Great Resource: Easy Read with Potential for Immediate Application

Kaduson, H., & Schaefer, C. E.   Short-term play therapy for children. 

Chapters 2 & 7. 

   
    I found this reading to be incredibly well-written and straightforward.  I was impressed with the detailed descriptions of how to implement the therapies, and the thorough explanations of each intervention used within the therapies.  I believe this is a great example of writing aimed at instructing.  I was so impressed with it that I shared it with some of my colleagues at field seminar, as a resource to use with clients immediately.  I would highly recommend these chapters, especially chapter 7, to anyone who is interested in using Short-term Play Therapy.
    In Chapter 2 of Short-term Play Therapy for Children, "Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy for Children with Anxiety and Phobias," Susan M. Knell and Meena Dasari provide a comprehensive overview of assessing and treating young children with anxiety and phobias.  In order to emphasize the significance of this topic, the authors reveal the high prevalence of anxiety disorders in children, 5 to 6 children out of every 30, and discuss the difficulty of distinguishing normal childhood fear and anxiety from fear and anxiety at a clinical level.  Surprising to me, there is "little understanding of normal, developmentally appropriate anxiety" for young children, but researchers have determined several factors to consider when diagnosing clinical anxiety and phobias, including: intensity, impairment, and lack of flexibility.

    The authors go on to provide the recommended assessments for determining the severity of a child's fear and anxiety.  These include: the clinical interview with parents, behavioral rating scales, behavioral observation, parent monitoring forms, and play assessment with the child.  Each of these tools should be used in each assessment in order to get a clear and detailed idea of the child's anxiety and fear(s).

    Finally, the authors provide an in-depth description of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy, which is considered a developmentally appropriate therapy for preschool and early elementary age children.  
    The authors state that Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy allows children to be active in change.  There are specific descriptions of the stages of the treatment and the different treatment interventions.  The description and examples of each intervention is thorough and easily transferrable.  Case illustrations provide guidance for using this therapy in a session.
 
    Chapter 7 of Short-term Play Therapy for Children, "Involving and Empowering Parents in Short-Term Play Therapy for Disruptive Children," by Cheryl B McNeil, Alisa B Bahl, Amy D Herschell, is a well-written instructional tool for therapists wanting to use short-term play therapy (around 12 sessions) with disruptive children.  The chapter begins with empirical support for Parent Child Interaction Therapy, on which Short-term Play Therapy is based.  Next, the authors give an overview of the structure of an individual Play Therapy session and provide numerous skills for managing disruptive behaviors during a session.
     Following this, the remainder of the chapter is devoted to an in-depth, detailed breakdown of each session within the 12 session model.  Sessions 1 and 2 are devoted to establishing routines and procedures to follow throughout the entirety of the treatment.  Then in sessions 3-7 the therapist works individually with the child on his or her problem behavior.  Finally, sessions 8-12 are mostly parent-focused meetings, in which the therapist coaches the parents in play-therapy skills.  Through the snapshots of each session, and the case illustration, the reader is able to develop a thorough understanding of how to implement this therapy.
    The case illustration in chapter 7 was especially helpful in allowing me to understand how this therapy works "in action."  I appreciated the opportunity to hear the comments and actions of the mother, son, and the therapist.