Addressing Diversity Issues in Play Therapy.

Globalization is upon us, resulting in almost daily exposure to and interaction with highly diverse populations. To practice ethical play therapy, play therapists must become culturally competent. Play therapists are called on both to address cultural issues in therapy and to facilitate children's pride in, and preservation of, their culture. Despite this, the existing literature on cultural competence in psychotherapy has rarely been applied to play therapy practice. The author's goal is to do just that so as to provide play therapists with a model relevant to their work. Play therapists must first fully understand the concept of culture and its potential impact on their own lives, the lives of their clients, and the play therapy process. Second, play therapists need to develop adequate levels of culturally related awareness, skills, and knowledge. Last, they can ensure the work they do is more culturally sensitive and competent by following basic guidelines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child-Centered Group Play Therapy with Children with Speech Difficulties.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy as an intervention for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children with speech difficulties. A pre-test, post-test comparison group design was utilized. Child-centered group play therapy was shown to have a large practical significance in helping children improve both their expressive and receptive language skills. Child-centered group play therapy was shown to have a mixed effect upon children's anxiety. Qualitative data was examined to determine clinical significance of the intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implementing Play Therapy in the Schools: Lessons Learned.

This article presents a rationale and understanding of the function of play therapy in the school environment. Although there are many benefits to providing play therapy in the school, there are also many challenges. The authors offer details of a yearlong pilot play therapy program in an elementary school. The advantages of delivering play therapy directly to students, filial therapy to parents and teachers, and education to teachers are discussed. In addition, the challenges of such a program are enumerated along with suggestions for avoiding possible pitfalls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child-Centered Play Therapy with Children who are Homeless: Perspective and Procedures.

Children who are homeless are one of the fastest growing populations. However, the literature on play therapy with children who are homeless is sparse. This article provides play therapists with needed perspective of prevalence, causes, and mental health impact of homelessness. A Child-Centered Play Therapy approach, which emphasizes a safe relationship based on the core conditions, is recommended. Procedures to meet the needs of children who are homeless and to enlarge the meaning of their unique play themes, such as eviction and "I'm rich," are discussed. Play therapists are encouraged to fulfill their social responsibility by providing play therapy for children who are homeless. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical Review of Play Therapy Assessments.

As part of the creative modalities, play therapy offers a therapeutic mode for diagnosis, assessment, and treatment interventions. The purpose of this paper is to critically review three play therapy interventions: The Developmental Play Assessment, the Marschak Interaction Method, and the Family Systems Test. A brief introduction to each assessment will be presented. Additionally, validity and reliability data will be addressed. The overall evaluation will include the assessments desirable as well as undesirable features, which is of critical importance to play therapists and those therapists using play as a method of diagnosis and assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Matches and mismatches: Partners, perfectionism, and premarital adjustment.

The authors investigated the association between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism and relationship quality in 197 engaged couples. When both partners were maladaptive perfectionists, they were more likely to be grouped into less functional couple types. Couples in which both partners were adaptive perfectionists tended to cluster in more functional couple types. Maladaptive perfectionism in one partner somewhat decreased the likelihood of higher quality relationships, except in the case of matches with a nonperfectionist. Matches involving nonperfectionists with an adaptive perfectionist partner tended to increase the chance that the relationship would be more functional or satisfying. Implications for practice are discussed, as are directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play therapy for children with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the leading birth defect in the United States, yet few treatment options exist for children afflicted with this disorder. Although play therapy has demonstrated its efficacy with numerous special populations, as of today, no research has been conducted on its use with FAS. This article presents an overview of current data on FAS, an argument for the use of child-centered play therapy for children diagnosed FAS, and suggests areas of research needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

PT 101: Teaching Introduction to Play Therapy at the Graduate Level.

