Play partner preferences among groups of unfamiliar juvenile male rats.

Like many mammals, as juveniles, rats engage in play fighting, which in the laboratory is typically studied in dyads, and consequently, it is the researcher who determines a rat's play partner. In real-life conditions, a rat would have many partners with whom to play. In a previous study, we found that rats do prefer to play with some individuals more than others, and surprisingly, when given the choice, unfamiliar partners are preferred to familiar ones. In this study, we assessed partner choice when all the available partners are strangers. Eight groups of six unfamiliar juvenile male rats were observed for 10 min play trials. One of the six in each group was selected as the 'focal' rat and his play towards, and received by, the others were scored. Social networks revealed that five of the eight groups formed preferences, with preferred partners also engaging in more play with the focal rat. The mechanism by which these preferences were formed remains to be determined, but it seems that there are individual differences, potentially in the amount and style of play, that allow an individual to select the most suitable partner from a group of strangers.

Mobile Media Content Exposure and Toddlers' Responses to Attention Prompts and Behavioral Requests.

Importance: With personalized touch-screen tablets, young children can choose content and engage in play-like activities. However, tablets may also reduce shared engagement as the action of viewing or touching the screen is often not visible to nearby adults. This may impact communicative gazing and pointing, which is critical to the formation of shared awareness and in turn supports language development. Objective: To assess the association of tablet media content with toddlers' responses to joint attention prompts and behavioral requests. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study took place at a behavioral research laboratory and included toddlers who were aged 18 to 32 months with neurotypical development who were recruited from a volunteer and community sample. Toddlers engaged with a real toy or 3 different types of tablet content (ie, viewing video of toy play, playing with a digital toy, or playing a commercial game) while an experimenter delivered joint attention prompts. Data were acquired from June 2021 November XX 2022, and data analysis occurred from January 2023 to May 2024. Main Outcomes and Measures: Main outcomes included child response to joint attention (number of prompts with joint attention response per number of prompts delivered) and child response to behavioral request (ie, the prompt on which the child responded to the behavioral request). Measures included crossed random effects, Wald tests, and likelihood ratio tests. Results: In this study, 63 toddlers were enrolled, and data from 62 were included (31 female [49%]; mean [SD] age, 26.1 [3.4] months; median [IQR] age, 25.0 [18.6-32.6] months). When toddlers were playing a commercial game on a tablet, they responded to fewer joint attention prompts (crossed random effects model, -0.15; 95% CI, -0.24 to -0.06 prompts) and male toddlers took longer to acknowledge a behavioral request (interaction of content and sex, -0.75; 95% CI, -1.36 to -0.17). The negative impact of the tablet game was larger as child age increased (τ = -2.30; 95% CI, -0.05 to 0; P = .03). Greater media use at home was associated with decreased responding to joint attention prompts during the tablet game (ρ = -0.47; P < .001), while better language skills were associated with more joint attention during play with a real toy (ρ = 0.31; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, a touch-screen tablet game was associated with decreased joint attention among toddlers and they were less likely to respond to a behavioral request. In a laboratory setting, it was difficult for toddlers to engage in social-communicative interactions with adults when using a tablet media device.

Centring children's lived experiences in understanding the importance of play in hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Children have a right to participate in matters affecting their lives. With increasing regularity, children's perspectives are being sought regarding their health and health care experiences. Though there is evidence that children find play to be one of the 'best' aspects of hospitalisation, studies rarely focus on children's perspectives on play in hospital. METHODS: This qualitative study explored children's lived experiences of play during hospitalisation. Over five months, ethnographic observations were conducted on a paediatric oncology ward as well as interviews with 16 children ages 3-13 years. RESULTS: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, children's expressions and experiences illuminated three key points: safety and comfort are integral to children feeling able to play in hospital; the value and efficacy of play is decided by children; and that play is a way for patients to be (and be treated as) children first. CONCLUSION: Hospitals can only be child-friendly if children find them friendly. Listening to and integrating children's perspectives in the discourse around the importance of play in hospital is essential for respecting children's rights and delivering person-centred paediatric healthcare.

Early environments and exploration in the preschool years.

