Play is now widely recognised as being beneficial in the emotional
development of children. It has a therapeutic value. With the
growth of play therapy, play work and the use of therapeutic play skills
there is widespread confusion about the roles of each and the skills
required to be a proficient practitioner.
PTIrl uses definitions of each of the main terms originally developed by
PTUK. They are
related graphically to each other in the Therapeutic Play Continuum
diagram.
The Applications of Play and Therapy
The main therapeutic applications of play and psychology based therapies are:
Therapeutic Play Continuum
Since there are overlaps between each application they may best be considered on a
therapeutic continuum to deal with differing levels of severity of
emotional, behavioural and mental health problems in children.
The Therapeutic Play Continuum has been used as the basis of the play therapy
Profession Structure Model (PSM).
