A Guide to Child Therapy: Let's Play

This is a practical handbook for therapists working with children, drawing on the authors' twenty-five years of experience in practice and teaching. It contains clear instructions for the beginning therapist who wants to know how to use play to diagnose and treat children suffering from depression, behavior problems, separation, and loss. Showing the value of play in the developmental journey of a child, the Prices' are specific about how to help children overcome life circumstances that have left them stuck in their emotional and adaptive development. When the therapist fosters conditions for growth in therapy and improves the environment, most children will develop and succeed. Since parents need to be a major part in the treatment of their children, the authors describe ways to model effective parenting, including a recommendation that parents play with their children. They show how the therapeutic experience can extend beyond the hour and into the real life of the child, and they reinforce for parents the appropriate developmental expectations for youngsters. Therapists will also find an excellent list of parent training resources to assist in parent consultation. Lively case material and practical exercises combine to provide a comprehensive resource for clinicians who deal with troubled children and their parents. Helpful appendices include consent forms, toys to buy, and basic behavioral management tools. This is an encyclopedic reference for the beginner, and an invaluable teaching tool for supervisors.