http://www.jeannewilliams.ca/play_therapy.html
jeannewilliams.ca

Play is a vital part of childhood.  Through play, children express their thoughts and feelings, solve problems, work through fears and emotional hurts, and practice skills for adult life.

When a child has had something bad, sad,or scary happen to them, play is an important part of the healing process.  In the presence of a trained play therapist, the child, through play, is able to process what has happened to them, express what they are feeling, and begin to gain mastery over the things that scare them.

Play is the language of the child, and the play therapist speaks that language too, by engaging with the child in special ways as they play.

For a great description of what happens in play therapy, take a look at Rise van Fleet’s article, What Is Play Therapy?.  You can also read a more thorough article from the Association for Play Therapy that includes the results of research on play therapy , or you can watch APT’s 3-minute video on play therapy.

In some situations, the child’s own parent or caregiver is the best person to provide a supportive and caring atmosphere for the child to play out their worries and traumas.   Jeanne leads 10-week Filial Therapy groups, called Child-Parent Relationship Training (CPRT), to teach caregivers the skills they need to be that therapeutic presence for their child.  There is more information about Jeanne’s CPRT groups on the home page, and also on the CPRT page.

What to say to a child going to their first therapy session:  Depending on your child’s age, and how much information they want, you can say some or all of the following:

* Jeanne plays with children who have had something bad, sad, or scary happen to them.
* She can help you understand your feelings while you play with toys, paint, or draw.
* Jeanne will not make you do anything you don’t want to do.  You will be able to choose what you want to do, and when you want to say something.
* Your time with Jeanne will last about 45 minutes.

After play therapy sessions.

Here is some important information to keep in mind for after your child’s therapy sessions:

Do not be surprised if your child tells you “we just played today.”  Children are usually not aware of the therapeutic progress that is being made in each session.  They may not have conscious awareness that the dinosaur they just played with represented the person who abused them – they just know that by the end of the session they were able to keep the baby hippo safe from that dinosaur, and that made them feel really good!

It is best not to pry for information from your children.  We want them to feel completely free to express themselves in their sessions, and if they think they are going to have to “tell all” afterwards, that may stifle their expression during the session. In addition to that, they may have played out some therapeutically difficult material during the session, and just not want to re-hash it again afterwards.

If they do describe their play to you, it is best not to try to make connections with the child between the play and “real life.”  In other words, don’t say “oh – that hippo is kind of like you!”  Playing with a dinosaur and a baby hippo is an important way for children to distance themselves somewhat from events that may be too traumatizing to talk about directly.  Making the direct connections for them could interfere with their therapeutic progress.

http://www.zimbio.com/Autism+Resources/articles/evDTv1fYnTz/Straight+Facts+Autism+Play+Therapy
zimbio.com

It’s very unfortunate that a lot of people have the wrong idea about autism. To find out what autism is, it might be functional to also first learn what it is not. Here is a short list of the commonly held beliefs about autism that needs to be fixed:

* Autistic people are code-crackers, arithmetic geniuses, or harmonious expert. It’s true that some children who have autism focus extra on something that it develops into fanatical; in unusual occasions, autistic children do develop high talent in some skills. Most people who have autism and are at the same time are savants focus greatly on one skill series, which is the reason for the development of that skill.
* Autistic people can develop into high functioning individuals beginning childhood to adulthood. Sadly, a lot of people subscribe to this myth and quit on searching for ways to help their autistic child become high functioning individuals. Don’t lose hope that your child will sometime be able to find a job, keep it, and be able to provide for him or her self; humanistic therapy can aid. Sandtray provides clients an active, nonverbal, indirect, and symbolic experience of rediscovering visions, hopes, and dreams.
* Autistic children are not completely powerless to feel emotions and form relationships or emotional ties and bonds with other people. While people with autism are harshly handicapped when it comes to social communication, it’s still possible for them to feel emotion and become emotionally attached, especially to people who they interact personally everyday such as family members and siblings. While they may not be able to relate to the majority of society and may meet difficulties in communicating with other people, they are capable of adoring and feeling emotion towards the people who surround them on a daily basis. Quite the opposite, autistic children are very likely to develop emotional links with the people they interact with frequently; including family members, therapist, and other people they deal with everyday.
* Autistic children show different symptoms, as opposed to the misconception that all autistic children operate unchanged way. This may hinder in helping parents see that their children has autism because of the tendency to put the symptoms of autism in a tidy little package. There’s no single shape that fits all people with autism globally.
* It’s beneficial to comprehend that autism is mainly a social communication disorder where a child finds it more demanding than his peers to communicate to other people. This inability for social communication can be alleviated somehow by play therapy where an autistic child is encouraged to play with toys that are most likely to bring them out of their self-absorption. Play therapy is an interesting kind of therapy where a child is encouraged to play with toys, and the toys are destined to prohibit some form of interaction from the child. An example is their incapability to imagine; like visualize that a broom is a guitar, or that a blown out animal is an imaginary baby. Therapists who specialize in play therapy can help an autistic child counter and hang out at play so that the child can also socialize in the real world.

