Child Behavioral Therapy: an overview of the use of play strategies

Abstract

Child therapy based on the principles of Behavior Analysis has undergone theoretical and conceptual advances that have led it to encompass broader contexts than just problem behavior, addressing private behaviors and increasing child participation in the therapeutic process. The use of play strategies is a way of helping the child to be included in the therapy, making the process more fun and dynamic, facilitating the obtaining of relevant data, among other benefits. The present research aimed to produce knowledge about the use of play strategies by child behavior therapists through a form. Twenty-seven behavioral psychologists who work with children participated in the study. The results indicated that the participants used a wide variety of resources from intervention to the end of therapy, with objectives related to emotional expression, strengthening of the therapeutic bond, among others. These data corroborate the clinical literature regarding the importance of the use of recreational resources in session and well-established objectives for such resources, based on the functional evaluation of each case.