A great deal of research has demonstrated how children's exploration is driven by opportunities for learning. However, less work has investigated how individual differences across children and their environmental contexts relate to patterns in playful exploration. We performed a "mega-analysis" in which we pooled preschool-aged children's play data from four past experiments in our lab (N = 278; M(age) = 56 months) and correlated play behaviors with age and socioeconomic status (median income, modal education in children's home zip codes). We found that, with age, children performed more unique actions during play. Additionally, children from lower SES areas explored more variably; the link between this play and tendencies to focus on pedagogically demonstrated features traded off differently than it did for higher SES children. This work lays critical groundwork for understanding exploration across developmental contexts.

Object play and problem solving in infancy: Insights into tool use.

Tool use is primarily, but not exclusively, present in species with otherwise advanced cognitive traits. However, the interaction between such traits and conspecific inter-individual variation in the presence, complexity, or intensity of tool use is far from being established. We addressed this matter among human infants, seeking factors that relate to differences in tool use. We examined, both correlationally and experimentally, whether the propensity to engage in object combinations predicts performance in means-end problem-solving tasks involving or not involving the use of a tool. We tested 71 infants aged 15, 18, 21, and 24 months, dividing them into two subgroups: one exposed to an adult demonstrating object-object combinations (i.e., "prompting" infants to combine objects together) and another with comparable social exposure but where the adult demonstrated single-object manipulations. We found a correlation between the combined level of spontaneous and prompted object combinations and problem-solving performance regardless of the involvement of tools in the problem. However, we did not find differences in tool-use performance between the two demonstration subgroups. The correlational analysis suggests that complexity of play, as measured by the frequency of combining objects, is linked to infants' problem-solving skills rather than being specifically associated with tool use, as previously suggested in the literature.

Exploratory exploitation and exploitative exploration: The phenomenology of play and the computational dynamics of search.

I argue for a more complicated but nonetheless computationally feasible and algorithmically intelligible interplay between exploration and exploitation and for admitting into our conceptual toolkit regimes of exploitative exploration and exploratory exploitation that can enhance the novelty and usefulness of the results of either problemistic or serendipitous search.

Mental state verb use in play by preschool-age children who stutter and their mothers.

INTRODUCTION: Preschool-age children use mental state verbs (MSVs; e.g., think, know) to reference thoughts and other cognitive states. In play-based language, MSV use requires conversational flexibility, as speakers shift from discussion of actions happening in the here-and-now to more abstract discussion of mental states. Some evidence suggests that children who stutter (CWS) demonstrate subtle differences in shifting on experimental tasks of cognitive flexibility, differences which may extend to conversational flexibility. This study explored MSV use in conversational language between CWS and their mothers. METHODS: Thirty-five preschool-age CWS and 35 age- and gender-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS), all performing within the typical range on standardized language testing, conversed with their mothers during play. Samples were transcribed and coded for MSV use. RESULTS: No between-group differences were observed in MSV use, either between the CWS and CWNS or between the groups of mothers. Age and language skills were positively associated with MSV use in the CWNS group only. For both groups of dyads, mothers' MSV use corresponded at least to some extent to their children's language skills. Finally, correspondence between CWNS and their mothers was observed for two conversational language measures, representing lexical diversity and morphosyntax; this overall pattern was not observed in the CWS dyad group. CONCLUSIONS: Although these findings point to similar use of MSVs among the groups of children and their mothers, for the CWS group, the patterns of use in relation to age and language skills are somewhat different from developmental expectations.

Autistic preschoolers display reduced attention orientation for competition but intact facilitation from a parallel competitor: Eye-tracking and behavioral data.

LAY ABSTRACT: Recent research suggests that we might have underestimated the social motivation of autistic individuals. Autistic children might be engaged in a social situation, even if they seem not to be attending to people in a typical way. Our study investigated how young autistic children behave in a "parallel" situation, which we call "parallel competition," where people participate in friendly contests side-by-side but without direct interaction. First, we used eye-tracking technology to observe how much autistic children pay attention to two video scenarios: one depicting parallel competition, and the other where individuals play directly with each other. The results showed that autistic children looked less toward the parallel competition video than their typically developing peers. However, when autistic children took part in parallel competitions themselves, playing physical and cognitive games against a teacher, their performance improved relative to playing individually just as much as their typically developing peers. This suggests that even though autistic children pay attention to social events differently, they can still benefit from the presence of others. These findings suggest complementing traditional cooperative activities by incorporating parallel activities into educational programs for young autistic children. By doing so, we can create more inclusive learning environments for these children.

