Filial Therapy, What is Play Therapy?

Play is the child's way of expressing himself, who cannot express his feelings and thoughts as well as adults. While the child expresses himself through play, he discovers his environment. He chooses play as a way to communicate with those around him. The fact that play is so important in the child's life and that the child's feelings and conflicts in his inner world are explained through play has revealed the method of play therapy. You can find information about play therapy and filial therapy, which have an important place in child psychology, in the article we prepared for you.

How is Filial Play Therapy Applied?

Filial therapy is basically a method to strengthen the relationship between parent and child. Parents know that they should play with their children, but they are insufficient in how to play and how to communicate with the game. Fillial therapy is a psycho-educational approach that guides parents to strengthen their communication with their child and solve problems through play.

Filial play therapy works to increase trust in the relationship between parents and children in the family. Therefore, it is an effective therapy program for both preventive and problem solving. In the process of filial play therapy, parents learn to establish correct relationships with the child in the play environment with the help of a therapist. After this process, after the appropriate environment is created, home play therapy continues by applying it to daily life in the company of parents. Fillial therapy process strengthens the relationship between the child and the parent, as well as the communication between the spouses.

What Does Play Therapy Gain to the Child?

Play therapy is the process of treating the emotional conflicts, behavioral problems and mental problems that the child experiences in his inner world through games and toys, accompanied by a therapist. In this process, the therapist accepts the child as he is, recognizes his feelings and inner world with games and educational toys. In order to build trust between the therapist and the child during play therapy, it is necessary to offer choices, set boundaries, and be consistent.

The difference of play therapy from daily play is that it is applied in a suitable environment and with play therapy toys in the company of a therapist. The child's attitude during the game and the symbols he creates are interpreted by the therapist. Thus, the expert gets ideas about the child's world based on the game the child sets up and his behaviors in the game. Starting from these ideas, the therapist allows the child to express his feelings and himself.

According to the needs of the child to whom play therapy will be applied, one of the different schools such as experiential play therapy, psychodynamic play therapy, child-centered play therapy, filial therapy is applied as a method. These schools may vary depending on the specialist's field, the therapy environment, the toys used and the needs of the child.

What are the toys used in play therapy?

The first thing that affects the child during Filial Play therapy is the environment. Therefore, the child should feel safe in the therapy room. The structure of the therapy room should be suitable for the child to explore the room as they wish. In this context, toys used in play therapy should contain a variety and should be found in a way that attracts the attention of the child.

Some toys used during play therapy are:

- Babies
- Game house and items
- Kitchen stuff
- Telephone
- Puppets
- Vehicles such as cars, trains, planes
- Doctor set
- Repair kit
- Lego
- Jigsaw
- Musical instruments
- ball
- wooden block
- Play dough
- Paint
- Pen, paper

The toys in the play therapy room should be in safe, easy-to-clean, tidy and stable places where they are all visible.

Play therapy includes studies on communicating with the child and expressing himself/herself by making use of the power of play in the child's world. However, this therapy method, which must be applied by experts trained in the field, is aimed at solving various problems of the child. In addition to the child's problems, play therapy also prevents some problems.