Role of Play Therapy in Enhancing Social Skills and Emotional Regulation among Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Intellectual disabilities (IDs) are often accompanied by multiple deficits in adaptive functioning, beyond cognitive functioning, affecting the abilities of social interaction and emotional self-regulation. Play therapy has been suggested as a developmentally appropriate alternative to verbal interventions, as these children do not have the verbal and abstract-reasoning skills that many interventions rely on, to build relational competence and self-regulation. This article covers the theoretical underpinnings of using play as a medium for development and therapy, reviews the primary models of play therapy adapted for children with intellectual disabilities, and reviews the empirical evidence surrounding the use of play in social skill acquisition and emotional regulation. The review summarizes the basic developmental theories, the meta-analytical evidence from the general play therapy literature, and outcome research studies with intellectually disabled children to support a theory-based, evidence-based pathway for children with ID to rehearse social reciprocity, externalize emotional distress, and develop concrete emotional regulation strategies through play therapy. The implications for clinical and classroom practice and recommendations for future, more powerful studies investigating the population are provided at the end of the article.

Keywords: Play Therapy, Intellectual Disability, Social Skills, Emotional Regulation, Child-Centered Play Therapy, Theraplay