Virginia Ryan

Non-Directive Play Therapy for Young Children with Autism: A Case Study.

This article presents exploratory research on the feasibility of non-directive play therapy for children with autism. Video recordings of 16 sessions of play therapy with a 6-year-old boy with severe autism were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The study concluded that this child was able to enter into a therapeutic relationship and demonstrated attachment behaviour towards the therapist. Key areas of improvement were in the child’s development of autonomy and pretend play, while ritualistic behaviours showed only mild improvement. Changes in therapy were concurrent with the changes reported by the boy’s mother at home of increased independence and empathy. One implication of this preliminary research is that non-directive play therapy may enhance and accelerate emotional/social development of children with severe autism. More research is urgently needed; non-directive play therapy and behavioural treatments may complement one another to provide an overall treatment plan for children with severe autism.

Non-Directive Play Therapy with Children Experiencing Psychic Trauma:

This article describes the process of a brief non-directive play therapy intervention by a trainee therapist with a nine-year-old child who had developed persistent stress reactions to a single traumatic event. An overview of the place of brief non- directive play therapy in the treatment of children and their families for post- traumatic stress disorder is given. Themes in the child’s therapy, and the therapist’s and the parents’ role are related to post-traumatic and attachment issues. Finally, implications for current therapeutic practise with traumatized children and their families are outlined.

Adapting Non-directive Play Therapy for Children with Attachment Disorders

Brief, intensive, non-directive play therapy with a looked after child in transition who had serious attachment problems is discussed in this article. As a background to deriving practice suggestions from this difficult and largely unsuccessful intervention, the play therapy literature on maltreated children is presented. Heard and Lake’s extension of attachment theory, ‘the dynamics of attachment and interestsharing’, is then used to analyse and understand the complexities of the intra-and interpersonal relationships within this intervention from the child’s, carers’, social worker’s and therapist’s viewpoints. Finally, practice suggestions are made, namely, that: (i) in complex cases for shorter term work, consultations based on Heard and Lake’s theory, rather than direct work by the therapist, should be considered; and (ii) a combination of filial therapy and the use of Heard and Lake’s theory can provide both the depth of understanding needed by professionals and the development of appropriate adult–child attachment relationships in longer term work.

Developmental Delay, Symbolic Play and Non-Directive Play Therapy

This paper focuses on non-directive play therapy with maltreated and neglected young children, and explores ways in which their symbolic play seems to be activated and accelerated during play therapy. The frameworks of attachment and cognitive development are utilized to examine therapeutic relationships. Examples from normal development and from therapeutic work are given in order to describe more precisely the seemingly essential features in the development of symbolic play in young children. The important features of a child’s social environment, physical environment and internal state which seem to contribute to the activation of symbolic play are then discussed in more detail. Finally, it is argued, studying a child’s transition from concrete to symbolic play during play therapy contributes to our understanding not only of damaged and delayed children’s development, but also provides additional information on normal children’s development of this capacity.

Play therapy with emotionally damaged adolescents

Abstract Adolescence is a critical period of development for all individuals, but particularly for those who have suffered earlier emotional difficulties or abuse. If these problems go unresolved, patterns of behaviour which become established during this period may be more difficult to change later on. However, more traditional talk therapies may be resisted by adolescents. This article argues that non-directive play therapy, given age-appropriate adaptations, offers an approach which, since it encompasses both play and verbal communication, is well suited to addressing adolescent concerns, particularly those of early adolescence.This argument is illustrated by two accounts of therapy with a boy and a girl, both in early adolescence, which show how a more traditional non-directive counselling approach was combined with play therapy by the adolescents themselves, allowing exploration of emotional difficulties on all levels of mental functioning. The cases show how traumatic or painful early memories may be reworked on a bodily and emotional level, without the feeling of over-intrusion risked by a directive or interpretive stance.

Conducting Child Assessments for Court Proceedings: The Use of Non-Directive Play Therapy

This article considers the use of non-directive play therapy as an approach to assessing children and young people in the care system, focusing on expert assessments in court proceedings. It uses an account of sessions of non-directive play therapy undertaken with a nine-year-old boy to illustrate the way in which this method can provide clear indications of a child’s developmental status, wishes and feelings, as well as facilitating therapeutic change. The approach is compared with other approaches to clinical interviewing, particularly those involving a series of interviews, and to assessments using psychometric testing. Finally, while arguing for the advantages of the approach, the article considers some inherent dilemmas, which arise from the fact that the child’s communications are largely within the metaphor of play. Issues of clarifying and interpreting the play may be of greater importance than if the child has made direct verbal statements, although other approaches such as psychometric testing may carry similar dilemmas.

The role of play themes in non-directive play therapy.

Describing the processes underlying play therapy is important for evidence based practice in child therapy. Employing play themes to describe children’s play session contents is in widespread use by practitioners, but an adequate classification of these themes for non-directive play therapy practice has not yet been established. This article sets out to fill this gap by first describing how themes can be distinguished and distilled from the contents of play therapy contents. Second, a classification of main themes and sub-themes with exemplars to illustrate these concepts which is compatible with non-directive play therapy practice is set out. Finally a pilot project with experienced play therapists to test this classification in practice is suggested, along with the research questions that will need to be investigated in the shorter and longer terms.