Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Some of the most substantive revisions to the DSM-5 impact the child and adolescent population and the play therapists that work with them. This workshop will include an overview of some of the most significant diagnostic changes and new diagnoses that have been added to the DSM 5.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the differences between a dimension versus categorical approach to diagnosis and understanding this differences enhances the treatment of children in play therapy.
• Identify the most significant diagnostic changes in the DSM-5 as it applies to children in play therapy.
• Identify the changes to Autism Spectrum Disorder and how that may impact children and families in play therapy.
• List the changes to PTSD made in the DSM-5 and how that benefits children in play therapy.
• Describe at least two new diagnoses added to the DSM-5 that may be applied to children in play therapy.
• Identify at least 3 challenges present in the DSM-5 and understand how those might negatively impact children in play therapy.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop will highlight the benefit of prescriptive play therapy when serving male survivors of sexual abuse. The content will offer research and incorporate prescriptive play therapy approaches. Techniques will be demonstrated to assist participants who work with male survivors.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain a rationale for the implementation and use of prescriptive play therapy when working with male survivors of sexual abuse.
• Demonstrate specific play therapy techniques when serving male survivors of sexual abuse.
• Identify the common misconceptions associated with make survivors of sexual trauma.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

*Supervision Training

Technology advances have provided opportunities for supervision through both asynchronous and synchronous methods. This presentation will examine the benefits and challenges for conducting online supervision, following ethical guidelines. Practical strategies will be demonstrated with a play therapist living in Turkey.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss ethical considerations related to the use of technology in the supervisory relationship.
• List different resources for online supervision.
• Participants will be able to critique a live demonstration of play therapy supervision.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop provides Play Therapists with an understanding of the intersection of neurobiology and psychopharmacology in children and adolescents. It also provides ways to utilize Play Therapy to meet the unique needs of medicated children and adolescents in Play Therapy.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss basic neurobiology, neurotransmitters, and brain functioning.
• Identify different medications and their mechanisms of action.
• Discuss the interaction of neurobiology, medication, and Play Therapy.
• Identify how beneficial effects of medication may facilitate Play Therapy.
• Utilize Play Therapy techniques to compensate for the side effects of medications.
• Develop an individualized Play Therapy plan for each medicated child.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Participants will learn and observe change variables in child-centered play therapy that help reduce symptoms of clinically anxious children. Presenters identify assessments to track progress, as well as tips on how to work with parents and teachers of anxious children.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify at least three assessments to use to track progress of anxiety symptoms reduction.
• Identify six skills to use in play therapy that are effective with anxious children.
• List at least three tips in working with parents or teachers of anxious children.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation focuses on structured play therapy techniques to use with children with autism spectrum disorders. Consideration in design and implementation of structured techniques will be covered. Several play therapy techniques will be presented addressing typical autism issues.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify three important components in regard to creating a structured play therapy technique to use in treating children with autism spectrum disorders.
• Identify two special considerations in regard to the uniqueness of working with children with autism as it relates to implementing structured play therapy techniques.
• Identify and implement at least four structured play therapy techniques.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

An essential aspect of understanding play therapy is understanding what is appropriate for a child's developmental level. This presentation reviews many development stage theories, as well as teaches how to apply these principles to play therapy.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss developmental theories of Freud, Erickson, Piaget, and Kohlberg.
• List ways to assess children's play to determine his/her developmental stage.
• Educate parents about childhood development.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

In this workshop play therapists will come to understand the strengths of the brain and how deeply attachment, trauma, and brain development are intertwined. This in turn will help play therapists in their play therapy assessment, formulation, and treatment.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the six core strengths of the brain as identified by Dr. Bruce Perry.
• Describe the stress response system and how this system operates in traumatized children in play therapy.
• Identify and describe how traumatized children in play therapy move across the dissociative continuum.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop goes beyond the basic treatment of OCD and explores how attachment patterns between parent and child impact OCD symptoms. Participants will learn new, attachment-based play therapy techniques to treat OCD, and strengthen the family relationship.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the etiology of OCD and best practice interventions
• Identify how OCD impacts not just the individual, but the family system as a whole
• List attachment-based play therapy interventions to treat OCD

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This seminar will help play therapists understand childhood sexual abuse & provide appropriate treatment for this population. Research, empirical findings, and sexual abuse literature will be utilized to dispel myths & assist play therapists in conceptualizing cases & intervening effectively.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify three myths or misconceptions related to childhood sexual abuse
• Identify at least 2 dynamics that occur during sexual abuse
• Identify at least 2 short- or long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics