Psychology in TutorBox: How is it Beneficial?

Personalised Attention for Your Children's Needs

Here at TutorBox, we offer effective psychotherapy, play therapy and psychometric methods to instil self-understanding and exploration among clients. In doing this, TutorBox is then able to provide recommendations where needed. It is essential to keep in mind that therapy, assessments and extra lessons are not magic pills or quick fixes. Therapy is a healing process that necessitates participation and investment from the client and caretaker alike. On the other hand, extra lessons also require commitment and participation from both the client and the tutor. But in the end, making small changes can bring life-altering results.

Psychotherapy (Play Therapy):

As a busy parent, it is difficult to manage all of your child’s needs and wants, including having to get them from orthodontist appointments to ballet classes to soccer practices to tutoring sessions. With everything on your plate, the idea of bringing your child to play therapy may seem like one appointment too many. After all, your child already spends many hours playing. However, if your child is exhibiting behavioural problems, difficulty making friends, signs of anxiety or depression, trouble coping with illness or injury or grief following a death, divorce or other traumatic experience, then play therapy could be the most important place you take your child.

There is a reason your child spends so much time playing: play is the way that children learn and develop, understand the world around them, and express their feelings. During a play therapy session, a trained Psychologist will use your child’s natural tendency toward play to help them process complicated emotions they may not otherwise be able to express and assist them to develop skills that will help them succeed in their futures.

Here are 5 of the most important benefits your child will receive from play therapy.

1. The ability to process emotions that they may not be able to express in other ways

Children do not always have the language skills to convey what they are feeling in words, especially if they have experienced traumatic events at very young ages. Instead, they may express their pain in ways that are undesirable or maladaptive, such as displaying defiance, having severe tantrums, crying frequently, becoming socially withdrawn, being unusually clingy or refusing to attend school. In play therapy, the Psychologist can provide children with a more adaptive method of expressing themselves

2. A decrease in undesirable behaviours and an increased capacity regulate their own behaviour

Once children begin to express their feelings through play, you will begin to see a decrease in unwanted behaviours. Further, play therapy will help your child develop skills that allow them to manage their own behaviours. In the play therapy sessions, your child will be given opportunities to test limits in a safe environment, allowing them to increase their awareness of the consequences of their actions. For example, your child may choose to smash their clay creation, but will then learn that once they have destroyed what they made, they will no longer have it. These lessons teach children to make thoughtful decisions.

3. Development of independence and creative thinking

Children often spend a large part of their day being told what to do. Of course, this is necessary, as there are many decisions that children cannot yet make for themselves. However, it is also crucial that children learn to think for themselves. This is especially true for children who are emotionally vulnerable or have experienced traumas or significant life changes, as they may feel an acute lack of control over their lives. In play therapy, your child is the leader. For the most part, they control what happens in the room by selecting the activities that they participate in. Play therapy provides your child with the opportunity to make choices for themselves in a supportive environment. The play therapy room is a non-judgmental space where your child can express him or herself freely.

4. Improvement of social skills and the ability to respect others

Play therapy is about your child, but it is also about your child’s relationship with the Psychologist. In the trusting relationship that your child will develop with their Psychologist, your child will have the opportunity to test out different aspects of social interactions with the Psychologist without fear of permanently damaging the relationship. For example, your child may choose whether to cheat during a board game to explore how the Psychologist will react and the Psychologist can explore this choice with your child. The toys in the play therapy are also specially selected to allow your child to explore different social roles, such as nurturing baby dolls or dressing up as a police officer. Play therapy will help your child to understand the thoughts and feelings of other people, and this understanding will transfer over to relationships with family and friends.

5. Stronger relationships with family members

Although the play therapist is a trained professional, they are not the most important person in your child’s therapy. YOU are the most important person in your child’s therapy and the most important person in their life! Although you may not be in the room while therapy takes place, you will be an active participant in your child’s therapy by bringing them to sessions, meeting with the Psychologist as needed, and supporting your child in implementing the skills they learn in therapy at home. One of the most important goals of play therapy is to make your relationship with your child the best it can be. It can be very difficult and stressful to parent a child who is exhibiting distress. Play therapy will reduce this distress, providing you with more opportunity to simply enjoy spending time with your child.

Psychometric Assessments:

If someone asks you to measure somebody’s physical traits, you can easily measure their height, weight and other attributes but is it possible to measure psychological traits as well? If we put more thought to psychological traits, how can they help your child? These traits relate to a person’s nature, aptitude, ability, interests, their inherent skills and talents. One person can be good at leadership skills and another could be good in calculations. If we get to know about these traits in the beginning, then it can help tremendously in making several big decisions of our lives through psychometric tests.

Formal standardised assessments as well as informal tools are used to assist various individuals make important life-decisions. For example, selecting your subjects for Grade 10, deciding on a career path after Matric etc. Testing learners in order to qualify for concessions and accommodations is also available. Psychometric assessments can also assist younger children in terms of determining learning difficulties and developmental difficulties. The precision and accuracy of a psychometric test is based upon the principles on which the test is designed.

Advantages of psychometric testing:

A psychometric test has several advantages for a student who is at the age of selecting a career, a school learner who may be struggling with their schoolwork, a child who may be going through a traumatic event i.e. loss, divorce, bullying etc. These tests can help these individuals to understand their skills and talents and can guide them with the help of a Psychologist about the careers that can be suitable for them, to select the subjects in school which align with their career interests, assist with treatment of developmental delays as well as assist with emotional distress. A good psychometric test reveals how an individual can handle stress, can bear with difficult situation and what kind of characteristics he/she will show at the time of need.

– the language of play. Play therapists are specially trained to understand, interpret, and respond to children’s play communications and to increase parents’ abilities to “talk” to their children through play.