REVIEWING THE ROLE OF PLAY THERAPY IN THE BEHAVIOURAL MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN WITH ASD

Abstract

Through a combination of secondary research including prior scholarly literature, recent reports and news reportage, this paper hopes to critically review studies on the role of play therapy in the behavioral management of children with autism-spectrum disorders, understanding the efficacy of multiple tools used in specific light of varying cultural context. Considering examples in the Indian subcontinent, the study hopes to identify specific forms of play therapy that yield greater results, and critiques the methods by which such results are assessed in the first place. It reviews literature on children on the autism-spectrum and considers alternative and inclusive approaches to non-discriminatory perspectives on autism that considered it a method of learning diversity as opposed to a disability. In this respect, this study analyzes the effectiveness of Preschool Autism Communication Therapy (PACT), which has shown promising results in the adaptation of common play therapy methods to suit the South Asian context and accommodate low income settings.