It's You and Me: Infants' cross-modal communicative signals and mother-infant interactive behavior predict infant regulatory patterns in the still-face paradigm at 3 months.

Infant regulatory behavior develops since birth and impacts their early social interactions. Infants differ in the relative coherence and incoherence of their cross-modal communicative signals during en-face infant-caregiver interactions. We expand this research by evaluating whether different infant regulatory patterns observed during the Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) at 3 months are associated with the coherence or incoherence of infants' cross-modal communicative behaviors during en-face interactions or with multiple dimensions of mother-infant interactive behavior during free-play. Analyses were based on data collected from 100 mother-infant dyads from urban, working- and middle-class backgrounds in Portugal who were videotaped during the FFSF and free play at 3 months. Results confirm that infants' different regulatory behavior patterns in the FFSF at 3 months are associated with the coherence and incoherence of their cross-modal interactive behaviors and specific aspects of mother-infant interaction. Infants with a Social-Positive oriented regulatory pattern during the FFSF displayed more coherent and less incoherent communicative behaviors with their mothers and were more cooperative during free play. In turn, their mothers were more sensitive. Our findings support the perspective that infants' regulatory behavior strategies in the context of caregiver regulatory support and sensitivity are likely to increase dyadic correspondence and infant ability to engage with the world.

Building language learning: Relations between infant attention and social contingency in the first year of life.

In Western societies, social contingency, or prompt and meaningful back-and-forth exchanges between infant and caregiver, is a powerful feature of the early language environment. Research suggests that infants with better attentional skills engage in more social contingency during interactions with adults and, in turn, social contingency supports infant attention. This reciprocity is theorized to build infant language skills as the adult capitalizes on and extends the infant's attention during socially contingent interactions. Using data from 104 infants and caregivers, this paper tests reciprocal relations between infant attention and social contingency at 6- and 12-months and the implications for infant vocabulary at 18-months. Infant attentional skills to social (women speaking) and nonsocial (objects dropping) events were assessed, and social contingency was examined during an 8-minute toy play interaction with a caregiver. Child receptive and expressive vocabulary was measured by caregiver-report. Both social and nonsocial attentional skills related to engagement in social contingency during caregiver-infant interaction, though only models that included social attention and social contingency predicted vocabulary. These findings provide empirical evidence for the proposed reciprocal relations between infant attention and social contingency as well as how they relate to later language.

An observational study of parental language during play and mealtime in toddlers at variable likelihood for autism.

Parental language input influences child language outcomes but may vary based on certain characteristics. This research examined how parental language differs during two contexts for toddlers at varying likelihood of autism based on their developmental skills. Parental language (quantity, quality, and pragmatic functions) was analyzed during dyadic play and mealtime interactions as a secondary data analysis of observational data from a study of toddlers at elevated and lower likelihood of autism. Child developmental skills and sensory processing were also assessed. Parents used more words per minute, directives, and verbs during play and more adjectives, descriptions, and questions during mealtime. Parental language differed based on child fine motor skills, receptive language, and levels of sensory hyporesponsiveness but not autism likelihood. Overall, this study found that parental language varies based on context and child developmental skills. Future research examining parental language should include pragmatic functions and context across developmental trajectories.

The Impact of Parent-child Sports Games on Children's Psychological Development / El impacto de los juegos deportivos entre padres e hijos en el desarrollo psicológico de los niños

Childhood is a stage of rapid psychological development, movement and psychological development are inseparable. At this stage, games are the main form of activity for children which play a dominant role in promoting children's psychological development. By implementing parent-child sports game intervention activities, children can prevent psychological disorders or behavioural problems, help them better adapt to social life, and make more effective contributions to society and humanity. Therefore, current research aimed to check the impact of parent-child sports games on children's psychological development. For this purpose, survey subjects were 50 students from large class of kindergarten A and 50 students from the large class of kindergarten B. An experimental research design was applied by using control and experimental group. The findings that the experimental group showed significant improvements in cognitive ability, emotional stability, willpower, and personality shaping compared to the control group. Moreover, their social adaptability was notably higher, fostering smoother communication and harmonious interpersonal relationships. The findings highlight the importance of early engagement in sports game activities to promote psychological health and resilience in preschool children, emphasizing the need for integrating such activities into early childhood education and parental involvement programs. The research also explored a new research area for further research.(AU)

