About Educational Play Therapy

Introduction
Play helps children in hospital
The aims of the Educational Play Therapy Department
Mission Statement

Introduction

Educational Play 1 Hospitals can be difficult places for young children and their families to be. In hospital, children may find strange faces, different routines, strange beds and equipment, limited family contact, unfamiliar surroundings, different smells, food and sounds.

Illness itself, can produce stress in all of us and when hospitalisation is added to illness, that stress is increased. Studies have shown that hospital experiences can seriously influence a child's development. Negative hospital experiences can interfere with a child's rehabilitation and recuperation and can inhibit normal growth and development.

Caring for a child's psycho-social state is vital for normal growth and development. It is not unusual for a child to react to being in hospital by expressions of protest such as crying, tantrums, shaking, thumb sucking, bed wetting, refusing to eat, being withdrawn and rejecting the adults around them. They may also exhibit signs of restlessness, exhaustion, regression from known developmental stages, depression, apathy and dissociative reactions such as amnesia.

All of these reactions are common in hospitalised children but can be worked through with the child to help the child better cope with their situation. Play, a familiar activity for most children, is a way to help children with issues they may have around hospitals and hospitalisations. It can also help to reduce stress in a child.

Play helps children in hospital to:

Adjust to a strange environment.
Involve themselves in activities they enjoy and are familiar with and which are important for continued learning and development.
Express their concerns about being in hospital.
Familiarise them with hospital staff and their roles.
Cope with hospital routines.
Learn about their illness and how to cope with treatments.
Meet and get to know other children.
As well as providing normal play activities for hospitalised children, Educational Play Therapists may be able to offer diversion/distraction for children undergoing treatment, medical preparation through play and medical play activities.

The aims of the Department of Educational Play Therapy are:

To make hospitalisation a positive experience for children and their families
To minimise anxiety and stress experienced by children in an unfamiliar setting
To enhance the patients' emotional, social, physical and cognitive growth in the context of their family, culture and stage of development
To enhance understanding of medical experiences for children
To help children continue everyday living experiences as much as possible
To foster normal growth and development of hospitalised children through play and life experiences
To prepare children for admission to hospital and medical procedures.

Mission Statement

This series of statements has been developed by Educational Play Therapists working with children and families at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, to provide a framework for critical reflection related to ethical responsibilities and clinical practice, a guide for professional behaviour, and principles to inform individual and collective decision making.

Children have been repositioned as citizens with entitlements and rights due to significant changes in practice and understandings of childhood. They are seen as competent and capable, able to participate in the negotiation of their medical experiences, framed within their own learning and social experiences.

For those who work as Educational Play Therapists the notion of lifelong learning, reflective practice, researching with children, new methods of documenting and assessing children’s interactions and experiences, and collaborating within and across other discipline boundaries has become part of everyday practice and professional development. Within that practice, Educational Play Therapists advocate on behalf of children and their families within the medical context.

These statements have been developed with the understanding that children manage best within their family structure. They bring with them unique prior and existing knowledge, and a diversity of experiences and identities. Additional to a focus on the development of the individual child, the basis of practice of Educational Play Therapist, there has been an increasing focus on the importance of social contexts to children’s understandings.

Our statement is underpinned by the vision and values of The Royal Children’s Hospital Vision, mission statement of the AAHPS, the Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics for Early Childhood professionals and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Children

We celebrate childhood diversity in all its forms.
We acknowledge each child as unique individuals with different needs, strengths and interests.
We recognise children as active participants in their health care.
We advocate for children to have opportunities to be heard and to be involved in decision-making processes that affect them.
We aim to enhance the developing self esteem, self awareness and respect of each child.
We understand and respect that all children have rights, a voice and are valued members of the community

Families

We respect each individual as part of a family, whatever the family structure may be, and the family as part of a wider community.
We support families in building on their strengths and competencies in their role in supporting their child through their illness, hospitalisation and recovery.
We acknowledge the rights of the family to make decisions about their child, where possible in consultation with their child.
We develop positive and supportive partnerships with families and their children through open communication and the development of mutual trust.

Play

We believe play is an essential, natural part of childhood, important in its own right and vital for optimal learning and development, regardless of the setting in which it occurs. Play is recognised as one of the child’s basic rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990).
We honour the child’s right to play regardless of their developmental stage and medical status.
We understand that play can be an important part of coping with the potential stress of illness and hospitalisation which can be detrimental to the development and learning of the child.
When in hospital, being unwell and also separated from familiar surroundings, people and experiences, children and families are at their most vulnerable.

We believe that play in hospital can:

promote optimal learning and development
provide positive experiences and opportunities for enjoyment
distract from pain and treatment
encourage healing
enhance self-esteem and confidence
enable communication
create an environment where stress and anxiety are reduced
bridge the gap between home, early childhood centre or school and hospital

We believe that play in hospital can provide the child with opportunities for:

expression of emotions and allow for emotional adjustment in potentially stressful situations
meaningful decision making and re-establishing a sense of control
learning about, understanding and clarifying any misconceptions about their illness, the hospital and/or specific medical procedures and treatments
learning and practicing effective coping skills and mechanisms for the purpose of pain management and anxiety control

Professional Practice / Teamwork

We build collaborative relationships and work environments based on trust, respect and honesty, acknowledging the personal strengths, professional experience and diversity that working in a team affords.
We work hard to listen to and learn from one another and engage in stimulating and challenging dialogues.
We regularly reflect on and question our everyday practices as a way to help the service evolve. We encourage feedback from children, their families, team members and other colleagues.
We believe in continuing professional development, undertaken, but not limited to, reflection, critical self-study, and engagement with contemporary theory and practice.
We aim to work in ways that are flexible and responsive to changing needs of children, families and the hospital community.
We acknowledge the importance of caring for ourselves as professionals by creating supportive environments.

Last Updated 18-Nov-2009. Authorised by: Leanne Hallowell. Enquiries: Webmaster.