A Non Directive Adult Observer

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

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?

Play is a way for children to learn about their environment and how interaction occurs within. It is through trial and error that children are able to create options; follow their own interests and show “independence in thought and actions” using their knowledge and understanding (Moyles, 2005, p.3). Children develop resilience though play. However for a number of children can experience stressful occurrences during their lives and play can often be restricted. Therefore the play worker’s role in supporting children’s play is a crucial measure towards children's development. For those that work with children require the dexterity to prompt and contribute to children’s play, which can be seen as a principle aspect of therapeutic alliance.

The session was conduct in her primary care setting because she felt more comfortable to speak in her own home. This play therapy session with teenage shows the various issues that major to them at such a young age. I need to analyze and gather more information to ensure I reassuring them, but import letting them lead the session.

The concept of “Pediatric Adaptation to Hospitalization” has been a topic talked about since the early sixties, if not before. When a child is hospitalized they experience a wide variety of emotional stressors. Separation from family, stress, isolation, anxiety, depression, fear, unfamiliar surroundings, normal routine interruption, lack of understanding (“why do I feel this way”, “why is this happening to me”), pain, and continuous stranger interaction are a few of the feelings and emotions that children experience during hospitalization. Langford (1961) stated “This increased body of knowledge about the emotional effects of illness and hospitalization has been reflected in changes in the practices of many pediatric hospitals and services in order to lessen the psychological hazards to their child patients”. Although the topic has been discussed, a true definition has not been formulated.

Bronchiolitis, primarily affecting infants and toddlers, is a common, acute respiratory infection brought on by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Though it is an acute illness, infected infants and young children often display a multitude of symptoms that can be quite alarming to the parents of the patients, and hospitalization is often required for those with more severe cases. Parents and other family members of hospitalized children often experience a multitudinous amount of stress and worriment, and these distressful feelings can lead to further family problems, including that of their sick child. Clinical nurses Solrun W. Kamban and Erla Kolbrun Svavarsdottir conducted a study to assess whether or not a short-family therapeutic conversation

Hospitalization can be difficult for children of all ages. Familiarization play gives “children of all age[’s] opportunities to freely explore, manipulate, and play with health-related object in a nonthreatening, pleasurable context” (ACCH, n.d., p. 71). Thus, familiarization play helps children become more familiar with the hospital surroundings and with their healthcare experiences. Children have a chance to play with medical items such as stethoscopes, band-aids, doctor's hats, gloves, masks. This hands-on experience, along with the information provided to the child will helps the child learns what they will see, and feel in the medical setting. It also gives a child an opportunity to express any questions or fears they may have before

The origin of play therapy, a type of psychotherapy can be traced back to Sigmund Freud. Play therapy has an array of different modalities . Such modalities include structured play therapy, unstructured play therapy, and filial play therapy. Structured play therapy, developed by Freud, is a form of play therapy where the therapist is in charge of the therapy process. Structured play therapy has a psychoanalytic approach and is characterized by a belief that play has therapeutic value to children. Unstructured play therapy, also referred to as nondirective play therapy and client-centered play therapy, is built upon the client-centered approach of Carl Rogers. Unstructured play therapy is characterized by a therapy that is child-directed

Counseling may involve children into drawing, building structures, dressing up with costumes themes, playing with cards or catching a ball. By using the interactive nature of play, trust is stablished between counselor and child. Former most, aim to feasible communication and problems’ resolution. However, it is important to note that there is a wide spectrum in counseling theories play therapy approaches. For instance, an approach that will be based in play’s emphasize solely, while others approach will integrate play and verbal communication as part of addressing the issues (Kottler & Sheppard, 2015).

Using play, Child Life Specialists help children learn and understand their world. Play is also a great way for adults to see what children understand about the hospital experience. Child life specialists use medical play to determine a child understands of medical procedures. Allowing children to see, touch and play with commonly used equipment before the hospitalization experience provides children with an opportunity to familiarize them with unfamiliar equipment and reinforce teaching. Children who are prepared for medical procedures often experience less stress and cope better. Child Life Specialists can help to clear up any misconceptions of medical treatments that may come forth during

The therapist that play with children is knowledgeable on what is appropriate for the child to play with. Every age is catered to, and sometimes they sit with the children or go to their room. There are even games that allow the children to meet other children patients, and they play as a group. This is important, socializing is a form of sharing experiences, and healing emotionally by playing. Children have a lot of energy in them, especially when feeling back to their normal selves. The study (Tessier et al., 2016) conducted, share that “play, as a mental activity, facilitates the integration of experiences and the regulation of emotions”, and children are absolutely not exempt from not feeling scared, sad, nor uncertain. “It has also been suggested that play is an antecedent of sociocognitive understanding”, which shows that they perform what they see in real life. Playing dress-up to imitate an admired adult in their life, or a character in the fictional world is not uncommon. Children like playing with what feels familiar to them, and pretending to cook like a parent does for them, is comforting. Strolling while taking care of a play doll, is also well mocked by children. Some hospitals offer a variety of dress-up clothes, these pieces may resemble a super hero or an accessory that resembles a type of person. Children make up a fantasy world when playing, even when imitating a real-life event, which lets the adults see the understanding these children have, of what they

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.

I was instructed to discuss how I have fed my need for emotional contact through play during my lifetime. In this discussion, I mentioned different stages in my life where I fed my emotional contact through play. These stages included infancy, elementary school, middle school and high school, and married life as a graduate student. In order to discuss these different stages of my life, I had to extensively reflect back and reason through certain events. Overall, I fed my need for emotional contact through playing games with my mother, playing sports, and spending time with my husband, while doing various activities. Now, as a second-year graduate student, I realize that I also feed my need for emotional contact through play, while I am providing intervention to my clients. I build rapport with my young clients through play and conversation and by showing compassion. If I am a personable therapist and my clients trust me, then I have succeeded in feeding my need for emotional contact. Additionally, I realize that my younger clients also feed their needs for emotional contact through play-based therapy. They may think we are just playing games, but ultimately, we are learning and building rapport between each other. As for my older clients (e.g., adolescents, teenagers, and adults), they may feed their need for emotional contact

“In the playroom, toys, games and activities are used like words. Children are provided therapeutic toys to enable them to say with the toys what they have difficulty saying with words…. They can use dolls, puppets, paints, or other toys to say what they think or how they feel. “(Reilly & Allmaras, 2002) Watching what a child does while they are playing can give specific insight about what is really bothering them. Sometimes play therapy shows the issues that children don’t know how to say. Play is a universal way of communication. A lot of the time while playing the child will “play” like the situation they are in. Many times if children are being abused, the toys they play with will be beating up another toy. “According to the Association for Play Therapy, play therapy can help trained therapists help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development” (Naderia F, Heidarie A, Bouron P, & Asgari P, 2010) With play therapy children can face the main issue behind their anxiety so that the therapist can find the root

Play therapy is a technique in which the natural expression of a child is used as a therapeutic way to help the child deal with trauma and stress. This type of therapy has been used effectively with children with an understanding level of three (3) to five (5) years. Among the problems faced by these children are they have family problems such as divorced parents, disagreements between siblings, as well as those who have nail biting habits, urinate during sleep, violence, socially unfocused, Victims of child abuse and others. Other