The Use and Benefits of Role-Playing Games With Children and Adolescents

Abstract

This paper will discuss the early years of childhood and the important role that play and the imagination plays in the growth and development of a child. Play opens up many opportunities for a child to learn and grow. Findings also discuss how children develop their morals and create their ideas about what's right and what's wrong, This paper will further explore why play is so important to implement into psychotherapy and how role playing can be beneficial for children and adolescents as well as all the other amazing benefits of tabletop role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. There are many organizations that have begun incorporating role playing games as a tool in therapies. Findings suggests that tabletop role playing games have benefits for children facing a wide variety of challenges ranging from social anxiety to autism spectrum disorder. Role playing games have been shown to not only help children but can also positively affect a person at any age, even into their senior years.