V05-08, V05-09, V05-10, V05-11

When children experience emotional upset or trauma, their problems are sometimes made worse by well-meaning adults who either don’t notice their distress or insist that they express themselves through an adult medium: verbal language. Play therapy, on the other hand, recognizes that imaginative play is the mode of expression most comfortable and natural to children and focuses on helping them express their emotions. A form of psychodynamic treatment, play therapy takes for granted the fact that, once aided in expression, children are able to resolve their anxieties themselves.

The equipment of play therapy is simple and familiar. Dolls, play dishes, soldiers, stuffed animals, and sandboxes all have their place in the play therapy room. The job of the therapist, however, is a bit more challenging, because he or she must refrain from guiding the child in a particular direction or asking pointed questions. The therapist’s task is partly to observe the child’s play and recognize the child’s emotions and help bring them to expression. The second, very important, task is for the therapist to accept the child unconditionally.

A well-known example of successful play therapy is documented in Dr. Virginia Axline’s book Dibs in Search of Self. Dibs is an emotionally disturbed 5-year-old whose teachers fear he may have brain damage. In his play therapy sessions with Dr. Axline, however, a different picture emerges. Dibs’ play with a dollhouse and several dolls reveals that he feels cut off from his family and that he is angry with them for locking him in his room. This theme is repeated in play with animals in the room’s sandbox; he frees them from captivity again and again. During the sessions, Dr. Axline is careful not to express preference for any of Dibs’ activities, and most of her comments are simply reflecting back to him what he has just said. Additionally, through her choices to help him express his anger rather than offering him comfort in it, Dr. Axline fosters in Dibs a sense of emotional independence. At the end of the case study, Dibs has emerged as a content, intelligent, compassionate child.

1. According to the passage, which of the following is a reason that play therapists help disturbed children express their emotions?

(a) Children express themselves through a different medium than adults.
(b) Children sometimes experience emotional upset or trauma.
(c) The therapist’s task is to accept the child unconditionally.
(d) Therapists observe children’s behavior and recognize the emotions being expressed.
(e) Children can resolve their own anxieties once they have been aided in expression.


2. It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers play therapy to be a

(a) sound and useful approach to helping emotionally disturbed children
(b) pleasant and diverting way for children to spend their time
(c) new and exciting way of understanding the experience of childhood
(d) hazardous but necessary method of reaching out to troubled children
(e) universally applicable solution to all problems with children’s behavior


3. Which of the following best describes the relationship of paragraph 3 to paragraph 2?

(a) New information is introduced that qualifies earlier statements.
(b) An exception to previously stated rules is discussed.
(c) Important concepts detailed beforehand are rephrased in briefer form.
(d) General principles introduced earlier are expanded using a specific example.
(e) Concepts essential to further study of the subject are outlined.


4. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(a) convince the reader that adults often misunderstand children.
(b) discuss the goals and procedures of a form of psychological treatment.
(c) demonstrate the effectiveness of an approach using examples.
(d) relate the history of an emotionally disturbed child.
(e) offer guidance to adults who wish to better understand children.