Play Therapy

The decision to bring your child to therapy can be emotionally charged and intimidating for you. You may not know a lot about what goes on in a play therapy session and whether it can help your child. Perhaps the information on this page will help you to feel more confident about your decision.

How play therapy works

As a parent you are already aware of how important play is for your child and how serious your child can be about what he or she plays. Because they have not yet completely mastered spoken language and all its shades of meaning, play is the language that children use to understand their world. Through their play children can show what they are thinking and how they are feeling. When a child is confused about certain life events, he or she can become stressed. As adults you and I can talk about our stress. As a child, your son or daughter not only lacks the words but also has not yet developed strategies for coping with the stress. Play is the only language your child really understands fully. As a play therapist, I know how to speak your child’s language of play so that I can help you understand the way your child is thinking.

What happens in play therapy

I meet with my child clients at the same time and day each week. My quiet office becomes very important to children because they learn that they are allowed to explore their ideas and feelings safely and privately, and that they will have my full attention. Most of the time children work very hard to hold back these feelings. I do most of my play therapy sessions with just the child.

If I believe that it would be in the child’s best interests, I occasionally invite a parent or guardian to join us in play. I have age-appropriate games, as well as a dollhouse, white board, art supplies, puppets and stuffed animals, and various other toys. I may also introduce your child to sandplay. I usually allow a child to direct our play. A child will tend to play out his or her feelings through characters or other aspects of play. As this occurs, I talk with the child to help the child begin to put words to the feelings.

How long play therapy takes

As their child begins therapy, I let parents know that it takes at least eight weeks for their child to begin to show change. Initially a child needs to become comfortable with me and with my office. This can be a slow process, depending on your child’s temperament and the reason he or she is coming in. When parents begin to see improvement in a child’s mood or behavior, their inclination is to end therapy. I encourage parents to continue to bring the child for a short while longer to be sure that the changes have “set.” To use an analogy, a cake in the oven can look completely baked at first glance, but it may need some additional time in the oven to bake all the way through! On average, a child stays in therapy with me for nine months, although some leave much earlier and some stay much longer.

The ‘three-legged stool”

I view my work with a child as building a three-legged stool to support the child. The legs represent the parents, the teacher, and me, the therapist. In order for the stool to hold the child up, all three legs need to communicate and collaborate. When I initially meet with parents I ask them to sign a release that gives me permission to speak with their child’s teacher. It’s helpful for me to hear first-hand from the teacher how the child is behaving in school. When all three legs of the stool are cooperating, the child will experience consistent treatment from the significant adults in his or her life.