Abstract

COELHO, Laura dos Santos Gomes. Vicarious learning in toilet training through an animated film: Case study of behavioral play therapy. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2008, vol.28, n.4, pp. 846-861. ISSN 1414-9893.

This paper is a report of the treatment of Lara (4 years and 5 months old) who was experiencing secondary retentive encopresis, with an interval of over 72 hours between defecations. Methods: the evaluation was conducted through interviews with the parents and the nannies, observation at school, individual play sessions and family play sessions; the interventions focused on the use of animated films, play activities and toys to develop behavioral habits and toilet training. Results: after the intervention with the animated film, Lara defecated in the office and had daily defecations during the next 18 months of treatment; she had three serious accidents in this period. Discussion: most likely, after watching the characters’ toilet training and the stickers they got in the animated film, Lara was vicariously reinforced and learned the relationship between the behavior of the characters (toilet training) and the consequent reward (sticker). The game with the dolls used in the film is considered a type of play mediation.

Keywords : Behavioral play therapy; Encopresis; Habituation; Vicarious learning.

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