The effectiveness of Filial play therapy on emotional literacy of children with specific learning disorder

One of the problems of children with specific learning disorder is low level of emotional literacy. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of Filial Play Therapy on emotional literacy of children with specific learning disorder. The research design was experimental (pre-test and post-test with a control group). From the total number of mothers of children with specific learning disorder, 32 mothers who reported low emotional literacy of their children were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The Emotional Literacy Assessment Instrument-parental version- was used to collect the data. Group Filial Play Therapy in 10 two-hour sessions was performed for the experimental group and the control group did not receive any training in this period. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were used for analyzing the data. The results showed that Filial Play Therapy had a significant effect on improving emotional literacy (empathy, motivation, self-regulation and social skills) of children with specific learning disorder. Based on the results, Filial Play Therapy is recommended for the improvement of emotional problems and especially for the emotional literacy problem of children with specific learning disorder.