We want to immerse ourselves in what playtherapy means and how it can ease the hospital visit for sick children. We have chosen to investigate what opportunities the educational environment provides to support and stimulate children's play in hospitals. We want to investigate how the playtherapists reflect on the educational activities and how they plan the game and the environment in which it occurs. We have chosen to focus on three questions that will be answered in this essay: How does the environment promote children's play in the play therapy? How can the educational environment and the play support children in the play therapy activities? How does the play therapists reflect on play within play therapy? To investigate and get answers to our questions, we chose qualitative survey methods wich consists of interviews and observations. We find that these survey methods are the best way to gain relevant answers to our questions. We have chosen to use the psychoanalytic theory based on Maare Tamm's research in our theoretical starting point. In order to understand the importance of play for the individual's psyche and development we have also chosen to bring up the psychoanalytical theory witch many play therapists use in practice. In our result, we have come to the conclusion that the environment is one of the most important components in play therapy. The playtherapists method conducting the play sessions proved to be a developing factor in the development of children.

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study is the development of a Gestalt therapeutic program for conscious, multisensory perception. The program is aimed at children in the age group between eight and twelve years. A qualitative research approach is used with grounded theory as research strategy. Applied research is used with incidental sampling. The objectives as the steps taken to attain the purpose were literature study of the main concepts, the development of the program, and the refinement of the program. A collective energy model is designed to conduct the program in a group of eight children. After the observation of the interaction in the group and feedback by the group members the program was refined in nine sessions. The research was done in the theoretical framework of gestalt play therapy. / Social work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / The researcher is qualified as a pre-school teacher and experiences that pre-schoolers behave negatively at times. The researcher was exposed to playtherapy techniques in post-graduate studies . These techniques could be used by pre-school teachers to handle negative behavior. The question arises if pre-school teachers are already applying these techniques . This question is researched in this study by using research questionnaires . The study was done in and Tshwane. The dissertation consists of five chapters. In the first chapter the research proposal is discussed. The second chapter covers terms like play and playtherapy with reference to the pre-schooler . Chapter three looks at the pre-schooler, pre-school education and negative behavior. In chapter four the results of the research are presented and discussed. In the last chapter, chapter five, conclusions, recommendations, a general conclusion and a closing remark are made. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Theraphy)

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study is the development of a Gestalt therapeutic program for conscious, multisensory perception. The program is aimed at children in the age group between eight and twelve years. A qualitative research approach is used with grounded theory as research strategy. Applied research is used with incidental sampling. The objectives as the steps taken to attain the purpose were literature study of the main concepts, the development of the program, and the refinement of the program. A collective energy model is designed to conduct the program in a group of eight children. After the observation of the interaction in the group and feedback by the group members the program was refined in nine sessions. The research was done in the theoretical framework of gestalt play therapy. / Social work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / The researcher is qualified as a pre-school teacher and experiences that pre-schoolers behave negatively at times. The researcher was exposed to playtherapy techniques in post-graduate studies . These techniques could be used by pre-school teachers to handle negative behavior. The question arises if pre-school teachers are already applying these techniques . This question is researched in this study by using research questionnaires . The study was done in and Tshwane. The dissertation consists of five chapters. In the first chapter the research proposal is discussed. The second chapter covers terms like play and playtherapy with reference to the pre-schooler . Chapter three looks at the pre-schooler, pre-school education and negative behavior. In chapter four the results of the research are presented and discussed. In the last chapter, chapter five, conclusions, recommendations, a general conclusion and a closing remark are made. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Theraphy)

