Starting with the January 2018 issue, earn non-contact continuing education credit by completing tests based upon the International Journal of Play Therapy®. APT Members may refer to their print or online journal access to complete the tests.
Continuing Education
APA. The Association for Play Therapy (APT) is
approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor
continuing education for psychologists. APT maintains responsibility for
this program and its content.
NBCC. The Association for Play Therapy (APT) has
been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider,
ACEP No. 5636. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly
identified. APT is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
APT. The Association for Play
Therapy (APT) offers continuing education specific to play therapy. APT
Approved Provider 95-100 maintains responsibility for the program.
Date : October 2018
Volume Issue : Volume 27, Issue 4
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
We examined the effects of group play therapy on North Korean refugee children who resettled in South Korea. A qualitative case study methodology was adopted to understand and analyze the healing process that children go through during therapy,with a focus on play characteristics and changes in play patterns. We analyzed four North Korean refugee girls who were in the second or third grade (age range8–9years). Essential information about the girls was provided by caregivers, teachers, and school officials. The children processed the psychological traumas that they had sustained by playing out past traumatic events. Therapy outcomes made it clear that a group play therapy approach was effective in treating the children’s psychological troubles. As therapy progressed, the children exhibited reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, improved attention, and more frequent instances of age-appropriate play. Children with internalized behavior problems showed fewer problem behaviors and more appropriate emotional expressions over the course of the therapy. Children with externalized behavior problems showed fewer aggressive behaviors and increased empathy toward others. Their psychological trauma was rooted in disrupted interpersonal relationships, which is too commonly observed in North Korean refugee children,and it took longer to treat than traumas of simpler natures and associated symptoms.Our study adds to the existing body of research by presenting the specific processes and outcomes of a group play-therapy case study, which provides a data set that may prove useful in counseling at-risk children, including North Korean refugee children.
Learning Objectives:
Play Therapy in South Korea: History, Current Practices, Research, and Future Directions
Preview Available
Date : January 2020
Volume Issue : Volume 29, Issue 1
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
The purpose of this review of the literature is to provide (a) a historical review of play therapy in South Korea; (b) an analysis of the practice of play therapy in South Korea; (c) a summary of play therapy research in South Korea; and (d) recommendations for future directions for play therapy professionals, counselor educators, and researchers in South Korea.
Learning Objectives:Date : October 2019
Volume Issue : Volume 28, Issue 4
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
The field of play therapy is rapidly growing and has been recognized as an evidence-based practice. As the field continues to grow, there is an increasing need to examine publication trends in this field to better understand areas of strengths and potential for improvements. To accomplish this goal, we conducted a content analysis of play therapy articles that were published within the years 2008–2017. Publication trends revealed seven themes that all articles fell under, with the theory/approach theme having the most articles (44.6%). There were mixed results between research and non-research articles with some topics having more research articles and other topics having more non-research articles. Unfortunately, all topics severely lacked articles with a multicultural focus. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Learning Objectives:
Effect of CPRT with Adoptive Parents of Preadolescents: A Pilot Study
Preview Available
Date : April 2019
Volume Issue : Volume 28, Issue 2
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
Older adopted children and their families often express high need for support for attachment and trauma related concerns. Postadoption mental health intervention focused on enhancing the parent–child relationship among adoptive parents and adoptees is essential for fostering placement permanency among these families. This single group pilot study explored the effect of child–parent relationship therapy (CPRT) for adoptive parents of preadolescents who reported attachment related concerns, stress in the parent–child relationship, and child behavior problems. Participants were adoptive parents with adoptees between the ages of 8 to 14 adopted out of foster care. Data was collected at baseline, pretest, midtest, and posttest. Results from nonparametric Friedman test of differences across 4 points of measure indicated that CPRT demonstrated statistically significant improvement for the 3 outcome variables: parental empathy, child behavior, and parent child relationship stress. Specifically, results indicated that prior to receiving CPRT (baseline to pretest), parents demonstrated no change or worsening in functioning across all variables, whereas during the intervention phase findings showed a large treatment effect for parental empathy, a medium effect for parenting stress, and a small effect for child behavior problems. Findings from this pilot study support CPRT as a promising mental health intervention for adoptive parents and preadolescent children. Clinical implications and recommendations for working with adoptive parents of preadolescents are explored within the context of these findings.
Learning Objectives:Date : October 2018
Volume Issue : Volume 27, Issue 4
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
Few studies have explored mental health treatment programs for Aboriginal Australian children under the age of 12 years old. Isolated locations, coupled with therapy modalities that are not developmentally and culturally suitable for children who have experienced adversities, exacerbate the typical challenges in providing health services needed for optimum child development. Therapeutic services offered in Aboriginal communities typically follow a traditional delivery of therapy, meeting no more than once a week, or less,as remoteness increases. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of an intensive child-centered play therapy (iCCPT) program in a remote Aboriginal community with children who have experienced adversity. Pre- and post measures, utilizing Goodman’s (1997)Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, were collected from parents and teachers. Semi structured interviews were conducted with parents who participated in the program after the intervention ended. Nine child participants attended an average of 15sessions in a 10-day format. Total difficulties, as reported by both parents and teachers,diminished after the program. In particular, emotional problems, as rated by teachers,decreased over time. If replicated in a randomized control trial, these findings would suggest that an iCCPT program may be feasible and effective in remote Australian Aboriginal communities.
