Child Counseling Interventions

Although play therapy is developmentally appropriate for children ages 3–11 years (Kottman, 2011); an examination of individual development is necessary to determine how the child is functioning (Ray, 2011).Apart from the mental or physical functioning of the children, the readiness to change and growth is also an essential part to be assessed by the therapist throughout the entire therapeutic process. In Rogers’ (1961, as cited in Wilkins, 2010) research on the readiness of clients in the therapy process, Rogers conceptualized a continuum. Concerning children in play therapy, they are usually referred by others; mostly the parents are the one who seek help voluntarily. Most involuntary children and preadolescents usually are not self-referred,

Haslam, D., Harris, S. (2011). Integrating Play and Family Therapy Methods: A Survey of Play

The topic of this book is how play therapy can help a child who has been in isolation, and self-discovery. Axline supports this view in various ways throughout the book. She explains her reasoning for not interrupting Dibs and gives many examples of using counseling skills. Axline’s style is formal and the chapters are clearly organized. There is a chapter for each play therapy session. She describes Dibs’ activities captivatingly, making the book engaging to read and showing that she, too, is engaged with Dibs (counsellorjen/wordpress).

If play is a child's language, then toys can be taken as the words. With play therapy the child can resolve their difficulties and concerns utilizing the toys that they pick, exposing their inner thoughts and discussions. With play the child has the ability to check out numerous circumstances and habits in a supportive environment. Genuine favorable regard and approval urges the child to feel safe adequate to be able to discover

10). According to Landreth (2012), “Play therapy… facilitates the development of a safe relationship for the child… to fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors) through play, the child’s natural medium of communication, for optimal growth and development”

Using the historically noted context of the importance of play, many therapists have refined and structured this “natural language” and have been able to facilitate desirable change for a variety of issues. The rest of this paper aims at providing the reader with a proficient overview of play therapy. The benefits, history, credentials, inner workings, and role of the family will be examined. Classical cases, as well as individual case studies, and larger scale findings will be examined, and the role and credentials of the therapist outlined.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of play therapy on trauma victims. Most literature on play therapy implies that play therapy can yield to be beneficial to children who have experienced some form of a traumatic event. In this review we will discuss what is play therapy? and why it is important?

When I think about the word “play therapy”, I think of it as a tool or a way to help out another individual or child express their anxieties and conflicts through play in a therapeutic setting. In class, the introductory handout on “Playful Thoughts” was a useful way to capture moments from childhood that would emphasize either happy or unhappy play memories. From one of the questions in the handout, a moment I would never forget would be when I accidentally stapled my hand at the age of four, when I was trying to staple a couple of pages back to a coloring book. A couple of students in class discussed their experience; and their experiences were mixed, as in some described happier moments, while others discussed sadder moments. In class we

Therapeutic play, (including play therapy) , is a well established discipline predicated upon a number of psychological theories. Research, both qualitative and quantitative shows that it is highly efficacious in many cases. Recent research by PTUK, an organisation affiliated to PTI, suggests that 71% of the children referred to play therapy will show a positive change. A safe, confidential and caring environment is engendered which sanctions the child to play with as few limits as possible but as many as indispensable (for physical and emotional safety). This sanctions rejuvenating to occur on many calibers following our natural inner trend towards health. Play and ingeniousness operate on impulses from outside our cognizance - the insensate.

In which, one who offers therapy to individuals, who have experienced trauma must receive specialized training to provide treatment to people suffering from being subjected to traumatic events. Moreover, the department provides play therapy for children not yet old enough to adequately verbalize abuse they may have endured. This form of treatment allows children to process the events through play with implements such as specialized dolls, and artistic

According to a leading expert in Play Therapy, Landreth (2014) believes firmly that the focus of therapy needs to be on the child not on the client, and children are the best teachers for the

Parent involvement as a tool in intervention strategies is a resource that needs to be used more frequently when working with children with autism. The roll of the parent in autism interventions strategies such as Pivotal Response Training (PRT), allows the child the greatest form of reinforcement and interaction in that of their parent. This consistence resource needs to be utilized when implementing intervention strategies for a child with autism. The lack of verbal communication is strong among children with autism and many interventions focus on the ability to increase these skills. The study titled, "Pivotal Response Group Treatment Program for Parents of Children with Autism" written by Mendy Minjarez et al., focuses on 24 parents learning

This is a treatise devoted to the dynamic psychotherapeutic treatment of children. In this therapy, talking and play are used to ameliorate disorders in adjustment.

Ray, Bratton, Rhine, and Jones. (2001). The Effectiveness of Play Therapy: Resopnding to the Critics. International Journal of Play Therapy, 10(1), 85-108.

Child therapy differs greatly from adult therapy in a way where in adult therapy, a person is expected to talk about their feelings while the therapist sits there to listen and take notes. With child therapy, there is no way to do that without the child getting bored about sitting still and talking about their feelings. According to child therapist Douglas Green, child therapy should be done in the language of play. Children are more expressive about their feelings and they grow a lot more when they are playing games, with toys, engaging in activities, through drawing, and some other forms of art (Green, 2012). In other words, the child will recover and grow more from the divorce of their parents or the death of their dog or family issues in general if they link up with a therapist and be able to express themselves by engaging in any type of play, than talking about their feelings. By doing this, a therapist will get more feedback from the child instead of forcing them to just sit still and ask them questions. Play therapy, along with other methods specifically designed for child therapy, focuses on the child’s emotional well-being, it serves as a healthy way to express their concerns and feelings, and it helps improve their relationship with those around them especially their families.