Play Therapy For Preschool Children

Play Therapy for Preschool Children is a comprehensive sourcebook of play interventions for preventing and resolving the most common disorders of children aged 3-5 years old.

Play Therapy for Very Young Children presents the major models of play interventions with very young children, primarily ages zero to three, and their families. The editors have compiled essays by child development experts to create a comprehensive guide of the most beneficial...

A thorough revision of the essential guide to using play therapy in schools Fully updated and revised, School-Based Play Therapy, Second Edition presents an A-to-Z guide for using play therapy in preschool and elementary school settings. Coedited by noted experts in the field, Athena Drewes and Charles Schaefer, the Second Edition offers school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and teachers the latest techniques in developing creative approaches to utilize the therapeutic powers of play in schools. The Second Edition includes coverage on how to implement a play therapy program in school settings; play-based prevention programs; individual play therapy approaches as well as group play; and play therapywith special populations, such as selectively mute, homeless, and autistic children. In addition, nine new chapters have been added with new material covering: Cognitive-behavioral play therapy Trauma-focused group work Training teachers to use play therapy Filled with illustrative case studies and ready-to-use practical techniques and suggestions, School-Based Play Therapy, Second Edition is an essential resource for all mental health professionals working in schools.

The second edition of Play Therapy Techniques includes seven new chapters in addition to the original twenty-four. These lively chapters expand the comprehensive scope of the book by describing issues involved in beginning and ending therapy, using metaphors, playing music and ball, and applying the renowned "Color Your Life" technique. The extensive selection of play techniques described in this book will add to the clinical repertoire of students and practitioners of child therapy and counseling. When used in combination with formal education and clinical supervision, Play Therapy Techniques, Second Edition, can be especially useful for developing treatment plans to address the specific needs of various clinical populations. Students and practitioners of child therapy and counseling, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and child life specialists will find this second of Play Therapy Techniques informative and clinically useful.

Research has shown that a child's social and academic success can be greatly influenced by experiences from infancy and toddlerhood. Despite this knowledge, the importance of infant mental health has only recently been recognized. This book is one of the first to present the major models of play interventions with very young children and their families. In this collection of essays by child development experts, the editors provide a comprehensive guide of the most beneficial effects of play therapy and play for the very young. Regardless of the theoretical orientation of the play therapist, this book will help the clinician to conceptualize the worlds of infants and toddlers, and explain the specific play therapy interventions that can be effectively utilized. Contributors address specific therapies from cultures around the world, including caregiver-toddler play therapy, filial play therapy, mother-infant play, and play based interventions with young children with disabilities and autism. This book is essential for students and professionals who work with very young children.

This is an easy-to-use reference to the most effective play therapy techniques and their substantiated results. Play therapy is not an approach based on guess, trial and error, or whims of the therapist at the moment. It is a well-thought-out, philosophically conceived, developmentally based, and research-supported method of helping children cope with and overcome the problems they experience in the process of living their lives. Concise digests of play therapy procedures explore the most difficult, as well as the most common problems encountered by play therapists. These digests cover play therapy approaches based on a variety of theoretical positions for dealing with a broad range of specific problems. Because they often do not have access to substantiated results, play therapists sometimes doubt themselves and the effectiveness of their work. This book, an invaluable resource, puts an end to such questioning.

"The authors . . . make child-centered play therapy readily understandable to those who wish to take advantage of its long history of helping children overcome problems and grow emotionally to a level of maturity difficult to achieve by any other approach." —From the Foreword, by Louise F. Guerney, PhD, RPT-S A comprehensive resource that thoroughly teaches the theory, methods, and practice of child-centered play therapy Child-Centered Play Therapy: A Practical Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships with Children offers how-to direction and practical advice for conducting child-centered play therapy. Filled with case studies, learning activities, and classroom exercises, this book presents extensive coverage of play therapy applications such as setting goals and treatment planning, as well as recommendations for family and systemic services that can be provided along with play therapy. This rich resource provides: A thorough introduction to the theory and guiding principles underlying child-centered play therapy Skill guidance including structuring sessions, tracking, empathy, responding to children's questions, and role-play Effective ways of determining what limits to set in the playroom and how to set them in a therapeutically effective manner Clear methods for monitoring children's progress through stages as well as external measures of progress Practical guidance in adjunct therapist tasks such as playroom set-up, documentation, ending therapy, and working with parents, teachers, and principals Endorsed by Louise Guerney—a founding child-centered play therapy figure who developed the skills-based methods covered in this book—Child-Centered Play Therapy comprehensively and realistically introduces practitioners to the child-centered approach to play therapy and addresses how to incorporate the approach into schools, agencies, or private practice.