El tiempo de juego del niño se revela durante una sesión de juego dramático terapéutico / O tempo da brincadeira da criança revelado durante sessão de brinquedo terapêutico dramático / Child's playtime revealed during therapeutic dramatic play session

Introduction: playing, as an activity inherent to childhood, enables the child to acquire new knowledge about the world and to come across their own individuality expressing the world that is meaningful to him. The child's temporality composes his existence and drives him in the search for authentic existence. Objective: To describe the child's temporality during the stages of bonding and stopping playing in dramatic therapeutic play sessions. Method: phenomenological study in the light of the Heideggerian philosophical framework, with 12 children, aged between three and 11 years. For data collection, phenomenological interviews were conducted, mediated by the dramatic therapeutic toy. Results: the following thematic axis emerged: - The child's play time: being open. Conclusion: play reveals existential aspects of the child in chronological time and it fosters the sharing of new possibilities of relationship, in a free way, with the world. However, playing time might be elastic and negotiable according to individual need, so that all the expressions of the child becoming in their facticity during play would be considered. Therefore, regardless of the way and time they play, this study highlights the importance of respecting the child's existence at that moment.(AU)

Introducción: el juego, como actividad inherente a la infancia, permite al niño adquirir nuevos conocimientos sobre el mundo y encontrarse a sí mismo con su propia individualidad, expresando el mundo que le es significativo. La temporalidad del niño compone su existencia y lo impulsa en la búsqueda de la existencia auténtica. Objetivo: describir la temporalidad del niño durante las etapas de creación de vínculo y de cese del juego en sesiones de juego dramático terapéutico. Método: estudio fenomenológico a la luz del marco filosófico heideggeriano, con 12 niños, con edades entre tres y 11 años. Para la recolección de datos se realizaronentrevistas fenomenológicas, mediadas por juguetes dramáticos terapéuticos. Resultados: surgieron los siguientes ejes temáticos: El tiempo dejuego del niño: estar en apertura. Conclusión: el juego revela aspectos existenciales del niño en el tiempo cronológico y favorece compartir nuevas posibilidades de relación, libremente, con el mundo. Sin embargo, el tiempo dedicado al juego podría ser elástico y negociable según las necesidades individuales, de modo que todas las expresiones del devenir del niño en su facticidad durante el juego podrían ser consideradas. Por ello, independientemente de la forma y el momento en que jueguen, este estudio resalta la importancia de respetar la existencia del niño en ese momento.(AU)

Introdução: o brincar como atividade inerente à infância, possibilita quea criança adquira novos conhecimentos sobre o mundo e se depare com a própriaindividualidade, expressando o mundo que lhe seja significativo. A temporalidade da criança compõe seu existir e a impulsiona na busca pela existência autentica. Objetivo: descrever a temporalidade da criança durante as etapas criandovínculo e parando de brincar em sessões de brinquedo terapêutico dramático. Método: estudo fenomenológico à luz do referencial filosófico heideggeriano, com 12crianças, com idades entre três e 11 anos. Para a coleta de dados foram realizadasentrevistas fenomenológicas, mediadas pelo brinquedo terapêutico dramático.Resultados: emergiu o seguinte eixo temático: O tempo de brincar da criança:sendo em abertura. Conclusão: a brincadeira revela aspectos existenciais da criança no tempo cronológico e, favorece o compartilhar de novas possibilidades derelação, de modo livre, com o mundo. No entanto, o tempo que brinca pôde serelástico e negociável mediante a necessidade individual, para que fossem consideradas todas as expressões da criança vir a ser na sua facticidade durante a brincadeira. Portanto, independentemente do modo e do tempo que brinca este estudodestaca a importância de se respeitar a existência da criança nesse momento.(AU)

Play into the domestic routine to promote child development: cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between the incorporation of play into the domestic routine of caregivers, and the child development of children under their care. METHOD: Cross-sectional study conducted with 129 caregiver-child dyads aged 12-23 months, living in the southern region of São Paulo. Child development was assessed using the Ages & Stages Questionnaire-3, and the incorporation of play into the domestic through a questionnaire and filming of the dyads in activities related to the domestic routine. RESULTS: Almost all the caregivers were the mother (98%), who, when answering the questionnaire, reported incorporating play into their domestic routine (93%), however in the video, only one third played with the child (34%). There was a positive association between playing in moments of domestic routine and domains of child development in children aged 18 months or less. CONCLUSIONS: A positive association was found between the incorporation of play into the domestic routine and child development.

