ADHD and play therapy kit. (c2009)

Abstract

This project describes the influence of play therapy on children with ADHD and whether it helps to improve their condition. A pilot study was perfonned on a student who was diagnosed to be an ADHD child. Play capacities and Ludic behavior are described and analyzed in relation to intellectual capacities. Students demonstrate their abilities in the setting of the appropriate scenes on stage and use of miniature characters and objects. The outcome of the work of both groups of students (those on medication and those without medication) in both assessments are carefully observed and recorded. Four out of the six elements of the Ludic attitude, curiosity, initiative, pleasure, and spontaneity are present irrespective of IQ level. The application of the kit helps to determine In each student the presence (or absence) of sense of humor and enjoyment of challenge while applying play/all therapy (Mesier, Ferland & Majnemer, 2007). According to Mesier, et al. (2007) "play performance provides insight into a chi ld's development in physical, cognitive, as well as social domains" (p. 193). The experience of play gives a child sati sfaction and enjoyment allowing himlher to externalize hislher hidden emotions and nmv,<1 an 0ppollunity for him/her to learn and gain knowledge (Mesier, et al. 2007). The kit was created to discover the intellectual capacities of disabled chi ldren who are not on medication and compare their results with those who are on medication to find out how much play/all therapy can be beneficial for both groups of children and find out the level of improvement of their attention span in retaining what they can watch, feel, hear and do. Play perfonnance could be useful for both assessments and treatment of these children and evaluate their abi liti es. The evaluation relies on nonstandardized tools that have been created to assess the abi lities of these children and find out to what extent the kit can be a beneficial intervention in improving and developing their attention. Hence, the objective of this pilot study is to describe the play perfonnance of Lebanese students with intellectual impairments and to determine the association between the intensity of intellectual impairment and play performance. Play perfonnance is comprehensively characterized with respect to developmental level as well as interests, abilities and attitudes of play.