CHDS 68067 78067 Counseling Children Play Therapy

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CHDS 68067 / 78067Counseling ChildrenPlay
Therapy

• Dr. Steve Rainey
• Kent State University

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Play Therapy General Definition

• A form of action therapy that uses sand play,
  fairy tales, art, and puppetry to encourage
  communication in children who have inadequate or
  immature verbalization skills or who verbalize
  excessively due to defensiveness.

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The Purpose of Play Therapy

• to enable children to indirectly express inner
  thoughts, fears, anxieties, and feelings of rage
  and guilt
• to help children accomplish developmental tasks
  through a protected modality in which they can
  learn to deal with difficulties in the here and
  now (playroom as sanctuary)
• to help children reduce anxiety and resolve
  conflict

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The Process of Play Therapy

• Metaphorical expression of distressing events
  allows children to externalize and fantasize
  their pain so that they can more effectively
  control it and learn adaptive ways to cope with
  it.

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Play Therapy

• Play is a primary method for working with
  children ages 2 -12 because of limited cognitive
  development and limited ability to verbalize
  thoughts and feelings, and because it is an
  integral part of childrens lives as well as a
  natural mode of learning and relating.

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Adlerian Play

• Uses techniques to provide
• Encouragement
• reveal family constellation
• encourage early recollections
• reveal goals of childs behavior
• form tentative hypotheses about the childs
  behavior
• re-educate the child.

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Gestalt Play

• (Oaklander) uses play techniques that focus on
• establishing the relationship
• strengthening the childs sense of self and
  self-support
• encouraging emotional expression
• teaching the child to nurture self.

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Cognitive-Behavioral Play

• (Knell) focuses on
• childs thoughts, feelings, fantasies, and
  environment
• teach more adaptive behaviors through modeling,
  role-playing, and behavioral contingencies

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Family Play

• (Busby and Lufkin) discovers information about
  family relationships and identifies common
  themes.
• Goals (Anderson) include
• understanding the familys emotional atmosphere
• role expectations
• self-images
• structure.

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Child-Centered Play

• (Landreth) focuses on
• the relationship and convey unconditional caring
  and acceptance, respect, and patience
• allowing children to lead the relationship and
  solve their own problems

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The Role of Play

• Play is the currency of children
• Play is
• Pleasurable
• Spontaneous
• Voluntary

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The Role of Play

• Play has no goal, purpose, or task orientation
• Play is a natural way for children to
• Communicate
• Act out sensitive material
• Gain security (imaginary friend)
• Develop self-confidence (mastery)
• Play allows children to experiment with new ways
  of thinking behaving

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Criteria for Play

• Not literal
• Pleasure
• Intrinsic Motivation
• Flexibility

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Stages of Play

• Functional (Sensorimotor) Repetition and
  exploration
• 0 - 2
• Constructive/Productive (Creative)
• 2-4
• Dramatic/Reproductive (Realistic)
• 4-7
• Games with Rules
• 7-12

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Types of Materials

• Real-life toys doll house, telephone, etc.
• Acting Out/Aggressive Release Toys handcuffs,
  toy guns and knives, drums, etc.
• Creative Expression/Emotional Release Toys
  chalk, magic markers, scissors, paper, blocks,
  hand puppets, Play-Doh, etc.

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Characteristics of Play

• Healthy Play
• Relate freely
• Conversational
• Spontaneous
• Direct open
• Play alone or with you

• Disturbed Play
• Uncomfortable
• wants to be told what to do
• Questions or demands
• Aggressive
• Play alone or under your control

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Characteristics of Play

• Healthy
• Play as exploration
• feelings
• temporary tensions
• temporary conflicts
• Themes
• are direct expression
• able to express negative feelings, but also
  positive feelings about same person

• Disturbed
• Play is intense
• Themes
• are diffuse

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Stages of the Therapeutic Process

• Open and permissive atmosphere for relationship
  building, focusing on the feelings that play
  behavior evokes, open-ended questions, developing
  hypotheses
• More directive play, testing hypotheses,
  exploration of feelings and behavior - active
  probing
• Engagement of the child in more systematically
  structured play sequences related to the
  conflict use of systematic desensitization

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Play Techniques

• Play Interview
• Counselor interviews child during play
• Balloon Bursting in Structured Play
• helps inhibited children become more assertive
• Playhouses
• shows home relationships
• gives insight into childs view of ideal home

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Play Techniques

• Puppets
• may be used to talk about difficult issues
• a variety of 15-20 puppets recommended
• counselor interviews the child after the story is
  told through the puppets
• Telephone
• children may imitate parents on the phone or talk
  to an imaginary or lost friend or loved one

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Play Techniques

• Sandplay
• allows counselor access to childs world while
  promoting understanding self-discovery
• Waterplay
• can be an outlet for releasing aggression or for
  relaxation
• Food
• counselor explores with child various reactions
  to food

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Play Techniques

• Finger Painting
• can help child express feelings, overcome
  inhibitions, reveal fantasies
• child tells the story of the painting and the
  teacher asks for clarification and feelings
• color chosen and how the picture is drawn may be
  of importance

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Play Techniques

• Squiggle Technique
• Counselor draws a squiggle (straight, curved, or
  zigzag line) and asks child to complete a drawing
• child tells a story about the squiggle with the
  Counselor asking for clarification
• process is then reversed the Counselors story
  may be interpretative or make suggestions

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Play Techniques

• Art and Music Therapy
• family drawings are often helpful in
  understanding family dynamics
• music can often reduce tension, stress, or
  anxiety
• The Emotional Barometer
• child is asked to give an indication of how he or
  she feels and how things are going

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Play Techniques

• Role Playing
• used to act out situations or rehearse new
  learning
• may help Counselor understand how child perceives
  the world and relates to others
• Family Word Association Game
• child draws a picture of family, friends, or
  school and selects a card with an adjective word
  on it to describe the person(s)

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Play Techniques

• Magic
• may be used to track relationship skills or
  promote awareness
• involve the child in the magic, choosing the
  tricks carefully to achieve a specific goal
• Ventriloquism
• figures may help in gathering information from
  resistant children, to teach social skills, or to
  explore ways for solving problems

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Play Techniques

• Board Games
• build relationships
• promote emotional growth
• enhance communication
• help children with anxiety
• promote socialization

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Play Techniques

• Competitive Play
• may be therapeutic and help with socialization
  skills, but negative effects on esteem and
  attitude should be considered
• Group Play Therapy
• children with similar problems and/or similar
  backgrounds may benefit from group play by
  sharing experiences and benefiting from the role
  modeling of others