outdoor play area is also paramount to augment the indoor area. The physical and emotional development is no less important as cognitive development. Children enjoy playing outside; therefore, confining a child to a hospital bed for the duration of his or her recovery would stifle the recovery progress and make a traumatic experience an emotional nightmare. A child that is surrounded by medical equipment in his or her hospital room may develop anxiety and fear that can slow recovery (Arkansas Children’s Hospital, 2016). It must be conveyed to the stakeholders that a natural play area may improve the recovery time of a child suffering from injuries. Children involved in serious injuries may have a sibling that visits him or her in the hospital. The hospital may be just as frightening for the sibling as it is for the injured child. A hospital that has a common outdoor play area could alleviate the emotional stress for the siblings visiting loved ones in the hospital. In fact, stress can be a definitive barrier to wellness and recuperating (Feldman, 2016). A hospital that has an outdoor play area could use this area for young siblings to meet, instead of in a room full of medical equipment. An outside play area for a hospital would have to be planned meticulously for safety concerns. It should not be open to the general public and should only be accessed through the hospital. The play area, weather covered or not, would be sensitive to bad weather and daylight hours;
Play is the universal language of children and allows children to express their emotions and individual responses to stressful situations. Play allows children to recreate crucial events that they have experienced and provides the child with a sense of control over the outcome of their play. The presence of a non-directive adult observer during play provides a companion for the child to recall difficult experiences and memories. Medical play is a way for children to work through the process of stressful medical experiences, where children cope with stressful healthcare experiences and can achieve mastery by creating positive outcomes in play. It is vital to understand coping strategies of children, since these approaches may affect their future reactions to healthcare situations. Children who have a sibling with a chronic illness can experience vicarious medical distress and their lives can be impacted by their siblings’ chronic illness. The researchers’ aim of this study was to observe and compare the reactions to medical trauma through play of children with medical illnesses, siblings of children with medical illness, and children who were healthy and did not have family members who were ill.
play therapy experiences for children to help reduce anxiety and fear. Additionally, they can help
When I think about the word “play therapy”, I think of it as a tool or a way to help out another individual or child express their anxieties and conflicts through play in a therapeutic setting. In class, the introductory handout on “Playful Thoughts” was a useful way to capture moments from childhood that would emphasize either happy or unhappy play memories. From one of the questions in the handout, a moment I would never forget would be when I accidentally stapled my hand at the age of four, when I was trying to staple a couple of pages back to a coloring book. A couple of students in class discussed their experience; and their experiences were mixed, as in some described happier moments, while others discussed sadder moments. In class we
Therapeutic play, (including play therapy) , is a well established discipline predicated upon a number of psychological theories. Research, both qualitative and quantitative shows that it is highly efficacious in many cases. Recent research by PTUK, an organisation affiliated to PTI, suggests that 71% of the children referred to play therapy will show a positive change. A safe, confidential and caring environment is engendered which sanctions the child to play with as few limits as possible but as many as indispensable (for physical and emotional safety). This sanctions rejuvenating to occur on many calibers following our natural inner trend towards health. Play and ingeniousness operate on impulses from outside our cognizance - the insensate.
However, the nature of play is a key ingredient, according to Brown, in assuring that play is therapeutic or addressing the traumatic event. On specification of this is the difference between structured (adult-directed) and non-structured (child-directed) play and the subsequent benefits of organic interactions in which the children are expressive and promote self-regulation, needed for healing.
Play therapy works by offering the child new understanding of his behavior, problems and through this awareness helps the child to refocus his development (O’Connell, 2001).
Play is the universal language of children. Children need play in their everyday life in order to meet developmental needs, regardless of hospitalization status. School-age children can benefit from play in the hospital because it helps to normalize the environment, facilitate emotional outlets for expression, and enhance a child’s understanding of medicine/the hospital environment (Thompson, 2009a). According to Thompson, systematically providing therapeutic play opportunities to children are beneficial (2009a). Types of developmentally appropriate play for school-age children include, but are not limited to, exposure to novel activities, appropriate interactions with peers and materials (e.g. board games, air hockey, etc.), experiments, and health-related play (Thompson, 2009b). Research shows that school-age patients who received child life services in conjunction with pet therapy had a more positive affect post-intervention (Kaminski, Pellino & Wish, 2002). Providing child life services and opportunities for developmentally appropriate play helped to positively impact the school-age patient’s mood and emotional adjustment in the hospital. Facilitating the opportunity for patients to play hands-on with dogs was therapeutic, and provided a homelike atmosphere for patients (Kaminski et al.,
Some types of play involve taking risks, which can lead to unintentional injury. Although there is the factor of risk, these forms of play are vital to children’s developmental process (Brussoni, Olsen, Pike & Sleet, 2012). The main type of play likely to lead to injury is physical play, described by Brussoni, et al. (2012) as “rough-and-tumble” play (p. 3136). Physical play can involve over-the-top rowdy activities that have the potential to cause injury (Brussoni, et al., 2012). A child benefits from this kind of play as it helps them to form friendships, develop their mental and intellectual capabilities and learn their limits amongst many other important areas of their development. If a child’s opportunity to take part in risky play is
Hall, Tara M., Heidi Gerard Kaduson, and Charles E. Schaefer. "Fifteen Effective Play Therapy Techniques." Pegasus. Pegasus, 2009. Web. May 2017. .
