Maryam Rashidi Zafar
Masuod Jan Bozorgi - ShahidBeheshti University
Farhad Shaghaghi - Payam- e - Noor University

Introduction: This research investigated the efficacy of play therapy on the progress of pre-school children’s social behavior.Methods: After conducting a pilot study on ۱۳۱ six-year-old children in ۱۰afternoon-shift kindergartens in Varamin City, two kindergartens were selected randomly to implement the checklist to observe social behavior. Among this group, ۴۵ children were diagnosed with social skill problem. Then, at a session held to inform parents and invite them to contribute, ۳۲ of those parents announced that they were ready to contribute. Later, Rutter’s Evaluation of Behavior Scale was completed for the children, and finally, they were divided into two groups randomly.The experimental group was under play therapy for ten sessions in a month. Afterward, the Social Behavior of Children Observational Checklist and Rutter’s Evaluation of Behavior Scale were completed again as post-test. The results of the questionnaires were analyzed using variance analysis test in frequent measurements and T-test with SPSS ۱۶ software.Results: The post-test play therapy resulted in considerably increased positive social behavior and its subscales of empathy, social orientation, moral behavior, self controlling, self esteem, compliance, assertiveness, respect to the law, and tendency to participate.Conclusion: With respect to the considerable difference between the experimental and control groups, play therapy could be used to monitor progress of pre-school children's social behavior.

Play therapy, Social Behavior, children