The play room is unique space. It allows the child freedom to safely test boundaries and be in the control seat in a room full of toys. This can sound counterproductive to parents at first. Why would I allow my child who already has issues with challenging behaviours, control based anxiety and poor ability to follow instructions to be in the control seat of a therapy session? Don’t they need more structure and a lesson in compliance? Shouldn’t you be teaching them something?
Children do need structure, and they definitely need an adult to guide them in responsible and safe ways of being, along the way, learning what it means to follow societal rules and expectations. Similar to learning how to drive, there is only so much we can learn through someone explaining how to do it. Without experiencing actually driving there are many skills we couldn’t learn.
This is especially true of children and adolescents, it’s hard to learn the “logical reasoning” part of their brain is yet to develop fully. Experiential learning is held elsewhere in the brain, so the Play room is a great space for learning what can happen when big feelings or challenges arise... Read More