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Role-playing is a technique, most often utilized in psychotherapy and skills training, whereby the child is instructed to reenact a response encountered in a specified situation. Widely used in the assessment and treatment of maladaptive behaviors characteristic of childhood disorders, the use of role-play provides an efficient means of sampling the child’s behavioral skills and/or deficits [3, 2].
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Psychotherapy
Role-playing is a relatively nonthreatening technique used as a means of assessment, intervention, and engagement of children in psychotherapy. In general, due to the indirect and contrived nature of this technique, role-play can be used as an effective substitute to traditional “talk therapies,” particularly with those children who present as suspicious, guarded, fearful, or depressed as it provides a mode of interaction wherein the child is partially removed from that which he or she may be avoiding; dolls or...
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References
Beck, J. S. (1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics and beyond. New York: Guilford Press.
Friedberg, R. D., & McClure, J. M. (2002). Clinical practice of cognitive therapy with children and adolescents: The nuts and bolts. New York: The Guilford Press.
Kendall, P. C., & Braswell, L. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for impulsive children (2nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.
Levenson, R. L., & Herman, J. (1991). The use of role playing as a technique in the psychotherapy of children. Psychotherapy, 28, 660–666.
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Hackett, D. (2011). Role-Playing. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2466
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2466
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
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