In most therapy sittings, the therapist parents will work with will propose that parents also learn some of the games that they play so that the parents can play with the child even when to your house; this doesn’t just accelerate the results of the therapy  but also promotes a closer bond between parents and children.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156657,00.html
foxnews.com
By Martin F. Downs

The Joker has stolen the world’s biggest diamond, and it’s up to Batman and Robin to get it back. On a video monitor, hands move toy action figures through the paces of the story, as an off-camera voice speaks the dialogue.

John, age 6, watches the monitor with rapt attention. He is autistic, and this is a technique called “video modeling,” used by educators at the New England Center for Children (NECC) in Southborough, Mass., where John and some 200 other autistic kids attend school.

When the video ends, Jen, his teacher, affectionately ruffles his hair and directs him to a table that holds the same Batman toys seen in the video. He is supposed to play with them in exactly the same way, saying the same lines, as he has just been shown.

Normally developing children play by imagining scenarios and acting them out with toys. Kids with autism do not. They have to be taught how to play this way. The goal is for them to understand the concept well enough to expand on their play, using their own imaginations.

Learning New Behaviors, Changing Harmful Ones

Teaching play with video modeling is something new that the NECC is studying. On the staff working with the kids are not only educators, but also researchers, and they report on what happens at the NECC to the scientific community. Video modeling is just one small part of the NECC’s whole approach, called “applied behavioral analysis,” widely regarded as the gold standard in autism treatment.

In the simplest terms, applied behavior analysis offers carrots, with no stick. Children are engaged in learning new behaviors and helped to change disruptive or harmful ones, by constant positive reinforcement. The curriculum at the NECC ranges from the most basic language and social skills to academics and vocational training. “We plug them into that wherever they’re at,” says Rebecca MacDonald, PhD, director of the preschool program, which includes kids aged 3 to 7.

Another new area she is studying is what’s called “joint attention,” an important early step in relating to others. If you were to turn and look at something, a typical child observing you would probably turn to look at it, too. An autistic child would not notice. “It’s one of the hallmarks of autism,” MacDonald tells WebMD. “They tend not to care what you are looking at or thinking.”

To encourage them to care, she will make something interesting or rewarding happen if the child follows her gaze. For example, she’ll activate an electronic toy by remote control if the child looks at it when she does. Improving joint attention behavior won’t make all other social skills fall easily into place. Like video modeling, it’s just one tool used in the intensive work that the NECC does. Kids who attend the school go for 30 hours a week, all year long.

Starting Early

The earlier this kind of work can begin, the better the outcomes tend to be for autistic children. Autism can usually be diagnosed by 18 months of age, but some scientists hope that in the future, a blood test at birth might detect it.

In May 2005, researchers at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute announced that they had found remarkable differences in blood tests of autistic and nonautistic children. The children had different levels of certain proteins in the blood and more of some kinds of immune cells.

“The idea for early detection is not only that you can intervene early, which is beneficial, but there’s the notion that not all children who ultimately have autism are doomed to it at birth,” David Amaral, PhD, research director at the MIND Institute, tells WebMD.

Scientists have speculated that maybe something in the environment makes children who are susceptible to autism develop the disorder. If researchers could identify the trigger, avoiding it might prevent autism.

“In some cases the information might allow full-blown prevention, and in other cases more tailored treatment,” MIND Institute researcher Blythe Corbett, PhD, tells WebMD.

It’s too early, however, to say for sure what the differences seen in the study mean. “We don’t know whether our findings indicate a cause or an effect,” Amaral says.

It may be that the immune system plays a role in some children’s autism, but “there simply is not going to be a single cause,” he says. “In fact, we think of autism not as autism, but as autisms.”

What’s more, the differences may not be specific to autistic children. “You have to show, for example, that it differentiates kids with autism from kids with obsessive-compulsive disorder or attention deficit disorder,” says Eric Hollander, MD, director of the Seaver and New York Autism Center of Excellence at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Hollander’s own research has shown that a particular trait in the immune systems of autistic kids relates to the severity of repetitive behaviors, a common autism symptom. This same trait has been linked to Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Emerging Treatments

Recently, Hollander studied the use of Prozac for treating repetitive behavior in children with autism. Those who took low doses of the drug in liquid form showed better improvement than those who took a placebo. But selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac are not stand-alone treatments for autism.

“The treatment of choice for most individuals is an integrated approach,” Hollander tells WebMD.

At the University of California San Francisco, professor Michael Merzenich, PhD, is working on a computer program to teach language skills to autistic kids through what is called “neural retraining.” It may sound like science fiction, but it’s not all that speculative.