In the decade since its publication, Handbook of Play Therapy has attained the status of a classic in the field. Writing in the most glowing terms, enthusiastic reviewers in North America and abroad hailed that book as "an excellent resource for workers in all disciplines concerned with children's mental health" (Contemporary Psychology). Now, in this companion volume, editors Kevin O'Connor and Charles Schaefer continue the important work they began in their 1984 classic, bringing readers an in-depth look at state-of-the-art play therapy practices and principles. While it updates readers on significant advances in sand play diagnosis, theraplay, group play, and other well-known approaches, Volume Two also covers important adaptations of play therapy to client populations such as the elderly, and new applications of play therapeutic methods such as in the assessment of sexually abused children. Featuring contributions by twenty leading authorities from psychology, social work, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and other related disciplines, Handbook of Play Therapy, Volume two draws on clinical and research material previously scattered throughout the professional literature and organizes it into four main sections for easy reference: Theoretical approaches— including Adlerian, cognitive, behavioral, gestalt, and control theory approaches as well as family, ecosystem, and others Developmental adaptations— covers ground-breaking new adaptations for adolescents, adults, and the elderly Methods and techniques— explores advances in traditional techniques such as sand play, Jungian play therapy, and art therapy, and examines other new, high-tech play therapies Applications— reports on therapeutic applications for psychic trauma, sex abuse, cancer patients, psychotics, and many others The companion volume to the celebrated classic in the field, Handbook of Play Therapy, Volume Two is an indispensable resource for play therapists, child psychologists and psychiatrists, school counselors and psychologists, and all mental health professionals. HANDBOOK OF PLAY THERAPY Edited by Charles E. Schaefer and Kevin J. O'Connor ". . . an excellent primary text for upper level students, and a valuable resource for practitioners in the field of child psychotherapy."— American Journal of Mental Deficiency ". . . a thorough, thoughtful, and theoretically sound compilation of much of the accumulated knowledge. . . . Like a well-executed stained-glass window that yields beauty and many shades of light through an integrated whole, so too this book synthesizes and reveals many creative facets of this important area of practice."— Social Work in Education 1983 (0-471-09462-5) 489 pp. THE PLAY THERAPY PRIMER Kevin J. O'Connor The Play Therapy Primer covers the impact of personal values and beliefs on therapeutic work, and provides a detailed description of the process preceding the beginning of therapy. It then offers guidelines and strategies for developing treatment plans respective of the various phases of therapy, including specific in-session techniques, modifications for different ages, transference considerations, and the termination and follow-up of clinical cases. 1991 (0-471-52543-X) 371 pp. PLAY DIAGNOSIS AND ASSESSMENT Edited by Charles E. Schaefer, Karen Gitlin, and Alice Sandgrund The first and only book to fully explore the assessment potential of play evaluation, this book offers an impressive array of papers by nearly fifty authorities in the field. Following a logical progression, it is divided into six parts covering the full range of practical and theoretical concerns, including developmental play scales for normal children from preschool to adolescence; diagnostic play scales including those for the evaluation of children with a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and/or emotional disorders; parent/child interaction play scales; projective play techniques; and scales for assessing a child's behavior during play therapy. 1991 (0-471-62166-8) 718 pp. GAME PLAY Edited by Charles E. Schaefer and Steven E. Reid This important work highlights the psychological significance of using games to assess and treat various childhood disorders. In chapters written by leading authorities, it examines the content of various types of games and provides theoretical approaches, techniques, and practical guidelines for applying games to play therapy with children. Case histories demonstrate the use of game play with childhood problems ranging from hyperactivity to divorce counseling and juvenile delinquency. 1986 (0-471-81972-7) 349 pp.