Monitoring two boys' processes through the stages of child-centered play therapy.

This article describes two boys' actions in child-centered play therapy (CCPT) through the lens of the typical stages in CCPT as described by Nordling and Guerney (1999). Both boys were referred for severe attention and aggression problems that had persisted for more than one school year at age six. While each boy engaged in CCPT in unique ways, the authors were able to clearly discern the stages in each boy's play. The authors assert for the value of play therapists' ability to discern stages in children's therapeutic play to monitor progress and determine readiness to end from an internal to the child gauge, as well as through the external gauges of behavior change reports from parents and teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)