Scientists have come to understand that the brain is not hardwired, but very flexible, or plastic. There are software programs, such as one called Fast ForWord, that can train the brains of kids with impaired language ability to process speech better.

“We have very strong documentation that this kind of brain-plasticity-based training can have an effect,” Merzenich tells WebMD.

But programs that exist now are too complex for many autistic kids to use. “The ways that these programs have been designed for nonautistic children just don’t apply to most autistic children,” Merzenich says.

Once Merzenich and his team finish building their program, they will have to put it through years of rigorous testing, which he says they hope to begin later in 2005.

Although its methods are state of the art, the New England Center for Children prides itself on only applying treatment that is backed up by solid research.

“People are faced with a raft of alternative treatments that have no merit,” Vincent Strully Jr., the NECC’s founder and executive director, tells WebMD. He counts special diets, secretin treatment, and mercury detoxification among those.

“We’re not claiming any cure,” he says, but the center’s approach makes a difference. “It’s advancing the lives of these kids dramatically.”

By Martin F. Downs, reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

http://www.play-therapy.com/parents.html
play-therapy.com
[Parts of this section are adapted from VanFleet, 1998, A Parent's Guide to Filial Therapy.  Printed in VandeCreek, Knapp, & Jackson (Eds.), Innovations in Clinical Practice:  A Source Book (vol. 16).  Sarasota, FL:  Professional Resource Press, PO Box 15560, Sarasota, FL 34277.]

You may have heard about play therapy in several different ways.  Perhaps you simply came upon this website as you were exploring the internet.  Perhaps you heard or read about it.  Perhaps someone has suggested that your child receive play therapy.  So what is it anyway?

Play therapy is a type of mental health, educational, or developmental intervention that is designed to help children grow up as happy and well-adjusted as possible.  It involves the use of play to communicate with children and to help children learn to solve problems and change their negative behaviors.  Sometimes it involves the entire family.

At first, you might wonder why anyone would suggest play as a way to overcome children’s problems.  Here’s why play therapy is often recommended for children:  Play is the primary way that children…

• learn about the world
• understand how different things work
• express their thoughts and feelings
• develop their physical skills
• develop their mental skills
• develop effective social skills and bonds.

As children grow, their use of language becomes more sophisticated, but throughout childhood, they usually express much more of themselves in their play.  We can understand our children better if we understand their play.  By watching children play we often learn more about their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and struggles than by talking with them!  Play has been called the “language of childhood,” so if we re-learn that language, it can help us build even stronger relationships with our children.  Play is not something trivial; on the contrary, it is one of the most critical elements of healthy child development!

Perhaps you’ve seen some of the nature programs on television that show animal babies playing with each other or with their mothers as they develop their hunting and survival skills.  Scientists generally agree that play fosters healthy development of young and adult animals alike.  A long-term study of animal play in the wild reported in National Geographic (December 1994) suggests that play is a “rehearsal for the challenges and ambiguities of life.”  This leads to greater strength, increased physical and mental skills, improved judgment, greater security, and stronger social bonds, characteristics that contribute to success as the animal grows.

The same is true for human children and adults.  Playfulness and humor are closely related to mental health, intellectual development, creativity and problem-solving, and even productivity on the job!  Although we sometimes think of play as trivial, in actuality it is one of the strongest supports for coping, learning, good adjustment, and productive activity!  I have spent some of my work life in manufacturing companies where the work is hard and the physical environment (& sometimes the overall climate) is very unpleasant.  I have always been impressed with the way that people use humor and playfulness to cope with some of the most difficult and oppressive situations.  I’ve seen the same thing in medical environments where people are coping with serious illness or in traumatic situations where people have lost all their possessions. Humor and play help us get through tough times.

How is play therapeutic?
Play therapy creates a safe atmosphere where children can express themselves, try new things, learn more about how the world works, learn about social rules and restrictions, and work through their problems.  Play therapy gives children an opportunity to explore and open up more than usual.

When we, as adults, encounter a tough problem, we often think about it for a while, look at it from different angles, determine our options, and sometimes talk about it with someone we trust.  When things go wrong for us, we might mentally review what happened and think about how we might handle the situation in the future.  During play therapy, children do these same things using their imaginations.  Play therapy provides the tools (toys and activities) and the atmosphere to help children express themselves, work on their problems, “try on” different solutions, and learn more effective coping methods.
What happens in play therapy?
Actually there are many different types of play therapy, so what happens in a session can be quite varied.  The common aspects are that the therapist holding the session will know how to systematically use play or playful activities to communicate with the child.  (See the article on this website about how to select a play therapist.)  The specific activities will differ.  Here are some of the things that might happen.

