Play Therapy Techniques Across the Ages

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Play Therapy Techniques Across the Ages

• Athena A. Drewes, MA, PsyD, RPT-S
• The Astor Home for Children
• Director of Clinical Training and APA Internship
• adrewes_at_hvc.rr.com

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What is Play Therapy?

• Play Therapy is a Modality
• It is a Method for approaching children on their
  level.
• A means for building a therapeutic relationship.
• A cluster of approaches that utilizes play.
• Play therapy is an attitude!

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Empirically-based Evidence

• Empirically-Based Play Interventions for Children
  L. Reddy, T. Hall, C. Schaefer (Eds.),
  American Psychological Association, In Press.
• Ray, D., Bratton, S., Rhine, T. Jones, L.
  (2001). The effectiveness of play therapy
  Responding to the critics. International Journal
  of Play Therapy (10)1, 85-108.
• Bratton, S. Ray, D. (2000). What the Research
  Shows about Play Therapy. International Journal
  of Play Therapy, 9(1), 47-88.

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The Healing Powers of Play Dr.Charles Schaefer

• Overcoming Resistance
• Self-expressive communication
• Competence
• Creative Problem Solving
• Catharsis
• Abreaction
• Role Play
• Fantasy and Visualization

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The Healing Powers of Play

• Learning by Metaphor
• Attachment Formation
• Relationship Enhancement
• Positive Emotion
• Mastery of Childhood Fears
• Game Play

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Recommended play materials

• Dolls, bottles, dollhouse, multi-cultural people
• Aggressive and domestic miniature animals
  puppets (include people puppets too)
• Clay, arts/crafts materials
• Cars, trucks, emergency vehicles, planes
• Wooden blocks
• Therapeutic Board Games
• Sandtray or tupperware bucket with sand

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Reasons for Using Directive Techniques

• Child does not use playroom and prefers to talk.
• Psychoeducational issues need to be addressed.
• PTSD/Sexual abuse
• Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy
• School Settings pressure of 30 minutes
• Time limited number of sessions
• Group Therapy

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Integration of Somatosensory Memories

• See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil.
• (Paris Goodyear Brown)
• Small bottles of various smells
• Objects in bag to touch

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• Techniques for Identifying
• and Integrating Feelings

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• BASKET OF FEELINGS

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• Bag of Words

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A Simile from Angry/Feeling Words

• Simile a comparison between two unlike objects
  (e.g., anger is like a thunderstorm).
• Regularly the words as and like are used in
  similes.
• Examples
• Silent as a guilty child
• Excited as a wiggly puppy
• Sad like an unused toy

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What I Can Be by Steven, 15

• I can be FIERCE like a LION.
• I can be RAGING like a TORNADO.
• I can be RESILIANT like a PLANT.
• I can be RELAXED like the wind.
• But most of all I can be
• ME!!!!

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• Time Line

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• Clay as
• Metaphor

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• CAUSE AND EFFECT

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• Mutual
• Storytelling

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Animal Pictures
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• Pick an animal from the pictures or think of one
  you like
• How does this animal remind you of yourself?
• What are its strengths?
• What attributes do you wish you had?

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Questions to Ask

• What drew you to pick this animal?
• Describe the animal.
• How do you resemble this animal?
• What positive qualities do you share with this
  animal?
• What positive qualities does this animal have
  that you wish you had, but dont?
• What keeps you from having these positive
  qualities?
• What changes are you willing to make in your life
  to get those positive qualities?

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Animal Families

• Pick an animal for each member of your family.
• -Describe each animal, pluses and minuses.
• -Describe how the family member resembles the
  animal strengths/weaknesses.
• -Describe how each of these animals relates to
  your animal.
• -Which of the children in the family of animals
  is the mothers favorite?

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More Animal Family Questions

• Which children in this family of animals is the
  fathers favorite?
• -Which child animal is most like the mother
  animal?
• -Which child animal is most like the father
  animal?
• -Which of these animals is most like your animal?
  How?
• Which of these animals is most different from
  your animal? How?

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Magic Stones (David Crenshaw)

• Use colorful stones or ones found
• Use stacking boxes
• First box When you hold the magic stone from
  this box you can change anything you want about
  your family
• Second box Change anything about school
• Third box Change anything about friends
• Fourth box Change anything about yourself

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Power Cards

• Using index cards, child creates power cards.
• Pick an evil power and name it, such as being
  called names (teased by bully).
• Draw the creature and on back write what powers
  it has.
• Draw a competing good force that will overcome
  what hurts you.

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Accessing the Inner World of the Child

• Projective Drawings and Guided Imagery
• Boat in the Storm (Oaklander, 1988)
• - Your Place (Oaklander, 1988)

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Boat in the Storm (Oaklander)

• Imagine you are a boat in a storm out in the
  ocean. The waves are very high and are very rough
  and toss you about.
• You can see the lightening flash across the dark
  sky and hear the roar of thunder.

