The use of relational skills from play therapy in constructivist therapy

Abstract

Children of every era have played to cope with and make meaning of the often difficult and meaningless situations in their lives. Most children under age ten do not have the abstract reasoning and verbal abilities to clearly express their thoughts, feelings, reactions, and attitudes, and therefore it is much easier for them to use play and toys for communication. Based on the idea that play is the language of children and toys are their words (Landreth, 2002), meaning making occurs in play therapy; when therapists use the basic facilitative skills in play therapy with young children, the children will tell their stories though their play, and thus, play therapy creates a space where the child can resolve his or her problems.
This article presents an introduction to play therapy within a constructivist epistemic framework, integrating elements of child-centered therapy and Adlerian therapy. Its purpose is to show the usefulness of the basic relational skills in play therapy. Its basic principles, requirements of the therapy setting and some techniques are also presented.