Child-Centered Play Therapy as an Intervention for Children With Autism: A Literature Review

Child-Centered Play Therapy as an Intervention for Children With Autism: A Literature Review

Heidi Hillman

In this article, Hillman talks about the effects that play therapy has on children with autism. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face many challenges such as communication deficits, responding inappropriately, difficulty building friendships, etc. Child-centered play therapy was looked at as one of the solutions for children with ASD. Child-centered play means that the child is in control of everything and they are focused on the relationship between child and therapist. 42 different studies have shown that child-centered play therapy is highly effective in solving many of the deficits that children with ASD face. A study was done with 5 children ranging from 6-8 years old over a 13 week treatment period. The children engaged in play therapy sessions for 30 minutes twice weekly and after the treatment period, the parents were given an assessment. 4 out of 5 of the children were seen to have significant improvements in behavior from when they began the play therapy. Although these trials resulted in great findings and conclusions for the children, it is still not known whether play therapy is fully responsible for the improvements in behaviors in the children with ASD. Play therapy was not fully isolated as the sole treatment and so full conclusions cannot be made. The article concludes with the statement that more research needs to be done to determine if child-centered play therapy is a solution to behavioral deficits.

Hillman, H. (2018). Child-centered play therapy as an intervention for children with autism: A literature review. International Journal of Play Therapy, 27(4), 198–204. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000083