubled children wear, she told the counselor that she was in trouble and that she was calling her parents. In my opinion, most children will play teacher and I do not see that as a bad thing. After the child ‘called the counselor parents’, she immediately began arguing with a ‘significant other’. At this point, I was thinking her mother was talking adult talk around her. While the child was on the play phone with a ‘significant other’, she was stating, “So you cheating on me with your girlfriend”. “You must be having sex with her”. After I heard what the child said, I was shocked because I have never witnessed a child expressing herself in that manner in front of an adult. In addition, the child pretends to be on the phone with the other ‘girlfriend’. The child stated, “That is my baby daddy”. “I will call the police”. The child argues with the ‘girlfriend’ continuously for three more minutes.