Please be advised that in an effort to stay current with learning material, this test will no longer be available after Friday, March 1, 2019. Should you have any questions, please contact the APT office.
Learning Objectives:
This home study program informs the learner through the latest research in neuroscience about the important role of play, play therapy, and relationships in children’s growth and healing. Clear explanation is provided of the neurobiology behind play and play therapy, and case examples are used to illustrate concepts in meaningful ways.
Learning Objectives:
Play Therapy Primary Areas:
Child-Centered Play Therapy: A Practical Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships with Children offers how-to direction and practical advice for conducting child-centered play therapy. Filled with case studies, learning activities, and classroom exercises, this book presents extensive coverage of play therapy applications such as setting goals and treatment planning, as well as recommendations for family and systemic services that can be provided along with play therapy.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:
Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) incorporates cognitive and behavioral interventions within a play therapy paradigm. It provides a theoretical framework based on cognitive-behavioral principles and integrates these in a developmentally sensitive way. Thus, play as well as verbal and nonverbal approaches are used in resolving problems. CBPT differs from nondirective play therapy, which avoids any direct discussion of the child's difficulties. A specific problem-solving approach is utilized, which helps the child develop more adaptive thoughts and behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral therapies are based on the premise that cognitions determine how people feel and act, and that faulty cognitions can contribute to psychological disturbance. Cognitive-behavioral therapies focus on identifying maladaptive thoughts, understanding the assumptions behind the thoughts, and learning to correct or counter the irrational ideas that interfere with healthy functioning. Since their development approximately twenty-five years ago, such therapies have traditionally been used with adults and only more recently with adolescents and children. It has commonly been thought that preschool-age and school-age children are too young to understand or correct distortions in their thinking. However, the recent development of CBPT reveals that cognitive strategies can be used effectively with young children if treatments are adapted in order to be developmentally sensitive and attuned to the child's needs. For example, while the methods of cognitive therapy can be communicated to adults directly, these may need to be conveyed to children indirectly, through play activities. In particular, puppets and stuffed animals can be very helpful in modeling the use of cognitive strategies such as countering irrational beliefs and making positive self-statements. CBPT is structured and goal oriented and intervention is directive in nature.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:This comprehensive resource provides developmentally appropriate interventions for counseling children and adolescents who have experienced a wide range of grief and loss, including secondary and intangible losses such as moving or divorce. The book synthesizes current research and best-practice approaches for counseling youth. It provides a method for assessing individual needs and offers guidelines for selecting appropriate counseling strategies.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children is a compilation of innovative, well-designed play interventions, presented for the first time in one text. Play therapy is the oldest and most popular form of child therapy in clinical practice and is widely considered by practitioners to be uniquely responsive to children's developmental needs. Play promotes normal child development and can help alleviate emotional and behavioral difficulties. Even so, play-based interventions have often been criticized for the lack of an empirical base to prove their efficacy. In an era of cost-containment, the need to provide evidence of the effectiveness of interventions is increasingly important to gain the general acceptance of third-party payers, mental health professionals, and consumers. This book answers the call from professional and managed-care organizations for research-based treatment methods with proven efficacy. It describes a range of play interventions that feature flexibility in service delivery and across settings, child populations, and age groups.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:
Informed by an amalgamation of psychoanalytic and attachment theories, the techniques offered in this book can be employed alongside a variety of therapeutic modalities, such as evidenced-based cognitive-behavioral treatment; social learning, family systems, emotion-focused, Ericksonian, and solution-focused approaches; gestalt, psychodynamic, and narrative therapies; as well as play therapy and the therapies of the creative arts. 'Evocative strategies' have been developed for the purpose of engaging children in an emotionally meaningful process. Crenshaw illustrates that in order to create moments of transformation and change in and through the therapy process, we have to learn the language of the heart―where children in their essence live.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:
Hidden Treasure is a follow up to Oaklander's first book, Windows To Our Children. Most of the books available in working with this population are written from a traditional 'play therapy' point of view. The Gestalt Therapy-based approach provides a more effective method for psychotherapeutic work with children of all ages. The focus is on the relationship between the therapist and client, rather than observation and interpretation. It is a vigorous, dynamic approach.Violet Oaklander uses a wide variety of creative, expressive and projective techniques in her work, and each chapter reflects and exemplifies the use of this work in the service of therapy. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of ages, as well as individual, family and group settings. The book will interest child and adolescent psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, interns, school personnel as well as graduate-level students. Parents may also find it helpful, as well as adults who are interested in the child within.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:Draw me a picture of what you would look like if you turned into a monster" Dennis McCarthy's work with distressed or traumatized children begins with an exercise that is simple but very effective: he invites the child to communicate with him in their own way, through the non-verbal language of play. Using case studies from his clinical experience and with numerous children's monster drawings, McCarthy lets the meaningful self-expression of the child take centre stage. He demonstrates that being allowed to play, move and draw impulsively and creatively in the supportive presence of the therapist is in fact the beginning of the therapeutic process. These activities are shown to be more therapeutic for the child in practical terms than the interpretation of the clues it provides about the child's state of mind. This very accessible book will be inspiring reading for play therapists and other professionals working therapeutically with young children and their families.
Play Therapy Primary Areas:Play-Based Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders explores the most recognized, researched, and practical methods for using play therapy with the increasing number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), and shows clincians how to integrate these methods into their practices. Using a diverse array of play-based approaches, the book brings together the voices of researchers and practicing clinicians who are successfully utilizing play and play-based interventions with children and adolescents on the autism spectrum. It also examines the neurobiological underpinnings of play in children on the autism spectrum and the overall effect of play on neuro-typical and neuro-atypical development. Finally, through careful integration of theory with real-world clinical case application, each chapter also shows clinicians how to incorporate a particular treatment approach and make it a viable and effective part of their work with this challenging clinical population.
Play Therapy Primary Areas: