Play therapy

[Tisme]

Has anyone ever had to resort to play therapy for their child/ren???? Or any other intervention??

[pegasus]

Hi Eleanor,

I've practiced play therapy and other types of therapy for children with differing difficulties. If you want some info, you can pm me. If it's general info you're after I'm happy to post - I'm just not sure what you're after :confused:

[sopolicha]

My daughter had some play therapy - she was really distraught after visiting her 'other family". Play therapy and stopping the contact for a while worked a treat.

[audreysMUM]

I've practiced play therapy and other types of therapy for children with differing difficulties. If you want some info, you can pm me. If it's general info you're after I'm happy to post - I'm just not sure what you're after :confused:



hi pegasus,
i am needing some info regarding play therapy for children, if you can pm me or email me sometime it would be great. prefer to talk in private about it :)

[Tisme]

just generally what sort of issues does play therapy get recommended for??

My son is a VERY sensitive jeckyl and Hyde child .... from absolute hysterical screaming one minute to absolute joy the next .... and I know it is normal for mood swings, I've seen a number in my time as a teacher, but he is extreme!!!

WE have a few difficult situations at home and I think the moods are related but my partner won't agree to a counsellor, so I thought play therapy might be a gentler approach for father AND son. Father with his ideas "nothing is wrong" and son to help him learn to cope a little easier.

[pegasus]

Thanks Eleanor,

I'll pop a bit of general info here and if you want anymore specifics, I'm happy to talk to you via pm.

Play therapy is a form of psychotherapy, and can be performed by psychologists, occupational therapists (and some others I think, but I'm an OT, so haven't really looked into the others). Generally the reason for referral can be varied from, acting out behaviour, withdrawal (social), school refusal, odd behaviours.....

Play therapy generally takes the form of utilising various day to day toys (puppets, dolls, playdough, drawing - but this is sometimes art therapy), whatever the child relates to best, to encourage the child to talk. In this way, the child can act out everyday situations and be encouraged to identify feelings and thoughts and work through them.

Another place to start may be a generalised referral just for "assessment". Play therapy in it's strictest sense is usually done in a very controlled environment, however, there are some forms of therapy which can be done in in a less controlled way, but still help your DS to work through a couple of things. As a therapist who's worked in schools, I've found that teachers are very cluey as to if something "just doesn't seem to quite fit", so some of the kids I've seen have just been referred for a very vague reason. Sometimes it just starts out as an informal meeting with mum, bub/kid and sometimes, dad with some unstructured play and conversation about what's been going on.

I hope I've posted some info there that helps a bit, but as I said, if there's anything more specific, I'd be happy to talk via pm. :)