Sometimes therapists take children into a playroom that has a wide range of carefully selected toys.  The toys are chosen because they help children express a variety of feelings and problems.  The therapist allows the child to select the toys and the ways that they want to play with them.  The therapist pays extremely close attention to the child’s actions and feelings, sometimes engages in imaginary play with the child, and sets limits if the child’s behavior gets “out of line.”  In this type of play therapy, called child-centered play therapy, the child’s problems or issues usually come out naturally in their play.  For example, a girl whose mom had kidney failure and needed a transplant eventually made a small kidney out of modeling clay and performed an imaginary  “transplant” on a stuffed animal in a play session.  Over the course of several sessions it became clear that the girl was quite worried about her mom, wanted to help her mom get better, and was playing in a way so that she (the child) wouldn’t feel so helpless.  Shortly after these sessions, she began to talk more openly with her mom about the upcoming surgery and her fears.  Part of the therapist’s training involves knowing how to interpret the meaning of children’s play.  This can help the therapist discuss the “root causes” of the problems with the parents and come up with possible strategies that are more likely to work.

Other times in play therapy, the therapist might decide to do a specific type of activity with a child because it will teach the child a skill they need to learn or will help the child understand things better.  For example, if a child has trouble getting along with other children, the therapist might use group play therapy (with the parents’ permission) to help the child learn better social skills.  The therapist might have the group play a game together while helping the children learn about sharing, taking turns, winning and losing gracefully, showing interest in others, keeping focused on a task, and so on.  Using the game holds the children’s interest more than something more serious would and actually helps them practice and develop these different social skills more readily.

Other types of play therapy involve the entire family.  This involvement can take different forms.  Other articles within these Parents’ Pages include information on types of family play therapy.

http://www.kathyeugster.com/articles/article003.htm
kathyeugster.com

As parents, we learn to understand our children by watching them and can usually tell when they are having problems by how they act. When things are not going well for them, children will often behave in ways that cause problems. They may “act out” by not doing what they are told. Or perhaps, they may seem overly anxious or become very withdrawn. There are many ways that children show with their behaviors that they are struggling and not coping well with things that have gone on in their lives.

When this happens, parents worry that their child’s behavior will get worse. They may also be faced with negative comments or complaints about their child from teachers, daycare workers, coaches, or other parents. This can be very upsetting for parents and can contribute to feelings of discouragement and uncertainty. No matter what the behavior looks like in a child, parents will usually become concerned and want to seek help for their child. One of the best ways to help children with behavioral and emotional problems is through an approach known as play therapy.

Play therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment approach specifically developed to help children between the ages of three to 12 years old. A trained mental health professional, called a play therapist, works with a child to explore and resolve problems through the therapeutic use of play. Child and therapist work together in a counselling space called a playroom, which is equipped with specially chosen toys that will encourage the safe expression of feelings and also support the development of healthier behaviors.

A typical playroom may contain a small sandbox with miniature items (people, animals, cars, fantasy figures, etc.), puppets, stuffed toys, dolls, a dollhouse with furniture, dress-up and make-believe clothing and props, art materials for drawing and painting, construction toys, and some indoor games such as ring toss or indoor basketball.

In the beginning, the therapist will usually invite the child to play in an open-ended manner. The child will be allowed to play in almost any way she would like as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody or anything. As treatment progresses, the therapist may become more directive by encouraging the child to play with specific items or participate in certain activities that would address the child’s current problems.

But, how is play therapeutic for children? How does play therapy work to help children feel better and improve their behavior? What are the benefits of play therapy? These questions can be answered by understanding that play therapy helps children in the following ways by:

* Facilitating Healing from Past Stressful or Traumatic Experiences
* Allowing the Expression of Feelings
* Encouraging Creative Thoughts and New Ideas
* Allowing the Development of Healthy Decision-Making Skills
* Enabling the Communication of Problems and Concerns to Others
* Supporting the Learning of New Ways of Thinking and Behaving

Facilitating Healing from Past Stressful or Traumatic Experiences

Sometimes children go through experiences that are stressful or traumatic for them. These difficult experiences that children go through may not enter their minds in a normal manner and can remain “stuck” or even out of awareness. The feelings associated with these experiences can also get stuck and are frequently what cause emotional and behavioral problems that adults observe in children.

In order for children to feel better and improve their behavior, they need to make sense out of the stressful or traumatic experience and assimilate it into what they already know about the world. This is known as “processing” an experience and it usually involves expressing thoughts and feelings and coming to a new understanding about the experience, which then leads to behavior changes. This is similar to what an adult does in counselling by talking with a therapist.

For children things are different. Talking about problems using words is often difficult for children. We do know however that children express themselves much better by playing than by talking. In play, children will use their imaginations and express themselves symbolically through the toys. This means that experiences that have impacted the child in some way will show up as play behaviors. For example, a child who has been in a car accident may play by crashing toy cars together. A child who has seen his parents fighting may use puppets to act out these conflicts seen at home. In play therapy then, children are allowed to express, using toys, all the things they have difficulty saying, or may even be unable to say at all, with words.

