Nature is a powerful partner in the counseling process; however, it is not always feasible to take clients outside for sessions. Nonetheless, practitioners may still involve nature within the counseling process by integrating natural materials within the counseling room. In this article, the integration of natural items within the playroom will be discussed, along with the presentation of a case illustration, and exploration of implications for practice and research.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
  

Play therapists inevitably work with traumatic death loss at some point in their careers. Unfortunately, most play therapists are not specialty-trained in traumatic loss, creating a treatment gap with this unique population. Although traditional methods of play therapy are empirically effective for traumatic death loss, adjustments in intake, toy selection, and termination can greatly enhance the therapeutic process. This article reviews the short- and long-term impacts of traumatic death loss, with a discussion of developmental processes and reactions to this painful experience. A detailed description of toy selection and traumatic play themes are discussed along with types of play demonstrated by traumatically bereaved children.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
  

Play therapists have become sensitized to interpersonal trauma and its varied presentations and consequences. Children who experience frightening and painful medical procedures may become traumatized by these experiences. Personnel working in inpatient medical facilities are presumably familiar with emotional and behavioral presentations of pediatric medical trauma. However, underlying pediatric medical trauma may be overlooked in outpatient play therapy settings. This article describes the clinical case of a young child whose relatively severe emotional and behavioral problems masked medical trauma. Examples of thematic play sessions are presented to illustrate the child’s underlying trauma and the process of play therapy that led to considerable improvement. The importance of the play therapy relationship is emphasized. Play therapists are encouraged to consider the presence of pediatric medical trauma when assessing young children with histories of medical intervention.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

This article describes a pilot study for a play-based intervention designed to support the development of social competence of youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that includes play with the video game, Mine craft. Four boys with ASD, ages 11–13, participated in play with the video game during 8 1-hr sessions with a typically developing peer and 2 adults during structured play (role-based objective play) and free play (no roles or objectives) with video modeling, adult facilitation, and mediation from a typically developing peer. High rates of initiations were maintained during structured play; the quality of social play started as weak during free play but improved by the later sessions. Implications of the results for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
  

The field of child-centered play therapy has long recognized the value of play for children’s growth and development, however other fields of inquiry have come to realize the value of play as well, such as play-based social interventions for youth with autism spectrum disorder. Despite the differences between the theoretical and pragmatic applications of child-centered play therapy and play-based social interventions, the purpose of this work is to orient a play-based social intervention study with child-centered play therapy approach. In particular, this work will discuss the theoretical and pragmatic approaches of the two fields with emphasis on 2 factors of play: (a) play materials and (b) permissiveness. Additionally, the play experiences of 1 boy, Enoch, are reviewed through the typical stages of child-centered play therapy, to demonstrate how permissive play with technology-based play materials functions in play-based social interventions.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Marginalized children are often excluded from mainstream social, economic, cultural, and political life because of ethnicity or poverty. These children are more likely to have behavior problems that place them at risk later in life. The impact is evident at an early age. The purpose of this article was to review the literature that examined the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) conducted with marginalized children. The literature was reviewed with regard to the results of the studies, the outcome variables used, the identification of who completed the assessments about the children, and the ethnicity of the play therapists who conducted the interventions. The findings demonstrated that CCPT is effective for marginalized children, externalized behaviors are most frequently assessed, teachers most frequently completed the assessments about the children, and the ethnicity of the play therapists is not usually reported. The results are considered in terms of implications for play therapists and future research.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

School-based filial therapy (SBFT) programs are training programs for teachers, school learning-support officers, and teacher’s aides (paraprofessionals) working in regional and remote primary-school settings. The program educates paraprofessionals in the therapeutic foundations and skills involved in facilitating child-centered play therapy (or, “special play sessions”) with children who have mild to moderate emotional and behavioral disturbances. The program is delivered in regional or remote locations over 3 days in a didactic and experiential format. When paraprofessionals become competent with therapeutic protocols involved in facilitating special play sessions, they design program implementations in their school settings to ensure the specific needs of each community are being met, in collaboration with their local school communities. This involves the use of local resources and abilities that take into consideration the unique cultural aspects of each school and community. Where children’s mental health treatment is limited by access, culture, stigma, low socioeconomic status, and/or isolation, the SBFT program provides one possible solution: prioritizing and supporting locally determined, rather than prescriptive, implementation of the program. This specific program aims to address the many barriers people living in rural communities face when they attempt to access specialist mental health care, thus potentially delivering better health outcomes. As such, this program can be adapted anywhere around the world where health-care delivery and accessibility are challenging, especially for young children.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

African American children living in poverty often experience adverse childhood conditions such as overexposure to violence, either witnessing domestic violence or community violence, or direct victimization. These conditions can cause an increase in future mental health problems. In this pilot study, 12 African American children ages 5–9 participated in six weeks of child-centered individual play therapy followed by six weeks of group play therapy. Individual and group play therapy addressed the participants’ problematic behaviors as reported by teachers at an after school program for disadvantaged youth. Findings indicated that a combination of individual and group child-centered play therapy significantly decreased problematic behaviors affecting academic performance and the classroom overall. The combination of individual and group interventions also demonstrated a significant decrease in general worry and negative intrusive thought patterns. The results support therapists utilizing individual and group child-centered play therapy when working with children who experience adverse childhood experiences. Further research is needed to understand the impact of child-centered play therapy as a preventative intervention for children at-risk for developing mental health problems.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent childhood disorder as 1 in 68 children,8 years old and younger, are diagnosed with ASD. Additionally, childhood trauma impacts 60% of children living in the United States. Due to the lack of social awareness and increased sensitivity to various stimuli, children diagnosed with ASD are often more prone to victimization. Current treatment interventions for ASD are limited inflexibility and adaptive qualities. Flexibility is especially important for this population;therefore, a more responsive and open therapeutic approach is need. A case study is presented illustrating an adapted child-centered play therapy approach for children on the spectrum who have also endured trauma.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

In this article, we explain why play therapists should be familiar with the effects and side effects of psychiatric medications. Nonphysician therapists are an important part of the “clinical team” in any inpatient or outpatient setting. Since the physician prescriber spends a relatively brief amount of time with a client, as opposed to the time spent with the psychotherapist, it is in the hands of the nonphysician professionals to become proficient in discovering problems and unwanted effects of medications, and report it to the client’s guardians and/or physician prescriber for reevaluation. This article focuses on the side effects of medications commonly prescribed to children with psychiatric conditions, and we explain how play therapists may tailor their play therapy interventions to cope with the side effects of medications. The side effects range from insignificant/temporary (e.g., dry mouth, stuffy nose), significant/permanent (e.g.,tardive dyskinesia), to life threatening disorders (e.g., serotonin syndrome). By under-standing the psychopharmacology, therapists can get a better grasp about the cause of new psychological or behavioral complaints. For example, excessive yawning during the interview may be due to side effects of Prozac (fluoxetine) rather than fatigue or sleep deprivation. But Prozac can also cause nightmares that result in sleep interruption and frequent yawning. Clinical literature indicates that by understanding the lethargy experienced in the child, the play therapist can tailor play therapy sessions to outdoor activities to allow for sun exposure and fresh air.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics