Play Therapy Summary

The video Understanding Play Behavior and Themes in Play Therapy explained process, goals, child’s behavior, and the therapist’s behaviors during play therapy. The main points discussed in the video were when Garry Landreth explained the importance of staying out of the child’s play. Dr. Landreth explained that that process of play therapy is important not the product. Client-center play therapists understand that there are not any goals; it is not play if we choose the goals for the child to work on. Furthermore, another important point Dr. Landreth discussed was playing in teams, such as baseball or soccer is not play for the child because there are many strict rules. Hence, in the play children come up with their own rules and they change

The child was referred to counseling because he sometimes handed in late assignments; however, the child was a bright. Dr. Landreth stated that the child said there was not any point in learning because when you grew up everything was a lie. This stood out to me because some therapist may think since the child is verbal and able to express his or herself, then the therapist would consider talk therapy rather than play therapy for that child. However, Dr. Landreth describes this as being a misconception. For example, in my practicum I have a child who at times is able to verbally express himself as an adult would; however, there are other times when expressing feelings is an abstract concept to him. Hence, when engaging in play, these abstract feelings become easier to understand and

Landreth presented the case study about the 2-year-old child bathing the baby doll under the sink I became uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable by this case study because I tried to imagine how I would react in the situation of a child wailing, screaming, and crying while in the playroom. I would be uncomfortable if a child began to cry and scream in the playroom because I am always worried about what the parents might think if they heard or saw their child crying. If an adult or adolescent cried during therapy, I would not mind, but if a child cried, it seems that it would be difficult to let them scream and cry. For some reason I always feel like I will get in trouble by the parents if they knew their child was coming to playroom to scream and cry and I did not do anything to comfort their