When children play with toys in ways that are similar to difficult situations or traumatic events that they have experienced in their lives, this symbolic expression using toys is therapeutic in itself and can bring about positive changes within the child. When a child is provided with a therapeutic environment by the play therapist and is given the chance to process a difficult experience through play, the child’s natural developmental capabilities are activated and the “stuck” feelings and memories become “unstuck.” Just as the body heals from physical injury, the child has an emotional system that can be self-healing as well if certain therapeutic conditions are present for the child. Therapeutic play allows the child’s innate self-healing abilities to be activated, supporting the child’s growth and development on an emotional and psychological level. In play therapy, children do not have to talk about their problems to feel better.
Allowing the Expression of Feelings

Play therapy offers children the opportunity to express feelings safely in ways that may be unacceptable in other settings. At school children may not have the opportunity to express their feelings and may act out with inappropriate behaviors. At home children may be reluctant to express themselves for fear of hurting or angering their parents.

By expressing feelings in play therapy, even if it is symbolically through toys, children can begin to feel better. Expressing feelings leads to understanding feelings, which then leads to a decrease in the intensity of feelings. Feelings become less bothersome so children can then devote more of their mental energy to creative activities and problem-solving, which will result in mastery of tasks and an increase in self-confidence and self-esteem. Old behaviors that previously caused problems for children will change to more positive and adaptive behaviors. The end result is that the child’s inner psychological world will change and grow in a positive manner through the expression of feelings during the process of play therapy.
Encouraging Creative Thoughts and New Ideas

During play, creative thoughts are encouraged, and all children use play to learn about their environment and to solve their day-to-day problems. In play therapy, children will do the same thing and play in ways that help them to make sense of their problems. They can get a better understanding of what is happening in their lives and therefore be in a better position to cope with or adjust to their situation.

A child may play out different endings to a particular make-believe story, finding one ending that feels good. For example, a child may pretend a toy gets hurt by being pushed down the stairs or out the window of a dollhouse by a powerful dangerous toy such as a monster or villain. Then, the child’s play may change so that another toy comes to the rescue (superhero, police officer, doctor, fairy princess, etc.). When the child associates with the hurt toy, she can then begin to understand that getting hurt was not her fault. In addition, she can gain a sense of hopefulness and realize that help is available after a hurtful incident.

Alternately, the child may play out an ending where the hurt toy becomes very powerful and conquers the dangerous attacking toy. When the child associates with the hurt toy this time, he can begin to feel an inner sense of power, which can then lead to an improved self-concept. Even though the child may have no power to change his real world outside of the playroom, in the playroom he does have this experience of being the powerful one, thus making positive changes to his inner psychological world.

In play therapy, children can also pretend to be different characters. This gives them an idea of what it feels like to be in another person’s shoes. For example, a child can pretend to be a helpless victim, a dangerous attacker, a powerful rescuer, a mastermind strategist, or a nurturing caregiver. Again, this is like an adult talking with a therapist and getting a new understanding of a current problem by looking at things from various different perspectives. This ability to experience and understand different perspectives helps children enormously not only to understand themselves better but also by encouraging them to develop a sense of empathy towards others.
Allowing the Development of Healthy Decision-Making Skills

During play therapy, children are given the opportunity to make decisions and choices for themselves, thus enabling them to take control of the environment and to take responsibility for their actions. For a shy child, this is very beneficial. For example, if a child has trouble making decisions about what to play with in the playroom and seems to be unsure of what he should do, the therapist may allow him to come to some decision on his own without directing him as to what he should do. The net result is that the child’s self-confidence and self-reliance increases.

For a child who consistently breaks rules, the opportunity to make decisions and to take responsibility for her behavior is also very beneficial. During play therapy, the therapist may deal with a child’s inappropriate behaviors by setting limits and enforcing consequences in such a way that it is up to the child to make the right behavioral choice to avoid the consequence. In this way, the child is encouraged to develop an internal sense of self-control.
Enabling the Communication of Problems and Concerns to Others

By expressing themselves symbolically through toys in play therapy, children are allowed to distance themselves from difficult feelings and memories, which are frequently too hard for them to talk about directly with others. This gives children the opportunity to communicate their fears, worries, problems, wishes, and desires to others, even if it is done symbolically through toys. Other adults in children’s lives, such as play therapists and parents, can then get a better understanding of children’s inner worlds, which allows these adults to understand what children need in order to provide the appropriate type of help and support.
Supporting the Learning of New Ways of Thinking and Behaving

Play therapists may introduce specific activities that would help children address their difficulties. These activities would be presented at age-appropriate levels. With younger children the activities would likely focus mostly on pretend play activities while for older children workbooks and written exercises could be used as well.