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Boat in the Storm Continued

• Imagine that you can smell the salty sea, and
  feel the rain as the wind blows against your
  sides.
• Listen to the wind howl as it blows at you. How
  do you feel as the boat in the storm?
• What do you do to take care of yourself in the
  storm? Does someone help you or are you all
  alone?
• Finally, the storm blows over and you find your
  way back to a safe harbor.

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Use of Guided Meditation

• Safe Place (Beverly James)
• Visualization (with puppets)

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Peace Shields

• Making a personal power shield that shows who we
  are.
• Circle, divided into four parts
• 1) Strengths or skills
• 2) Fears
• 3) Dreams for the future
• 4) People who you can trust to help

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Helping Children Learn Coping Strategies Gradual
Exposure

• Garbage Bag
• Zip It!
• Stress Balls

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• ANGER COLLAGE

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Cognitive Distortions

• Inside Outside (Beverly James)

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• MASKS

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Building Self-Esteem

• Three stackable boxes
• First Box Put a self-representation of how
  others see you. Use slips of paper with I am
  And I feel.
• Middle Box Barriers the child uses to prevent
  others from seeing them, or getting to know you.
• Smallest Box A representation of their core
  self. Can be words, drawings, items.

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• Photo Therapy

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• Poetry

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Create a Feelings Cinquain

• Cinquain is a short poem consisting of five
  lines. The lines usually do not rhyme.
• Create a cinquain about anger. Anger can be the
  title and the first line of the poem.
• 1st line one noun (anger feeling)
• 2nd line two adjectives describing the noun in
  line one above.
• 3rd line three words that express feeling.
• 4th line four related words that express a
  feeling, describe lie one, and tie the poem
  together
• 5th line another word or synonym for the noun
  in line one

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Anger Cinquain - Example

• Anger
• Upsetting, disturbing
• Poking, bumping, pushing
• Not always a friend
• Hot-tempered

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GAMES

• Make up a Board Game
• Therapeutic Use of Board Games

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Drawings

• Rose Bush (Violet Oaklander)
• House-Tree-Person
• Draw a Picture of Yourself in Your
• Favorite Weather
• Anti-Coloring Book

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Good and Bad of Being Very Angry

• Think of things you like, and things you do not
  like, about when you get angry.
• Look at the sad snakes. Color in the ones that
  you agree with. The ones that make being angry a
  lot of the time too hard or too horrid for you.
• Look at the shiny stars. Color in the ones that
  you feel make being angry feel good for you.
• Do you have more sad snakes or shiny stars?

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Family Genogram (Gil)

• Make up genogram of your family
• Select miniature that represents how you feel
  about each member of the family
• Select miniature for the relationship between
  each person

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Stick Puppets

• Use craft sticks and have child make one for each
  member of the family.
• Use the stick puppets to role play situations
  with family members or classmates.
• Use stick puppets to problem solve situations

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Magic Wand

• Create magic wand.
• What would you change if you could?
• What would you change about school?
• What would you change about your friends?
• What would you change about yourself?
• How would your life be better with the change?

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Magic Powers

• If you could have any of the following, what
  would you like most to stop people from bothering
  you or hurting you in some way?
• Color in or mark the ones you would like.
• If it is none of these, what would it be? Draw it
  in the empty box.
• Boxes A fort, so they cant reach you. Magic
  dust to make them disappear. Your very own army.
  A coat of spikes. To be able to blow fire like a
  dragon. An invisible cloak. A magic sword.

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Storytelling

• Make up a short story or draw it
• The tiger who never felt safe
• The volcano which could not stop exploding
• The dog that bit and bit until everything was
  bitten up

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Wall Around the Heart (Foster Cline)

• Draw a picture of a baby
• Draw a heart in the baby picture
• Draw second picture of a child who is same age as
  at time of clients trauma
• Draw third picture of child, older again
• Final picture of child, now in foster care or
  with adoptive family

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Squiggle Game (Winnicott)

• Each person takes a different color.
• Child makes a squiggle first.
• Therapist tries to make something out of it, by
  using the shape to create design
• Taking a separate piece of paper, the therapist
  then makes the squiggle.
• The child then finishes the squiggle making it
  into something.
• Keep going back and forth until each person has
  made 6 or 7 squiggles each (12-14 pictures).
• Put out all the pictures in sequence and process
  each one with the child (what is it, anything
  else they say).

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Calming Activities

• Deep breathing
• Humor
• Repetitive Motion
• Chewing gum
• Swinging
• Change of Scene or Activity
• Listening to music
• Modeling with clay or play dough
• Building something
• Jumping on a mat, using a jump rope

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• Bubble Wrap