Parents often ask me how will I work with their child; after all, children – especially young children – aren’t really good at talking about their feelings and thoughts. Depending on the diagnosis, a therapist will use different methods for treating your child.
One of these methods is play therapy.
The Association for Play Therapy (APT) defines play therapy as ’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’.”
Play is the natural expression of children and helps the child to:
- develop and mature
- learn to express him/herself
- practice and learn social roles
- learn to relate
Play in therapy serves to:
- build rapport
- build a relationship between child and therapist
- help child to learn to trust in the therapist
- help therapist assess and diagnose
- help child express conflicts
- allow therapist to detect themes
- help child heal, resolve conflicts, build skills and develop
In the next post, I’ll discuss if play therapy is right for every child and what diagnoses are best treated by play therapy.
Kate Sanner, ACSW, LCSW-C