The purpose of this article was to review a limited universe of academic syllabi from graduate "Introduction to Play Therapy" courses, in order to determine the essential and agreed-upon elements of this course. Graduate level instructors of courses with this, or similar titles provided access to their syllabi, which revealed common components among the required text, course objectives, learning methods, and assignment sections. A model syllabus incorporating these common elements was constructed. Suggestions were offered for teaching this course, and recommendations for a larger scale effort, based on the strengths and limitations of the current one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicultural Considerations in the Delivery of Play Therapy Services.

It is estimated that by the year 2025, the number of minority children will outnumber the number of majority children in the United States. Play therapists have an increasing need to be able to provide culturally sensitive services. This article discusses issues of culture, ethnic identity, and minority status and their relevance to the practice of play therapy. Play therapists can improve their cultural sensitivity through (a) expanding their knowledge of specific cultures of children they serve, (b) increasing their ability to understand the variety of cultural influences on a child and assessing the impact of the various influences, and (c) increasing their understanding of the ways children from minority cultures are taught to cope with minority status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play therapy outcome prediction: An exploratory study at a university-based clinic.

In this study we investigated the prediction of child centered play therapy (CCPT)/nondirective play therapy on emotional and behavioral problems using archival data from 82 child clients at a university-based counseling clinic. Statistically significant predictions were found on the Internalizing and Externalizing Problems scales on the Child Behavior Checklist. Termination and family relationship concerns variables were found to be strong contributors to predicting greater improvement. Results are discussed concerning implications for clinical practice and further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of Teaching Play Therapy Attitudes and Skills to Undergraduate Human Services Majors.

This study investigated the effectiveness of an undergraduate human services course based on Landreth's (1991, 2002) 10-week model of filia, therapy and Adlerian principles as in Kinder therapy (White, Flynt, and Draper, 1997). Specifically, this research determined whether the training received in this course facilitated change in the undergraduate students' attitudes toward and empathic behavior with children, the students' parenting attitudes, and their play therapy attitude, knowledge, and skills. Experimental and control groups of undergraduate human services majors completed pretest and posttest measures. Each group also had a 30-minute videotaped play session with a young child. The results revealed the undergraduate students in the course had significantly better scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Efficacy of Play Therapy With Children: A Meta-Analytic Review of Treatment Outcomes.

The efficacy of psychological interventions for children has long been debated among mental health professionals; however, only recently has this issue received national attention, with the U.S. Public Health Service (2000) emphasizing the critical need for early intervention and empirically validated treatments tailored to children's maturational needs. Play therapy is a developmentally responsive intervention widely used by child therapists but often criticized for lacking an adequate research base to support its growing practice. A meta-analysis of 93 controlled outcome studies (published 1953-2000) was conducted to assess the overall efficacy of play therapy and to determine factors that might impact its effectiveness. The overall treatment effect for play therapy interventions was 0.80 standard deviations. Further analysis revealed that effects were more positive for humanistic than for nonhumanistic treatments and that using parents in play therapy produced the largest effects. Play therapy appeared equally effective across age, gender, and presenting issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play therapy in 2100: Precognitions and prognostications.

The author predicts three possible paths play therapy could take over the next 100 years, depending on the evolution of civilization, culture, and technology and on the efforts of the professionals in the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the Trauma Play Scale: Comparison of children manifesting a history of interpersonal trauma with a normative sample.

The purpose of this study was the continuation in the development of the Trauma Play Scale through the addition of a normative sample. The scale is an observation-based assessment designed to be used by raters to detect differences in play therapy behaviors of children who have a history of trauma versus children with no known history of trauma. The scale is used to measure posttraumatic play behaviors (intense play, repetitive play, play disruptions, avoidant play, and negative affect) of children, via video-recorded play therapy sessions, at 5-min intervals. Percentage agreement and correlation estimates of interrater reliability suggested that raters were able to achieve consensus and consistency in their ratings. Statistical analyses indicated the Trauma Play Scale has a high degree of discriminant validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play therapy in Hong Kong: Opportunities and challenges.

