The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy on the emotional and behavioral problems of children with cerebral palsy. The research method is quasi-experimental and applied; and a pretest-posttest design was employed. The statistical population included all 6-8 year-old children with cerebral palsy in one of Tehran's rehabilitation centers. For sampling, 30 children with cerebral palsy registered in medical records were selected and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 as the experiment and control groups. The sampling was done using purposive convenience sampling method. The emotional and behavioral problems in children were measured by pre-test and post-test using the Child Behavior Checklist. The child-centered play therapy was administered for 16 sessions (12 individual sessions and 4 group sessions), twice a week, and each session lasted 45 minutes for the experimental group. Data were analyzed by univariate covariance analysis (ANCOVA). The findings showed that child-centered play therapy reduced the emotional and behavioral problems (depression, anxiety and aggression) in children with cerebral palsy, but did not have a significant effect on decreasing their law-abiding behavior. Therefore, it can be said that child-centered play therapy can improve and reduce depression, anxiety and aggression in children with cerebral palsy.
