Question

Sophia is a 4-year-old girl that has just started preschool. She is very anxious at home and her parents have noticed that she becomes very clingy and fearful in situations outside of the home. Her preschool teacher reports that Sophia does not often play with other children and when she does she can often be aggressive with them. The family is not sure why she is behaving this way or what to do about it. A friend of the family has a child that also had some problem behavior and found play therapy very helpful. The friend mentioned to Sophia’s parents that they might want to consider play therapy for Sophia. Sophia’s father responds to this suggestion by saying, “I am not going to pay money and take time for Sophia to go somewhere and play. She has plenty of toys at home. She can play here for free.”

1. explain to Sophia’s father why play therapy is not just paying money to play with someone and why it can be beneficial. Discuss some of the techniques the therapist might use with Sophia and how they may be helpful. Explain to Sophia’s mother and father what role they might play in this therapy as well.

Answer 1

Answer: Play therapy is not just paying money to play with someone but also it influences the nature of the child. When Sophia will get chance to interact with the other children and play with them, it will build up confidence in her. The play therapy will boost up her confidence and ability to interact with other children. It will make her to cope up and tackle different situations and make her life easy at school also.

The therapist knows how to handle these kind of kids, as she will indulge her playing games which is favorite of Sophia, or make her watch television where she will be able to entertain herself. These things has to be introduced slowly as sudden changes in the environment can make Sophia more aggressive.