A Glimpse into Play Therapy

Stop telling me what's wrong with my child; I want to hear what you can do for her.

Many parents of special needs children say these words to themselves when trying to find suitable treatment for their child. I've had my share of frustrations trying to find suitable therapy for my five-year old daughter, Jaimie.

Jaimie has Sensory Integration Dysfunction, or SID (also known as Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD.) In a nutshell, SID/SPD is a disorder of the nervous system where sensory information often isn't processed properly in the brain. Information gets in but the brain doesn't understand what it's supposed to do with it. Even more challenging is that people with SID/SPD don't have a filtering out ability to filter out what doesn't need their immediate attention. Imagine how difficult it would be if you heard every sound, felt every touch or smelled every smell.

There can be challenges in treating SID/SPD children, especially during the preschool years, when their communication skills are still in the developing stages. For example, Jaimie started displaying tantrums lasting up to two to three hours, several times a day. But until she was able to verbalize her needs and wants, we had no idea her tantrums were her way of telling us that her environment caused her pain.
Although Jaimie displayed symptoms of disorders such as Autism, Autism Spectrum or Asperger's, she didn't fit neatly within the diagnostic guidelines. Without the diagnostic label, it was difficult to fit her with appropriate therapy. She was assessed and re-assessed and put in one form of treatment to the next. Nothing worked for long. Then in March of 2006, we were finally put on the right track.

We took Jaimie to Child and Adolescent Services Association (CASA) for yet another assessment. We were told this agency would be different. They had many programs to offer and if one program didn't work, kept trying to find the best fit. Most importantly, they worked within the child's individual comfort zone with parents actively involved in their child's therapy.

"We won't give up on her," the intake woman promised me. "We stick with them until they're 18. You aren't alone anymore."

When Brian, the psychologist assigned to Jaimie's file, suggested from her history the sort of therapy best suited to her would be Play Therapy, I knew we finally had our good fit. Play Therapy is a wonderful technique involving more indirect therapeutic methods. It's less intrusive and a more familiar way to communicate for the child (Hollins, 2001; Johnson, 2001). It emerged from the realization that children don't have well developed verbal skills; don't have insight into their feelings; nor the self-awareness needed in traditional forms of therapy. Therefore, a new way to help children express their feelings was needed. It was noticed children quite often display their feelings through play either using toys or other objects to speak through or take feelings out on. So, why not encourage this activity to help younger children communicate their needs?

According to Lewis (1997), "The activity of play has become a valuable source of information about children, particularly when the sessions are consistent with their developmental level". There seems to be different ways of carrying out the therapy sessions, depending on the views of the therapist. But the central theme is the same: providing a safe and supportive environment for the child to be able to express his or her feelings without actually having to have strong verbal skills to begin with. To demonstrate, here's how Jaimie's first session went:

We walked into one of the playrooms while Jaimie clutched her Tigger beanie doll. There are bookshelves along each wall containing containers of different sorts of toys. A toddler-sized table and chairs was stationed at the back of the room with crayons and paper waiting to be used. At first, Jaimie just stood right by my legs. But after a few minutes, she showed interest in a doll swing and thought Tigger wanted to swing for a while.

Brian, her psychologist, sat on a stool and simply observed Jaimie and me playing. He watched which toys she chose, how she interacted with them, how/if she included us and her sister, Jordhan, and how long she interacted with each toy. He didn't interact with her directly or attempt to re-focus her play, he merely interjected occasionally with some sort of reinforcing phrase to let her know we were listening while making it known she could continue with what she was doing.

After a few minutes of free play, he asked us if he could tape record all of us playing together. Then we watched the session as Brian made suggestions of what we could do to enhance Jaimie's playtime.

The session was over after about 45 minutes, ending with Brian suggestions of different discipline techniques, calming tips for Jaimie's anxiety and told us to listen to what she said during her play.

Play therapy sessions vary from one child to the next depending on their individual needs. For example, a more outgoing child wouldn't need to have such distance or slow approach as a child like Jaimie. With her, we need to go slow and steady until she gives a sign she's ready to take the next step forward.

One point Brian stressed was that in order to be effective, a child must be allowed to have at least 15 minutes of free play every day. During free play, there are no questions, direction or guidance in the play. It's entirely led by the child. Even if the child is being aggressive during the play it's fine, within reason. Throwing toys or taking feelings out on others around them must not be tolerated and a boundary put in place when required.

Play therapy gives children the opportunity to express their feelings in a free, non-threatening and supportive way. The ultimate goal is for the child to feel safe enough to expand beyond the play to other people. Play therapy seems to be quite good for children with SID/SPD or other sensory issues. It also seems to be a great way to help children who've suffered some sort of trauma and don't know how to express what they're thinking or feeling inside.

The play sessions were difficult for Jaimie because she really didn't like to play with people. She didn't mind if someone was beside her as long as they weren't too close. In addition, if someone tried to play with her, she felt how she was used to doing something would change and it frightened her. Play therapy helped Jaimie cope with her anxieties in a more effective way.

We've finally found what works for Jaimie. She even asks us occasionally to play with her now. She may not always talk to us or even actually play with us, but the fact she asks us to join her occasionally is amazing. She even makes occasional eye contact, smiles and laughs with us, and hands you a toy she wants you to play with.

SID/SPD will always be a part of Jaimie but we're more hopeful she'll be able to cope with it better. Play therapy has finally given our family a way to interact with Jaimie within her comfort zone and, for that, we are so grateful.