Children may not have the words that adults do to help themselves express their feelings. Many times children express their feelings in ways that adults find hard to understand. They may cry and withdraw. They may lash out at others, including schoolmates, siblings, and parents.
Play therapy has been used as a treatment of choice for young children since the early 1900's. Play Therapy is implemented in mental health, school, agency, developmental, hospital, residential and recreational settings with clients of all ages (Carmichael, 2006, Reddy, Files-Hall & Schaefer, 2005). The field of play therapy has a history of more than 60 years of continuous research. The strength of play therapy research appears to be in the history of and continued ability to conduct successful play therapy studies in natural real-world settings of schools, hospitals, clinics, and shelters. (Ray, 2006).
For more information on play therapy, visit a4pt.org.