NCJ Number
141048
Date Published
1991
Length
221 pages
Annotation
Written mainly for mental health professionals who work with abused children, this book presents background information, theory, and practical guidelines for play therapy.
Abstract
The text is also intended as a resource for protective service workers, medical professionals, clergy, teachers, and day care professionals and for use in advanced courses on child therapy, child development, family therapy, domestic assault, or child abuse. The discussion describes the special therapeutic needs of children traumatized by abuse and neglect and notes that they may have been frightened into silence, lack trust in adults, be hostile and acting out, or lack the language or sexual terminology to clearly impart what has occurred. Emphasizing that all children know how to play, it describes how therapists can both facilitate constructive play therapy and intervene in posttraumatic play to help children who have been traumatized by abuse or neglect achieve a positive resolution. It reviews traditional techniques of play therapy and describes therapeutic aids to enhance children's capacity to communicate. To illustrate how clinicians can tailor responses to a particular child, six detailed clinical vignettes of trauma from different types of abuse are presented, together with step-by-step guidelines for assessment and intervention. Photographs, illustrations, index, and 140 references