Play therapists may also identify self-critical and self-defeating thoughts children sometimes have. Any misunderstandings that children may have can then be corrected and information can be provided that will help them to develop more adaptive perspectives about a particular situation. For example, a child may erroneously believe that she has caused her uncle’s death by getting angry at him. The play therapist can then help her to correct this faulty belief and help to eliminate her feelings of guilt by encouraging more positive thoughts. For example, the play therapist could make a wise owl puppet tell the child that her uncle died because he was very sick and not because she got mad at him.

Children can also learn appropriate behaviors through modeling of these behaviors by the play therapist. For example, the therapist could enact a puppet show to demonstrate the difference between sharing and being selfish or between cooperation and fighting. In this way, children learn healthier ways of interacting with others and better ways of coping with difficult situations.

Play therapists may also teach children certain skills to help manage difficult feelings. Deep breathing, relaxation exercises, and mental imagery are some of the ways that play therapists can help children learn important self-soothing skills.
Conclusions

Play therapists have recently been evaluating the research conducted over the past fifty years on the effectiveness of play therapy. We have found that play therapy is an effective treatment for children experiencing a wide variety of social, emotional, and behavioral problems. It is also an excellent way to help children recover and heal from stressful or traumatic experiences.

Play therapy is different than regular play however, and to be effective does require the presence of a trained therapist. The play therapist is trained to create a safe environment for the child and to interact with the child in such a way that the therapeutic benefits of play are activated. It is within this unique and therapeutic environment that the child is able to gain relief from emotional difficulties and to develop more appropriate behaviors.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/10/26/play-therapy-helps-kids-express-emotions/360.html
psychcentral.com
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have discovered that observing children while they are playing can provide a good indication of how emotionally charged their memories will be. Emotions in play can not only help children in traumatic situations, it can also help children express negative emotions that arise in daily life and result in better processing of those emotions and integrating them into their memories.

Emotions–whether positive or negative–in play offer important information to people working with children about how able they will be at expressing the emotional side of their memories. Accessing emotional memories is important for adjusting to traumas experienced.

Many children are unable to start talking about their emotions or memories with someone new, but watching children play can help child therapists and others working with children gauge how open children might be to talking about the emotions associated with past memories, according to Sandra Russ, Case professor of psychology. She has been studying the emotional side of play and how play benefits children for more than 20 years.

Russ, with Ethan D. Schafer, discusses this discovery in the Creativity Research Journal article, “Affect in Fantasy Play, Emotion in Memories, and Divergent Thinking.” In the past, this link between emotions in play therapy and emotions in memories was observed but had not been formally studied in children.

The psychologists administered three tests to 46 children in the first and second grades in a suburban community. They visited the children for two, 30-minute sessions.

Children played freely for five minutes with some puppets while the researchers video recorded the emotions they used in their imaginative play. Afterwards, the researchers used the Affect Play Scale (APS) that Russ developed to rate and measure 11 different emotions exhibited during the play session. They also had children freely associate words with eight objects that might illicit a range of emotionally-charged responses to such things as a needle, matches, cookie, ball or button. Then children were asked nine questions that explored positive, negative or neutral memories. All were rated for their emotions.

The researchers stated that the frequency of emotions in play was significantly related to the emotions expressed in the memory task, with negative emotions stronger than positive ones.

“The finding in this study that emotion in memory description related to divergent (creative) thinking supports the concept that access to emotion in memory broadens the association process,” they also report.

Emotions in play also were significantly related to creative/divergent thinking as in other studies.

http://articles.smashits.com/articles/family/67729/play-therapy-the-professionals-use-it-and-so-can-you.html
smashits.com
Megan Stansfield

If your child is having emotional issues or seems to not be able to express their feelings verbally, use of play therapy can help. If your child is having severe issues, a professional should observe and interpret the behavior so a diagnosis and course of treatment can be recommended. However, if a child is simply having a difficult day, parents can use some of the tricks professionals use to help the child. A parent can often learn what is bothering the child by observing their play. The insight that is found with the play therapy can help the parent figure out how to help the child cope with their feelings.

Play time is a fun time for the child. Often they feel less threatened by playing and can open up a lot easier than if a parent asks them outright what is troubling them. When a parent is unsure about what is troubling the child, the play time can be very helpful. A child can act out what the issues are in a safe environment. Sometimes children do not feel like expressing themselves verbally. Other times, the child may have difficulties or be too young to be able to express themselves eloquently through verbal means. The play therapy will help this. It is a natural way for the child to engage.

