| Children’s pretend play is a complex phenomenon. Pretend play involves a myriad of processes and behaviors that change from moment to moment. Does pretend play have important functions in child development, or is it simply something children engage in to pass the time—albeit while having fun? This is a central question in the field of child psychology today. It is an especially important question for child therapists. Practitioners of a variety of theoretical persuasions use play in working with children. As of 1992, play in some form was used in child therapy by a majority of clinicians, according to Koocher and D’Angelo (1992), who stated that “play-oriented therapy remains the dominant and most enduring approach to child treatment ... practiced by clinicians (p. 458). Many therapists use play because it is a natural activity and form of communication of young children. Also, different theoretical schools stress the importance of pretend play in the therapy process. Psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, client-centered (nondirective) approaches, and cognitive-behavioral approaches as well, have proposed that change occurs in the child through the process of play. |