Children mostly express their thoughts and feelings through play, unlike adults who do so through talking. In the process of their play, Blank (2007) states that they will reveal past experiences and ordeals they might have undergone, an indication that their experiences will be shown up through their play behaviors. Giving children an opportunity to play is one way of helping them solves the difficult problems they may have and overcome the challenges they
The therapist that play with children is knowledgeable on what is appropriate for the child to play with. Every age is catered to, and sometimes they sit with the children or go to their room. There are even games that allow the children to meet other children patients, and they play as a group. This is important, socializing is a form of sharing experiences, and healing emotionally by playing. Children have a lot of energy in them, especially when feeling back to their normal selves. The study (Tessier et al., 2016) conducted, share that “play, as a mental activity, facilitates the integration of experiences and the regulation of emotions”, and children are absolutely not exempt from not feeling scared, sad, nor uncertain. “It has also been suggested that play is an antecedent of sociocognitive understanding”, which shows that they perform what they see in real life. Playing dress-up to imitate an admired adult in their life, or a character in the fictional world is not uncommon. Children like playing with what feels familiar to them, and pretending to cook like a parent does for them, is comforting. Strolling while taking care of a play doll, is also well mocked by children. Some hospitals offer a variety of dress-up clothes, these pieces may resemble a super hero or an accessory that resembles a type of person. Children make up a fantasy world when playing, even when imitating a real-life event, which lets the adults see the understanding these children have, of what they
There have been various nonpharmacological strategies proposed to relieve pain in hospitalized children, and a central element of several of these strategies is play. The empirical research of play in the healthcare setting has not received much attention, however these authors believed that children during the postsurgical period would manifest less pain if they were refocused with play. This study aimed to determine the effect of a hospital program to promote play on postsurgical pain in pediatric patients. The authors believed that children distracted by play during the postsurgical period would manifest less pain than those who were not distracted by play during the postsurgical period. 95 patients (ages 1-7 years) who met predetermined criteria were eligible and participated in the study. The study contained both an experimental group and a control group and participants were randomly
Play Therapy eases communication, provide creative solutions, and reconnect a child to their normal life style. Play therapy plays a big part of hospitalized children’s stay. It is a phenomenal treatment tool for children. Most researchers encourage play therapy and believe that it should be utilized within hospital facility. Play therapy brings a close communicational relationship between the child and therapist. It is a healthy development for children mental development. Play helps create interpersonal skills, enhance creativity and power. Play is a body, mind and soul connection that reaches a child’s need to communicate without words. Play teaches a child how to adapt. It enables a child to master anxiety, externalized problems and conflicts, rehearse new solutions, and turn from passive to active roles in conflict resolution. (Kaminski, Pellino, Wish, 2002) The goal of play therapy is to help children with self-control to understand and cope with illness, surgery, hospitalization, treatments, and procedures. Also, the goals of play therapy meet the emotional needs of children in the hospital by getting to know your child, giving him or her a chance to express himself or herself, and allowing him or her to adjust to being in the hospital through play
Medical play is a technique used by child life specialists to decrease fear and help children’s dealing with hospitalizations and procedures. In medical play, children are given the chance to play and explore common medical supplies; such as stethoscope, thermometers, medical dolls, and photographs that they may encounter in medical procedures. Preparation can help children experience less anxious about surgery and get through the recovery period faster. For example, Mahajan, Wyllie, Steffen, Kay, Kitaoka, Dettorre, and McGue (1998) found that children who were prepared for an endoscopy with the use of a photographs and doll were “less anxious, more cooperative, and needed less sedation during the procedure” (Goldberger, Luebering, Mohl and
Nowadays, more and more children have obesity compare to the children in thirty years ago. The research showed that children who have obesity in their early age may cause either short-term or long-term consequence. The short-term consequence for the obesity children include low self-esteem and the long-term consequence includes asthma and heart disease. (CDC) The best way to prevent these is to encourage children do at least one hour physical exercise a day within the trained instructor guided. ( Epstein 2014) My paper is mainly focused on how my curriculum promote physical development in a child care center.