Play therapy benefits children of all ages. For older children, sometimes they may have the words to express but they feel inadequate or embarrassed by their emotions. The play will help draw that out. Toddlers who do not speak yet will also benefit from this because they do not yet have the words to express their feelings. It is a common form of therapy used often with professionals. Therapists can use this to help discuss issues with parents to see if there needs to be some form of treatment. It can also be used to help the child learn the words to certain feelings. For example, if a child is angry and they do not yet know the word, they can act out an angry scene using dolls or stuffed animals. The parent can then describe how the dolls seem to be angry and ask the child if she is angry. The same can be done for all emotions such as sad, happy, disappointed, etc.

A child can also learn responsibility from play therapy. They can learn positive and negative effects based on particular actions. They can show how to act in particular situations and the parent can give suggestions for other options. For example, if a child is in a difficult situation and behaves in a manner that is not appropriate, the child can act out what actually happened. Then, the parent can act out a similar situation but replacing the child’s actions with one that is more appropriate. The child can learn from this how the behavior was inappropriate and how the alternate behavior had a better outcome. Then, the child can act out the scenario again, using the alternate ending in his own manner so he will learn.

The child also learns from play therapy the value of other people’s emotions as well as how to get in touch with their own. While play therapy is a very valuable tool in helping a child express their own emotions, they can also learn how another person may feel because of the child’s actions. For example, if a child is not sharing when playing with another child, the child may not know that he is hurting the other child. A parent can act out the situation with the child, using expressions of sadness or anger because the other child is not getting a turn to play. This will help the child realize that his actions are causing the other child to hurt.

Then, the child can act out the same scenario, changing the behavior pattern so that she is sharing the toys. The parent can play the other child and be happy, showing how nice it is to take into consideration the other child’s feelings when playing. Understanding how actions affect other people is an important part of socialization. The child can develop social skills and learn cause and effect based on actions and feelings. This is a very useful tool for toddlers who are just starting to interact with others in their peer group. It is also a great tool for child care workers to use in day cares and pre schools to help teach children how to share and play well with others.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2088303_use-play-therapy-treat-autism.html
ehow.com

For most kids, playing comes naturally and it’s an important part of a child’s development. For children with autism, fun activities like games, tumbling and make-believe often have to be learned. Play therapy can draw autistic children out and give them a way to express themselves, while learning important life skills. Read on to learn more about how to use play therapy to treat autism.

1.Use manipulative and exploratory play to show autistic children how to interact with objects and the environment around them. Hands-on, manipulative play, such as putting together puzzles and stacking blocks, teaches autistic children about perception and problem solving. Exploratory play such as dropping a ball into a hole introduces cause and effect, and aids with sensory development.
2.Treat autism by engaging children in tumbling and physical activity to develop motor skills. Physical activity can also show autistic children how they can affect objects around them and interact with others.
3.Use role-playing and social play to mimic real life situations. Children with autism can learn about the world around them by experiencing the way people interact in a variety of relationships, such as teacher and student, or customer and cashier. “Social stories” and “scripting” can develop language skills and teach social rules.
4.Let autistic children learn games from other autistic children with integrated play, which develops social interaction skills.
5.Encourage autistic children to participate in symbolic or pretend play. In symbolic play, children may pretend that an object is something else. For example, a tennis racquet can be a guitar, or a hairbrush may be a microphone. Symbolic play allows children with autism to develop thought flexibility.
6.Engage children in functional play, where a child may provide appropriate sound effects and reactions for a toy or everyday object. For example, the child may pretend to take a drink from a glass, and then wipe his or her mouth. Functional play is where a child imitates appropriate or learned responses.
7.Treat autism by choosing toys that will make a visual impact–bright colors with a variety of shapes and textures can help keep kids engaged. Enhance physical activity with slides, swings and games that require interaction, such as catch and tag. Use dance videos and musical instruments to encourage self-expression.
8.Structure playtime so that there is continuity and repetition. Use familiar objects, but introduce new materials or different types of toys to keep activities feeling spontaneous and fun.

http://www.usenature.com/article_counselling_play_therapy.htm
usenature.com
Silvia Camastral Ph.D
Process Oriented Psychotherapist
Counsellor

Play is one of the primary activities of childhood. It is important for children’s physical, social and emotional learning and development. Play therapy is the use of play situations in a therapeutic setting. Whereas most adults may find relief in talking over problems, children often have difficulty in expressing thoughts and feelings in words, and play can serve as a medium for them to express themselves.

Children are seen in a therapeutic playroom where toys and materials have been selected to encourage expressive play through activities such as artwork, playing with dolls, puppets, using play-dough or small figurines in a sand tray, making a video and role-playing. Play can be used as a window to observe and assess the child and as a door to open and enter for intervention.

Therapists may use non-directive play to build therapeutic rapport and then direct the therapy towards specified goals through focused intervention (Cunningham and Rasmussen, 1995), e.g. problem solving, working through confusion, dealing with worries, releasing inner trauma.

