How Does Play Therapy Improve the Cognitive and Social Functions of Young Children?

How Does Play Therapy Improve the Cognitive and Social Functions of Young Children?

This essay will discuss how play therapy improves the cognitive and social functions of young children. A brief review of child development theories and how these underpin play therapy will be done. A critical analysis of published literature on play therapy and its impact on child development will then be presented. Finally, a conclusion summarising the key points raised in this essay will be presented.

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Child Development Theories and Play Therapy

Piaget’s theory proposes that cognitive development of children occurs in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages (Nevid, 2008). Piaget observes that very young children engage in general patterns of behaviour once they are at play.

These include being fascinated with objects, covering objects, filling or emptying containers, transporting objects and connecting them together. Crowley (2014) explains that these behaviours are known as schemas. As children assimilate new experiences and accommodate learning, these schemas will help them to make sense of the world around them (Crowley, 2014).

Hence, allowing children to play and explore will help them develop a schema of their environment (Keenan and Evans, 2009). Piaget’s theory helps to underpin play therapy since it acknowledges that play will help children to construct knowledge and develop cognitive abilities.

For instance, in the sensorimotor stage, providing children with a treasure basket will expose very young children to a wealth of sensory stimuli (Shaffer and Kipp, 2009).

In turn, this will promote cognitive development as children become acquainted with different sounds, shape, colour, taste and texture of toys. Children, according to Piaget, develop through assimilation or through using an existing schema to make sense of a new situation or object (Shaffer and Kipp, 209).

This is then followed by accommodation when existing schema has to be changed in order to deal with a new situation.

As children continue to develop, new information is quickly assimilated based on existing schema. Piaget explained that equilibrium is reached when children learn to deal with new information through assimilation. Meanwhile, Vygotsky’s theory proposes that social interaction is crucial in the cognitive development of children (Shaffer and Kipp, 2009).

He suggests that social, linguistic and interpersonal factors all play a role in the mental development of children. In this theory, social interaction during play is critical in developing cognitive learning. It has been shown that during play, social………….