La interpretación del sueño y sus similitudes con el juego: una técnica para aplicar en un dispositivo clínico de Françoise Dolto / Les similitudes dans l'interpretation du reve et du jeu: une technique applicable dans un lieu d'accueil enfant-parent / Dream interpretation ant its similarities with the play: a method to apply ina Dolto's maison verte project / A interpretação do sonho e suas semelhanças com a brincadeira: uma técnica para aplicar em um dispositivo clínico de Françoise Dolto

¿Cómo nos puede ayudar el método de la interpretación de los sueños a entender los elementos arcaicos presentes en el juego del niño de 0 a 4 años, en un dispositivo clínico inspirado en la Maison Verte creada por Françoise Dolto? En este artículo describiremos las similitudes entre el sueño y el juego del niño, particularmente con respecto al trabajo del sueño. Propondremos que los mismos mecanismos del sueño están presentes en el juego del niño como parte de un contenido manifiesto. Enseguida propondremos que es posible interpretar el contenido latente del juego trasponiendo el método de la interpretación de los sueños gracias a la información aportada por los padres que acompañen al niño. Para explicar esta técnica, examinaremos el ejemplo de juego de unos niños, tomado de un Lugar de Acogida de Niños y Padres que se adhiere a los principios de la Maison Verte AU

Comment la méthode d'interprétation des rêves peut-elle nous aider à comprendre les éléments archaïques présents dans le jeu des enfants de 0 à 4 ans, dans un dispositif clinique inspiré de la Maison Verte créée par Françoise Dolto? Dans cet article, nousdécrirons les similitudes entre le rêve et le jeu de l'enfant, notamment en ce qui concerne le travail du rêve. Nous proposerons que les mêmes mécanismes oniriques sont présents dans le jeu de l'enfant dans le cadre d'un contenu manifeste. Ensuite, nous proposerons qu'il est possible d'interpréter le contenu latent de ce jeu en transposant la méthode d'interprétation des rêves grâce aux informations fournies par les parents accompagnan l'enfant. Pour expliquercette technique, nous examinerons un exemple de jeu d'enfants, tiré d'un Lieu d'Accueil pour Enfants et Parents qui adhère aux principes de la Maison Verte AU

How can the dream interpretation method help us to understand the archaic elements present in the play of children from 0 to 4 years old, in a clinical device inspired by the Maison Verte project created by Françoise Dolto? In this article we will describethe similarities between the child's dream and play, particularly regarding to dream-work. We will propose that the same dream mechanisms are present in the child's play as part of a manifest content. Then we will propose that it is possible to interpret the latent content of this play by transposing the dream interpretation method thanks to the information provided by the parents. To explain this technique, we will examine an example of children's play, taken from a Dolto's Maison Verte Project AU

Como o método da interpretação dos sonhos pode nos ajudar a compreender os elementos arcaicos presentes nas brincadeiras das crianças de 0 a 4 anos, em um dispositivo clínico inspirado na Maison Verte criada por Françoise Dolto? Neste artigo, descreveremos as semelhanças entre o sonho e a brincadeira da criança, principalmente no que diz respeito ao trabalho onírico. Proporemos que os mesmos mecanismos oníricos estão presentes na brincadeira da criança como parte de um conteúdo manifesto. Imediatamente propomos que é possível interpretar o conteúdo latente desta brincadeira transpondo o método de interpretação dos sonhos graças às informações fornecidas pelos pais. Para explicar est técnica examinaremos um exemplo de brincadeira infantil, retirado de um Local de Acolhimento para Crianças e Pais que segue os princípios da Maison Verte AU