Play therapy is best carried out in conjunction with the broader goals of family therapy (Macdonald, Lambie & Simmonds, 1996). The therapist wants to work with family members’ concerns, regularly reviewing progress and assisting family members to facilitate positive change.

Play Therapy uses a variety of play and creative arts techniques to address chronic, mild and moderate psychological and emotional conditions in children that are causing behavioural problems and/or are preventing children from realising their potential.

The Play Therapist uses a wide range of play and creative arts techniques, responding to the child’s wishes.  This distinguishes the Play Therapist from more specialised therapists (Art, Music, Drama etc) and from those using therapeutic play skills.

The Play Therapist forms a short to medium term therapeutic relationship and often works systemically taking into account and perhaps dealing with the social environment of the clients (peers, siblings, family, school etc). Clinical supervision is essential.

http://autism.about.com/od/autismtherapy101/a/playbasics.htm
about.com
By Lisa Jo Rudy

What Exactly is a Play Therapist?
Play therapy was originally conceived as a tool for providing psychotherapy to young people coping with trauma, anxiety and mental illness. In that context, play becomes a way for children to act out their feelings and find coping mechanisms.

This type of play therapy is still popular; however, it is NOT the same thing as play therapy as used for children with autism.

Most specialists offering something called “play therapy” to children with autism are actually providing something akin to  Floortime Therapy. Floortime is a play-based technique which builds on autistic children’s own interests or obsessions to develop relationships and social/communication skills.  The Play Project is another therapeutic approach which uses play as a tool for building skills in autistic children. Like Floortime, it builds on children’s own interests.

It is possible to be officially credentialed in Floortime therapy through a certification program that includes a wide range of content. This certification is offered through the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL), but is not recognized by any of the national therapeutic associations. Thus, most “play therapists” are not so much credentialed as they are experienced and/or trained. Of course, as with all autism treatments, the onus is on the parent to investigate the therapist’s background, training and references, and to closely monitor progress.
Why Would a Person With Autism Need to See a Play Therapist?
Autism is largely a social-communication disorder. Children with autism find it extremely difficult to relate to others — particularly to peers — in ordinary ways. Instead of playing with toys in imaginative or symbolic ways (pretending a doll is really “my baby,” for example) they may perseverate on objects, use them for self-stimulation, and become entirely self-absorbed.

Play is a wonderful tool for helping children (and sometimes even adults) to move beyond autism’s self-absorption into real, shared interaction. Properly used, play can also allow youngsters to explore their feelings, their environment, and their relationships with parents, siblings and peers.

Very often, too, play therapy can allow parents to take an active role in their autistic child’s growth and development. Play therapy can be taught to parents, and, over time, parents can become their child’s therapist while also building a stronger, more meaningful relationship.
What Does a Play Therapist Do for People with Autism?
A good play therapist will get down on the floor with your child and truly engage him through the medium of play. For example, the therapist might set out a number of toys that a child finds interesting, and allow her to decide what, if anything, interests her. If she picks up a toy train and runs it back and forth, apparently aimlessly, the therapist might pick up another train and place it in front of the child’s train, blocking its path. If the child responds — verbally or non-verbally — then a relationship has begun.

If the child doesn’t respond, the therapist might look for high-interest, high-energy options to engage the child. Bubble blowing is often successful, as are toys that move, squeak, vibrate, and otherwise DO something.

Over time, the therapists will work with the child to build reciprocal skills (sharing, turn-taking), imaginative skills (pretending to feed a toy animal, cook pretend skills) and even abstract thinking skills (putting together puzzles, solving problems). As a child becomes better able to relate to others, additional children may be brought into the group, and more complex social skills are developed.

Many parents find they can do play therapy on their own, using videotapes and books as a guide. Others rely on the experience of trained play therapists. And still others choose to simply bring their children to a play therapist or have the therapist come to their home. In any case, play therapists can provide parents with tools to connect with and have fun with their children on the autism spectrum.
How Can I Find a Qualified Play Therapist?
Play therapy may be offered through a local early intervention program as a free service, or it may be incorporated into a special needs preschool program. It’s unlikely to be incorporated into a schoolage public school program, though it may be possible to make the case that such a program is appropriate for your child. Outside of these programs, it is unlikely that play therapy will be covered by any kind of insurance, so it is up to the parent to find and pay for the therapist.

If you are looking for a certified Floortime specialist, go to the Floortime website (www.floortime.org) and look for a local therapist. If you don’t live near a major city, it’s unlikely you’ll find such a person nearby, which means you may need to travel and/or work with the therapist at long distance. This is accomplished through a combination of shared videos and telephone conferences; while not ideal, this can be helpful.

If you’re looking for someone local with experience and skills in play therapy in a more general way, you might find just what you’re looking for in an occupational therapist or child psychologist with a specialty in autism. You might even find a play therapy program (usually a group program) offered through autism clinics, hospitals, or private service providers.