Learning occurs more rapidly in an atmosphere of playfulness and fun. Play is the young child's access to learning. Children can be motivated by eliciting enjoyment and interest in movement, sensory exploration, oral-motor play, and sound play. Joyful learning contributes to discovery and desire. Working for toleration of handling or oral-motor exploration or any specific desire of the therapist omits this concept.
Toleration implies that the child puts up with an imposed activity.
As a result, children become reluctant learners without a real sense of inner desire and commitment. Learning occurs more rapidly when therapy builds upon interests and abilities rather than focuses on disabilities and deficits. Children learn more easily in the areas that interest them. They learn more rapidly when they feel capable and competent. When therapists focus on the children's deficits, they communicate the child's limitations and a perception of inability.