March 20, 2019 / Counseling Specialties / 0 comments

Child Play Therapy

Play therapy can help kids and parents through tough times.

All good parents strive to protect their children from unnecessary harm. But sometimes, despite our best efforts and intentions, little kids still confront BIG issues. It can be difficult to imagine a child grappling with the weighty issues that devastate or stump adults, but in this modern world, children often wrestle with grown-up problems.

The unfortunate difference is that our kids often lack the emotional regulatory skills to cope successfully. Often lacking the maturity of vocabulary to talk through their feelings, children act them out instead, sometimes developing destructive compensatory behaviors that baffle and frustrate well-intentioned parents.

How do you know if your child can benefit from play therapy?

(Is your child experiencing?)

1. Attachment Issues:

Difficulty forming healthy, emotional bonds to caregivers.

2. Academic or Attentional Problems:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); learning disabilities in reading, mathematics, or written language; dyslexia; speech disorders

3. Developmental Challenges:

Autism, Down Syndrome, Special Needs, failure to meet expected developmental milestones

4. Behavioral Difficulties:

Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, tantrums, aggression, rule-breaking (from minor infractions at school to criminal behavior)

5. Socialization Problems:

Bullying or being bullied; debilitating shyness or social anxiety

6. Trauma:

Sexual, emotional, or physical abuse or neglect

7. Grief or Chronic Illness:

loss of a family member; or a chronic health condition (such as cancer, diabetes, cerebral palsy, etc.)

8. Divorce Adjustment or Blended Families:

Parental separation or the struggles of adapting to stepfamily formation

9. Mental Health Challenges:

Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Insomnia or Sleep disturbances, Eating Disorders, Substance Abuse, Selective Mutism

When it comes to kids and therapy, you can never play it too safe!

To help your little ones (ages 2-9) adapt to the BIG issues, our team of child counseling experts recommends the use of play therapy and other research-based techniques designed just for them. By using the principles of age-appropriate structured, therapeutic play, we encourage your child to let down their emotional fortress and process the heavy issues in a developmentally appropriate (and fun!) context.

Added bonus here: we sneak in exercises to help your child learn more advanced skills for emotional/attention regulation AND pro-social (or compassionate) behaviors.