Play-Based Therapy

Play-Based Therapy Approach

• "Play therapy is the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development" (Plotts & Lasser, 2013).

Play-Based Therapy-Applications in Counseling

• Play based therapy has been used to work with children who have experienced sexual abuse, death of a loved one, trauma, natural disasters, and family separation.
• In addition, play-based therapy is used to work with children with learning disabilities, children exposed to terrorism, individuals with traumatic brain injury, and children with autism.

Play therapy as a primary intervention

• Play therapy is used as the primary intervention for social, emotional and behavioral disorders such as; anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, autism, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, anger management, crisis and trauma, grief and loss, divorce and family dissolution, academic and social development, and physical and learning disabilities.

Benefits of Play-Based Therapy

• Self-expression, self-knowledge, self-actualization, and self-efficacy.
• Communication, expressing feelings, modifies behavior, problem solving skills, and relating to others.

Benefits of Play-Based Therapy contd.

• 3 through 12 years of age. Play therapy has recently been applied to infants and toddlers.
• Toys are used to represent the child's words and "play" represents the child's language.
• Emotional, social skills, cognitive development and conflict resolution.

Play-therapy and children with ASD

• Non-directive play therapy-Unstructured. Children guide themselves with few boundaries from therapist and parents-working through problems on their own.
• Directive play-therapy-Guided approach by parents or therapist engaging the child more often and directly.

Forms of play therapy for ASD

• Exploratory play-child explores objects and toys.
• Cause-and-effect play- child plays with toys that need an action to produce a desired result.

Forms of play therapy for ASD

• Functional play- child learns how to use toys in the way they were designed to be used.
• Constructive play- child learns to build or make things.

Forms of play therapy for ASD

• Physical play- play that requires physical exercise (ie: running, kicking a ball).
• Pretend play-child learns to pretend and use their imagination during play.

Social play-follows developmental stages

• Playing with others is challenging for a child with autism. Social play can help children with ASD to learn social skills by providing opportunities, support and encouragement for the child to progress from one stage to the next.

Social play

• Solitary play
• Parallel play
• Associative play
• Cooperative play

Challenges of counseling students with ASD

• Students lack expressive language.
• Trouble establishing joint attention.
• Getting the child to understand pretend play.
• Dealing with sensory motor difficulties.
• Moving the child from one stage to the next.

References

• How is Play Therapy Used to Treat Autism? (2018). Applied Behavior Analysis Edu.org retrieved from www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org
• Play Therapy Makes a Difference (2016). Association for Play Therapy Inc. Retrieved from www.a4pt.org
• Play and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017). Raising Children Network. Retrieved from raisingchildren.net.au/articles/autism_spectrum_disorder_play
• Plotts, C., & Lasser, J. (2013). Play-Based and Sandtray Approaches. In School Psychologist as Counselor a Practitioner's Handbook (pp. 79-94). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.