Promoción del juego a través del abordaje comunitario / Promoting play through a community approach

Introducción: teóricamente, el juego es descrito en terapia ocupacional como una entidad importante en sí misma, una ocupación esencial en la infancia, un derecho fundamental del niño y promotor de innúmeros beneficios a nivel físico, psicológico, emocional y social. Con este trabajo, explicamos cómo la comunidad educativa de una escuela primaria de Portugal, se movilizó para promover el juego durante el Día Mundial del Niño, permitiendo que 250 escolares jugasen libremente durante dos horas, con material de uso no específico. Esto hizo que el comportamiento lúdico del alumnado aumentase en todos sus componentes. De esta forma, pretendemos, describir nuestro trabajo de promoción del juego, a través de un abordaje comunitario. Métodos: realizamos un análisis de la evidencia científica sobre la importancia del juego en la infancia y sobre el papel de la terapia ocupacional como agente promotor de la justicia ocupacional; identificamos posibles socios, los intereses, potencialidades y necesidades de la comunidad; construimos puentes de comunicación; empoderamos y dimos voz a la comunidad. Conclusión: es relevante que las y los terapeutas ocupacionales realicen acciones dirigidas a los determinantes sociales y de salud, contribuyendo a que la comunidad se implique en el rescate del juego, como ocupación fundamental de la infancia y promotor de salud.(AU)

Introduction: Play is described by occupational therapy theorists as an important entity in itself, an essential occupation in childhood, a fundamental right of the child, and a promoter of numerous benefits, such as physical, psychological, emotional, and social well- being. In this work, we aim to explain how the educational community of a primary school in Portugal mobilized to promote play during World Children's Day. We facilitated two hours of free play for 250 students using materials that encouraged non-specific use. This initiative resulted in an overall increase in the students' playful behavior across all its components. Through this community-based approach, we intend to describe our efforts in promoting play. Methods: We conducted an analysis of the scientific evidence regarding the importance of play in childhood and the role of occupational therapists as agents promoting occupational justice. We also identified potential partners, assessed the community's interests, potentialities, and needs, established effective communication channels, and empowered and gave voice to the community. Conclusion: It is crucial for occupational therapists to engage in actions aimed at addressing social and health determinants, thus contributing to the community's involvement in preserving play as a fundamental occupation of childhood and a promoter of health.(AU)

Scale of Parental Playfulness Attitude (PaPA): Psychometric Properties With Latino Caregivers in the United States.

IMPORTANCE: Parent-child play is a beneficial and meaningful co-occupation. Therapists who want to optimize parent-child play for Latino- and Latina-American dyads need valid, reliable measures to assess caregiver playfulness in addition to preexisting measures of child playfulness. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate data collected from Latino-American caregivers with the Scale of Parental Playfulness Attitude (PaPA), a 28-item parent self-report to determine its construct validity, internal reliability, and cross-cultural validity. DESIGN: Quantitative exploratory design applying a latent-trait psychometric model. SETTING: Online survey. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 50 Spanish-speaking parents from the mainland United States recruited via snowballing (88% mothers, ages 24-47 yr; M = 34.8 yr; 82% first-generation Americans). The inclusion criteria were age ≥18 yr; literate in Spanish; primary caregiver to a child age 2.5-7 yr. Data from an existing sample of 50 parents dwelling in Puerto Rico were used to examine cross-cultural validity. OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Rasch analysis demonstrated evidence for adequate construct validity: positive point-measure correlations, 93% fit of items, logical item hierarchy, and good progression of the rating scale. Range and mean for parent playfulness exceeded those of the items; principal-components analysis revealed one contrast of 4.46 eigenvalues, bringing unidimensionality into question. Evidence suggested excellent internal reliability (person-reliability index = 0.85, strata = 3.55) and good cross-cultural validity (25 of 28 items formed a similar hierarchy for parents dwelling in the mainland United States and Puerto Rico). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Although the PaPA can be used to assess caregiver playfulness with culturally diverse Latino-American dyads, further research is required. What This Article Adds: This study provides evidence for the construct validity and internal reliability of a tool that measures parent playfulness in the context of parent-child play. The PaPA is an important tool for occupational therapists working with Latino-American families.

