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The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Filial Therapy training in increasing teachers of deaf and hard of hearing preschool students': 1) empathic responsiveness with their students; 2) communication of acceptance to their students; 3) allowance of self-direction by their students. A second purpose was to determine the effectiveness of Filial Therapy training in reducing experimental group students': 1) overall behavior problems; 2) internalizing behaviors; and 3) externalizing behavior problems. Filial Therapy is a didactic/dynamic modality used by play therapists to train parents and teachers to be therapeutic agents with their children and students. Teachers are taught primary child-centered play therapy skills for use with their own students in weekly play sessions with their students. Teachers learn to create a special environment that enhances and strengthens the teacher-student emotional bond by means of which both teacher and child are assisted in personal growth and change. The experimental group (N=24) consisted of 12 teachers, who participated in 11 weekly Filial Therapy training sessions (22 total instructional hours) during the fall semester at the preschool of a center for communications disorders, and 12 students chosen by the teachers as their student of focus. Teachers and students met once a week during the training for 30 minute teacher student play sessions in a room specified for this purpose. The non-treatment comparison group received no training during the 11 weeks. Teacher participants completed two written instruments: the Child Behavior Checklist/Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and the Meadow-Kendall Social-Emotional Assessment Inventory for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Students. Teachers who received Filial Therapy training were videotaped during student teacher play sessions. The videotaped sessions were used for pretest and posttest evaluation for the Measurement of Empathy in Adult-Child Interaction. Analysis of covariance revealed the children in the experimental group significantly decreased overall behavior problems. Teachers in the experimental group increased communication of empathy with their students of focus, significantly increased their attitude of acceptance with their students, and significantly increased in their ability to allow the students appropriate self-direction. This study supports Filial Therapy as an effective method of training teachers of deaf and hard of hearing preschool children to be therapeutic agents of change with their students. |