Play therapy is a well-established therapeutic approach for working with children and families in the West. This article describes the current situation of play therapy in Hong Kong—a cosmopolitan city where East meets West. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats confronting the development of play therapy as an extension of core graduate-level mental health training are analyzed. Through this process, a number of strategic issues central to the growth and development of professionalism in play therapy are identified and discussed. A path for the future development of play therapy for mental health professionals in Hong Kong over the next decade is presented. Possibilities for collaboration in research and practice among play therapists from all over the world are also suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A School-Based Group Play/Activity Therapy Intervention with Learning Disabled Preadolescents Exhibiting Behavior Problems.

While play therapy has been a recognized mode of treatment for children with social, emotional, and behavioral problems for decades, preadolescents may find the traditional playroom juvenile. Modifying the playroom and activities to specifically meet the needs of preadolescents, this study examined the effectiveness of group play/activity therapy as a school-based intervention with fourth and fifth grade learning disabled preadolescents exhibiting behavior problems. A pre-test, post-test control group design in which volunteer preadolescents were randomly assigned to either the control or treatment group was used. The group play/activity therapy intervention followed humanistic principles and was designed to address the cognitive and social-emotional needs of preadolescence. Statistical analysis revealed that preadolescents who participated in group play/activity therapy demonstrated a reduction in problem behavior. Effect size was calculated for each composite scale and subscale to determine practical significance of the experimental group. It was determined that group play therapy had a large overall treatment effect (d=.82) on the problem behavior of learning disabled preadolescents. Qualitative data was examined to determine clinical significance of the intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Countertranferance Among Play Therapists: Implications for Therapist Development and Supervision.

This study examined countertransference management among play therapists. Registered Play Therapist Supervisors (N=154) completed the Countertransference Factors Inventory-Revised and a demographic survey regarding a recent supervisee. The areas explored included countertransference management with regard to therapist gender, academic degree, license, theoretical orientation, type of supervision, population served, practice setting, play therapy training, and experience. A moderate positive correlation of 53% was found between play therapy training and countertransference management. A low positive correlation of 27% was found between years of experience and countertransference management. Differences were found among groups in the areas of degree, license, and practice setting. No significant findings were obtained for gender, theoretical orientation, population served, and type of supervision. The study provides recommendations and implications for supervision of developing play therapists, and suggestions for future research in the area of countertransference among play therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play and the child with autism spectrum disorder: From possibilities to practice.

In this article, the author (a) examines the nature of play as it pertains to children with autism spectrum disorder and (b) analyzes the theories surrounding play deficit explanations in this population of children. Possibilities for practice are discussed in terms of behavioral and developmental approaches to play. An argument is made in favor of developmental play therapy for children who have autism spectrum disorder. Support for developmental approaches is shaped by a definition of play that embraces a child-directed model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental origins of perfectionism among African American youth.

The present study used a person-centered latent variable approach to classify types of perfectionism among 6th-grade African American children living in an urban setting. In particular, the authors were interested in determining whether an adaptive subtype could be found and validated against external criteria. The authors also attempted to identify any developmental precursors that could reliably differentiate the perfectionist subtypes. A social learning and competence framework was used to select potential 1st-grade risk and protective factors for future perfectionism profiles. Four classes best described the children's perfectionism scores in 6th grade. Three of these classes resembled the profiles most commonly seen in prior perfectionism research (Non-Critical/Adaptive, Critical/Maladaptive, and Non-Perfectionist). The fourth class, Non-Striving, was characterized by extremely low levels of reported personal standards. Sixth-grade correlates confirmed the distinctiveness of these classes. In particular, the Critical/Maladaptive and Non-Striving classes had higher rates of internalizing symptoms and disorders. Additionally, several 1st-grade predictors suggested unique developmental origins of these classes. The Critical/Maladaptive class was characterized by lower academic skills and elevated teacher-rated attention problems, hyperactivity, shyness, and peer rejection. The Non-Striving class had higher rates of family alcohol problems and lower levels of parent praise. Implications regarding the universal and culture-specific origins and effects of perfectionism are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)