Research Paper on:
Toddlers and Play Therapy

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
with their children about the rights and wrongs of parenting. Even the most accomplished parents are not exempt from making mistakes that will take root within a childs psyche  and unwittingly program him for certain difficulties later in life; when this occurs, psychological therapy is often sought as a means by which to deprogram such imbedded characteristics. Toddlers,  however, present an even greater challenge with regard to unmasking issues that cause introspective or antisocial behavior; in these cases, play therapy - "a technique whereby the childs natural means  of expression, namely play, is used as a therapeutic method to assist him/her in coping with emotional stress or trauma" (Anonymous, 2002) - is employed so that the child can  be free to express himself in the natural state of release that children innately understand. II. THE BIRTH OF PLAY THERAPY Virginia Axline was the first recognize the severe  limitations placed upon children who are compelled to express themselves by way of adult methods, namely by speech alone. The fact that children do not possess a strong command  of language during their toddler years creates overwhelming pressure when their parents train them to use expressive communication through a verbal approach, which is a method of communicating that children  have yet to master. Discouraged from acting out their various needs for communication, such as through play with inanimate objects and other children, they soon learn to repress their  natural instincts and become unable to express themselves at all (Axline, 1947). Axlines (1947) use of play therapy in the 1940s served as a precedence setting breakthrough in the  field of abnormal behavior, inasmuch as it provided a calculable and accurate understanding of what happens when children are molded into certain social boxes without concern for the most beneficial