El juego como escenario de construcción de paz en contextos de conflicto armado en Colombia / The game as a peace-building scenario in contexts of armed conflict in Colombia

Introducción: el artículo presenta algunos resultados de una investigación que buscó rescatar y visibilizar las potencias y los recursos de la niñez que se vio afectada por el conflicto armado, preguntando por las maneras en que los niños y las niñas pueden aportar a la construcción de paz desde sus potencialidades y escenarios relacionales, dando prioridad al juego como espacio socializador. Método: la investigación fue de tipo cualitativa y se ubicó desde la hermenéutica crítica comprensiva, empleando estrategias metodológicas como talleres creativos, entrevistas a profundidad y grupos focales. Resultados: algunos de los resultados evidencian que los niños y las niñas aportan a la construcción de paz desde la creatividad, el establecimiento de acuerdo con sus pares y otros agentes, pero, sobre todo, desde el juego como principal escenario en donde despliegan su autonomía y criterio propio para la configuración de sus acuerdos socia-les. Conclusión: se concluye que el juego se convierte en una práctica generativa, donde los niños y las niñas despliegan sus potencialidades y recursos como un aporte a la construcción paz.

Introduction: The article presents some results of a research that sought to rescue and make visible the potencies and resources of children who were affected by the armed conflict, asking about the ways in which children can contribute to peace building from their potentialities and relational scenarios, giving priority to play as a socializing space. Method: The research was qualitative and was based on comprehensive critical hermeneutics, using methodological strategies such as creative workshops, in-depth interviews and focus groups. Results: Some of the results show that children contribute to peace building through creativity, the establishment of agreements with their peers and other agents, but, above all, through play as the main scenario where they deploy their autonomy and own criteria for the configuration of their social agreements. Conclusion: It is concluded that play becomes a generative practice, where children deploy their potential and resources as a contribution to peace building.

Niños en psicoterapia de grupo: el discurso grupal del juego terapéutico / Children in group psychotherapy: the group discourse of therapeutic play

La psicoterapia de grupo en sus distintas orientaciones y modalidades ha mostrado su utilidad para aliviar y mejorar sufrimientos de diversa índole en diferentes rangos etarios y trastornos psicopatológicos. Representa un valioso instrumento exploratorio, diagnóstico y terapéutico con entidad específica y especificidad propia de intervención en el ámbito de la salud mental infantil por su acción preventiva para la salud mental de futuros adultos. El potencial terapéutico de la psicoterapia de grupo de orientación psicoanalítica con niños se amplía con un enfoque activo, creativo, dinámico y terapéutico del juego, cuyo valor terapéutico a su vez se potencia con los factores terapéuticos de la psicoterapia de grupo. Se plantea ampliar el análisis del discurso grupal con el concepto de discurso grupal del juego, un discurso singular y único en cada grupo que constituye un eje terapéutico central en la psicoterapia de grupo de orientación psicoanalítica con niños que juegan. La implementación de la psicoterapia de grupo con juego requiere bases teóricas sobre la técnica de grupos y del juego con niños, así como formación cualificada e integración de conocimientos, comprensión y experiencia clínica del terapeuta, para desarrollar procesos técnicos complejos, imprescindibles en el trabajo con niños en psicoterapia de grupo. (AU)

Group psychotherapy in its different orientations and modalities has shown its usefulness to relieve and improve suffering of various kinds in different age ranges and psychopathological disorders. It represents a valuable exploratory, diagnostic and therapeutic instrument with a specific entity and its own specificity of intervention in the field of child mental health due to its preventive action for the mental health of future adults. The therapeutic potential of psychoanalytically oriented group psychotherapy with children is expanded with an active, creative, dynamic and therapeutic approach to play, whose therapeutic value is in turn enhanced by the therapeutic factors of group psychotherapy. It is proposed to extend the analysis of group discourse with the concept of group discourse of the game, a singular and unique discourse in each group that constitutes a central therapeutic axis in psychoanalytically oriented group psychotherapy with children who play. The implementation of group play psychotherapy requires theoretical bases on the technique of groups and play therapy with children, as well as a qualified training and the integration of knowledge, understanding and clinical experience of the therapist, to develop complex technical processes, essential in working with children in group psychotherapy. (AU)