{"value"=>"<p> <span class=\"title\">Play As A Therapeutic Process With Latency Age Boys</span></p> <p>Play, a major activity in the life of the latency-age child, provides children with a familiar language in which they can express their feelings. In working with hospitalized latency-age boys, forms of play were used in dance/movement therapy sessions. One-hour therapy sessions were conducted once a week with latency-age boys over a nine month period. Chronological sessions notes were written immediately following each session, and form the basis of the discussion. In this discussion, session observations are looked at in light of the literature on latency, play, and development. Various play activities, namely random play, game activity and symbolic play, were used as therapeutic tools to aid patients in meeting their needs. Random play was characterized as an activity which allowed patients time alone to practice and succeed at a task. Game activity is defined as patients' using play to interact and socialize with each other. Increased interaction made possible symbolic play, as seen in the drama “Fishy-Fishy”. As patients' feelings became more readily available within sessions, this symbolic play drama became an accessible therapeutic tool that offered patients a safe outlet for working through their problems. The progression from random play to game activities, then to symbolic play, mirrored the individual's development of social, physical and emotional skills and the deepening of the therapeutic process.</p>"}