Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. Jan 9, 2023; 12(1): 1-22
Published online Jan 9, 2023. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v12.i1.1
Play therapy in children with autism: Its role, implications, and limitations
Reem Elbeltagi, Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Nermin Kamal Saeed, Rawan Alhawamdeh
Reem Elbeltagi, Department of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain
Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt
Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center, King Abdulla Medical City, Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Nermin Kamal Saeed, Pathology Department, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama 12, Bahrain
Nermin Kamal Saeed, Pathology Department, Irish Royal College of Surgeon, Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain
Rawan Alhawamdeh, Pediatrics Research and Development Department, Genomics Creativity and Play Center, Manama 0000, Bahrain
Rawan Alhawamdeh, School of Continuing Education, Masters in Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Author contributions: Elbeltagi R, Al-Biltagi M, Saeed NK, and Alhawamdeh R collected the data and wrote and revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohammed Al-Beltagi, MBChB, MD, MSc, PhD, Academic Editor, Chairman, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Professor, Researcher, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Al Bahra Street, Tanta 31527, Egypt. mbelrem@hotmail.com
Received: July 27, 2022
Peer-review started: July 27, 2022
First decision: September 5, 2022
Revised: November 8, 2022
Accepted: November 23, 2022
Article in press: November 23, 2022
Published online: January 9, 2023
Processing time: 159 Days and 21.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Play is a pivotal activity for humans, especially children. It plays an essential role in children’s physical and mental development. Play therapy has been used for a long time to manage various diseases. Play therapy helps children with autism to engage in play activities of their interest, express themselves in comfortable ways, and change their self-expression from unwanted behavior to more non-injurious expressive behavior. There are different forms of play therapy. Proper evaluation of the child is mandatory to evaluate which fits the child more. Play therapy has a lot of potential benefits for patients and their families.