Play therapies for children with Down syndrome

It is clear that in recent decades there has been a great increase in awareness of diversity ways in which human beings can perceive reality and feel the experiences of reality life. In addition, going to psychotherapy has also become much normalized, something that less than a century ago meant suffering a stigma associated with mental health problems.

However, today there is a paradox: many of those who believe that the idea that anyone may need to go to a psychologist should be normalized, take it for granted that what is done during these sessions is to talk and reflect on very abstract concepts... Without realizing that this implies ignoring the reality of many people with intellectual limitations or verbal. Play therapies applied to children with Down's Syndrome is a clear example of this, since it shows the extent to which psychological intervention can be adapted to realities very diverse and call into question what is often taken for granted about the work of health professionals mental.

What are play therapies?

As its name indicates, play therapies are forms of psychotherapeutic intervention that are developed through play as a means; however, as they are intended as a therapeutic resource, fun and leisure are not the fundamental objective here, and in any case they appear as a secondary consequence, a by-product. The main purpose is support the proper development of cognitive skills and emotional management by taking advantage of the resources offered by a playful context, by creating an environment of trust, security and free expression with the help of objects and narrative elements provided by the therapist.

In this sense, play therapies have not been specifically designed to treat children. with Down syndrome, and it is normal for them to be applied to minors with various problems and needs.

However, among children who have developed this genetic alteration, it is especially important, and it adapts very well to the limitations of someone who has little ability to process very abstract concepts or articulate and understand sentences more or less complex. It must not be forgotten that Down syndrome presents with varying degrees of intelligence impairment, and while some little ones need relatively little special attention, others are totally unable to speak or understand sentences simple.

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What are the benefits of play therapy in children with Down syndrome?

The main pillars of play therapy intervention are three, corresponding to the type of skills and aptitudes that contribute to training. They are the following:

• Expression and communication
• learning about the world
• self knowledge

In this sense, the most important benefits that play therapies provide to children with Down syndrome are the following:

1. Socialization

The game is a great way to train basic social skills based on a series of rules based on a narrative fiction. In other words, it creates a “proving ground” in which to experiment and practice in a simpler reality than what exists outside of the game framework. And also, the fact of associating the game with having a good time makes the little ones open up more to others, whether they are other boys and girls or the therapist himself.

• You may be interested in: "Social skills in childhood: what are they and how to develop them?"

2. Practice of body language

Play provides opportunities to behave differently from those dictated by the social conventions to which even young children are subject to a greater or lesser extent. This allows them to be encouraged to dance, sing, practice non-verbal communication, etc.

3. Helps develop symbolic expression

All forms of languages ​​are based on symbolic expression, and even people with very limited communication skills often have the ability to think in relatively abstract terms. Therefore, another of the benefits of play therapy for children with Down syndrome consists of act as a bridge between that ability to think about concepts, on the one hand, and the possibility of expressing them through symbols. The game provides symbolic elements that can be reviewed and resignified by the little ones. In the same way, it provides materials for artistic expression.

4. Helps improve learning skills

Learning to play is also an experience through which children learn about their ability to learn; offers puzzles, riddles with clues, challenges to solve by creating narrative arcs, etc. And all this without having to reflect without doing anything more than that, but through interaction with the environment.

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Do you want to train in psychological assistance for people with Down syndrome?

If you are interested in learning more about how to use play therapies to promote cognitive and emotional development in children with Down syndrome, we invite you to know the Master in Diagnosis and Intervention in Down Syndrome from Edeca Formación.

This program is designed for professionals and students seeking to specialize in the field of Down syndrome and learn practical tools to support the development of children with this condition. Beam click here for more information and to enroll today.