Learning Objectives:
Play Therapists' Perceptions of Wellness and Self-Care Practices
Preview Available
Date : July 2018
Volume Issue : Volume 27, Issue 3
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
The importance of professional helpers’ wellness and self-care has received significant attention in the past decade and is even considered an ethical obligation by many organizations for professional helpers. Play therapists, compared with providers of other treatment modalities, might be more susceptible to professional and personal impairment because they bear witness to children’s experiences through the process of play therapy, which can illicit strong emotional reactions from the client and from the therapist. They may also be at a heightened risk be cause of their nature to want to protect and nurture children. Yet no published accounts of research were found to elaborate specifically on play therapists’ wellness attitudes and experiences. We surveyed Registered Play Therapists and Registered Play Therapist Supervisors about their perceptions, practices, and suggestions for wellness and self-care. Results provide preliminary and exploratory data, implications for play therapists and supervisors, and suggestions for more research on this topic.
Learning Objectives:
Child-Parent Relationship Therapy with Residential Care Workers
Preview Available
Date : July 2020
Volume Issue : Volume 29, Issue 3
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
Children in the United States are experiencing a mental health crisis (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2013; U.S. Public Health Service, 2000). One component of the array of treatment approaches for child mental health issues is residential treatment in which children receive therapeutic services in a residential setting. Children in residential treatment have experienced a variety of issues including disruptions in attachment (Walter, 2007). However, relationships are important to the success of treatment (e.g., Ayotte, Lanctôt, & Tourigny, 2016; Gallagher & Green, 2012). One promising approach to address this relational need is child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT; Landreth & Bratton, 2019). To investigate the effects of CPRT with residential care workers (RCWs), this study used a mixed-methods approach including a single-case experimental design and a qualitative case. More specifically, the study investigated effects of CPRT on RCWs’ (a) perceptions of children’s behaviors, (b) relationships with the children of focus, and (c) ability to demonstrate empathy in individual play sessions. The percentage of nonoverlapping data (Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Casto, 1987) was calculated and indicated that the treatment was very effective in helping participants increase the demonstration of empathy in play sessions. Qualitative descriptions of the relationship between the RCWs and their children of focus (COFs) were positive, but the quantitative data did not consistently align with the qualitative data across all participants. Two participants described ongoing experiences of behavioral challenges with their COF and one did not, which was supported by the quantitative data related to COFs’ behavioral problems.
Learning Objectives:Date : April 2020
Volume Issue : Volume 29, Issue 2
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
There is a significant need to provide intervention services not only to students who exhibit sustained disruptive behaviors in the classroom, failing grades, and/or significant attendance issues but also to address the emotional needs of diverse elementary students who are “at risk” prior to exhibiting such issues so they may be successful in the academic environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the academic skills of second-grade students who received child-centered play therapy (CCPT) services using the Primary Project (formerly the Primary Mental Health Project) protocol. Sixty-eight students from 1 elementary school in second grade were assessed in the areas of task orientation, behavior control, assertiveness, and peer social skills. Of those who were tested, 36 students were deemed at risk using the established qualifying criteria and received CCPT services, and 32 students did not qualify for services. Findings revealed a significant increase in 3 academic subject areas: reading, mathematics, and language usage, with qualifying students experiencing marginally greater improvements during the academic year in mathematics and language usage when compared to their peers who did not qualify for services. Results of this study highlight the importance of providing preventive services that support overall mental health and wellness to at-risk children.
Learning Objectives:
Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children in Clinical Practice: Case Vignettes from Psychotherapy Outcome Studies
Preview Available
Operation Level : Intermediate
Date : January 2020
Volume Issue : Volume 29, Issue 1
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
There is a need for empirically informed play therapy approaches for children with oppositional and disruptive behaviors. Regulation-focused psychotherapy for children (RFP-C) is a manualized intervention rooted in the longstanding tradition of nondirective, psychodynamic play
therapy. It builds on this history by emphasizing concepts drawn from the psycho-dynamic construct of defense mechanisms and contemporary research on emotion regulation. By using systematic interventions that target children’s defense mechanisms against unpleasant feeling states, RFP-C promotes the development of improved implicit emotion regulation capacities and increases children’s ability to tolerate painful emotions that were previously masked by the disruptive behaviors. An overview of this play therapy approach, along with several clinical illustrations drawn from a recent pilot study and ongoing randomized controlled trial of RFP-C as a treatment for oppositional defiant disorder, is provided in order to demonstrate some of the principles of defense interpretation, parent work, and addressing the meaning of disruptive behaviors.
Learning Objectives:
Facilitating Congruence, Empathy, and Unconditional Positive Regard through Therapeutic Limit-Setting: Attitudinal Conditions Limit-Setting Model (ACLM)
Preview Available
Date : October 2019
Volume Issue : Volume 28, Issue 4
Level : Intermediate
Credits: None available.
Therapeutic limit-setting is a complex yet critical skill for child-centered play therapists. Limit-setting models and professional discussions exist in the literature, and each is grounded in person-centered and child-centered theory. However, the existing literature does not explicitly tie all of Rogers’s (1957) 6 conditions to the concept of limit-setting. The attitudinal conditions limit-setting model (ACLM) builds on existing literature by providing a 3-part model to help play therapists make limit-setting decisions based on the attitudinal conditions of congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. The model is designed to support critical reflection and intentionality in the limit-setting process and to facilitate provision of the attitudinal conditions within critical relational moments in play therapy. A case example is provided to illustrate the ACLM in practice.
Learning Objectives:
