Document Type : Original Articles
Author
Department of psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: Learning social skills is a significant challenge for Hearing Impaired Children (HIC). Play therapy is a suggested intervention for facilitating and accelerating social-emotional development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Puppet Play Therapy (PPT) on the social skills of male children aged 6 to 9 years with Cochlear Implant (CI).
Methods: This quasi-experimental study used a pretest-posttest design with a control group. Twenty-four male students aged 6 to 9 years with CI were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n=12) or the control group (n=12). Participants in the experimental group received cognitive-behavioral play therapy using puppets in ten 45–60-minute sessions. The Gersham and Eliot Social Skills Rating System was used to measure social skills in the pretest and posttest. Results: The findings indicated that the mean scores of three social skills subscales, including cooperation (p<0.001), assertion (<0.001), and self-control (p<0.001), were significantly higher in the experimental group after PPT.
Conclusions: Based on the results, PPT is suggested as an effective intervention for improving social skills in children with CI as a supplementary rehabilitation.
Keywords
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