Dyslexia is a difficulty in learning to read and write, with many implications for the children because of emotional and behavioral problems. The suspicion that they might experience problems with sensory integration as well, is confirmed in the literature. The purpose of sensory stimulation in Gestalt playtherapy is to raise the level of awareness of themselves and in this research, playtherapy was done with three primary school children with dyslexia. Information was further obtained through a literature study, semi-structured interviews and observations. It was clear that the sensory stimulation was part of the therapeutic sessions and led to thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. The qualitative characteristics which the sensations had for the children were observed and confirmed by the literature. Conclusions and recommendations were made according to the objectives of the study and this research made an important contribution to understanding the sensory awareness of children with dyslexia. Opsomming Disleksie is `n leergeremdheid met baie implikasies vir die kinders en wat kan lei tot emosionele en gedragsprobleme omdat hulle nie altyd aanvaar word deur hul portuurgroep nie. Die vermoede dat kinders met disleksie ook probleme ondervind met sensoriese integrasie, is in die literatuur bevestig. In hierdie navorsing is Gestaltspelterapie gedoen met drie laerskool kinders met disleksie om die kinders se bewussynsvlak van hulself te verhoog. Inligting is verder ingesamel deur `n literatuurstudie, waarneming en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met kundiges en ouers. Die kwalitatiewe kenmerke wat die sensasies vir die kinders gehad het is waargeneem en dit was duidelik dat die sensoriese stimulasie wat deel van die spelterapiesessies was, aanleiding gegee het tot voorgrondse gedagtes, gevoelens en gedrag. Hierdie waarnemings is in die literatuur bevestig en gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings is volgens die doelwitte gemaak. Gevolglik het hierdie navorsing `n belangrike bydrae gelewer om die sensoriese belewenis van kinders met disleksie beter te verstaan. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Spelterapie)

Dyslexia is a difficulty in learning to read and write, with many implications for the children because of emotional and behavioral problems. The suspicion that they might experience problems with sensory integration as well, is confirmed in the literature. The purpose of sensory stimulation in Gestalt playtherapy is to raise the level of awareness of themselves and in this research, playtherapy was done with three primary school children with dyslexia. Information was further obtained through a literature study, semi-structured interviews and observations. It was clear that the sensory stimulation was part of the therapeutic sessions and led to thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. The qualitative characteristics which the sensations had for the children were observed and confirmed by the literature. Conclusions and recommendations were made according to the objectives of the study and this research made an important contribution to understanding the sensory awareness of children with dyslexia. Opsomming Disleksie is `n leergeremdheid met baie implikasies vir die kinders en wat kan lei tot emosionele en gedragsprobleme omdat hulle nie altyd aanvaar word deur hul portuurgroep nie. Die vermoede dat kinders met disleksie ook probleme ondervind met sensoriese integrasie, is in die literatuur bevestig. In hierdie navorsing is Gestaltspelterapie gedoen met drie laerskool kinders met disleksie om die kinders se bewussynsvlak van hulself te verhoog. Inligting is verder ingesamel deur `n literatuurstudie, waarneming en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met kundiges en ouers. Die kwalitatiewe kenmerke wat die sensasies vir die kinders gehad het is waargeneem en dit was duidelik dat die sensoriese stimulasie wat deel van die spelterapiesessies was, aanleiding gegee het tot voorgrondse gedagtes, gevoelens en gedrag. Hierdie waarnemings is in die literatuur bevestig en gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings is volgens die doelwitte gemaak. Gevolglik het hierdie navorsing `n belangrike bydrae gelewer om die sensoriese belewenis van kinders met disleksie beter te verstaan. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Spelterapie)

This explorative case study was undertaken to uncover how transformative self-discoveries were facilitated through Gestalt playtherapy, enabling agency of a single pre-school participant. Data were captured around the participant's baseline agentic status; emerging agency, facilitated trough the intervention and post-intervention agentic status. A content analysis aided thematic coding. Theme 1 identified inherent agency trends and the agency blocks "what is that". Theme 2 dealt with patterns of active resistance "I don't want to feel / I don't want to know". Theme 3 captured enhanced agentic behaviour "I can and I understand". Through the intervention the participant's entrapped agency was unleashed, leading to an awareness of her `being', enabling her `doing' and thereby allowing her to `become'. Enabled agency increased the participant's active involvement in her life and her engagement in developmental tasks was increased. Implications of the findings support further investigation and application of this intervention. / Educational Studies / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

This explorative case study was undertaken to uncover how transformative self-discoveries were facilitated through Gestalt playtherapy, enabling agency of a single pre-school participant. Data were captured around the participant's baseline agentic status; emerging agency, facilitated trough the intervention and post-intervention agentic status. A content analysis aided thematic coding. Theme 1 identified inherent agency trends and the agency blocks "what is that". Theme 2 dealt with patterns of active resistance "I don't want to feel / I don't want to know". Theme 3 captured enhanced agentic behaviour "I can and I understand". Through the intervention the participant's entrapped agency was unleashed, leading to an awareness of her `being', enabling her `doing' and thereby allowing her to `become'. Enabled agency increased the participant's active involvement in her life and her engagement in developmental tasks was increased. Implications of the findings support further investigation and application of this intervention. / Educational Studies / M. Diac (Play Therapy)