Search

The effectiveness of undergraduate education majors as play therapists was investigated by comparing measures of therapeutic outcome for 48 emotionally disturbed boys assigned to three treatment conditions and a no treatment control condition. Each treatment condition consisted of 12 play interviews conducted by experienced therapists, students with eight sessions of training in nondirective play therapy (experimental condition), and students with training in being friendly (placebo condition). Parent evaluations indicated that positive changes were greatest for children in the experimental group, next for those in the placebo groups, and least for those in the control group. The hypothesized superiority of the experienced therapists was not confirmed. This was thought to be due to lack of strict adherence to the techniques of nondirective play therapy. Performance ratings for the final interview indicated that the experienced therapists consistently scored significantly higher than the student therapists regardless of condition and that the scores for the experimental and placebo groups did not differ significantly from each other. In contrast, analyses for the process variables consistently indicated that the scores for the experimental group were significantly different from those of the placebo group. (Author/GW)

The value and importance of creative activities and play opportunities in play therapy is reviewed and discussed. Play therapy is considered to be part of the non-directive client-centered approach to counseling developed by Carl Rogers. The importance of giving the child the opportunity to play out his feelings and explore his thoughts and experiences is stressed. The counselors role in this situation is defined as being an indirect participant, providing recognition and reflection of the child's feelings. Two types of playrooms and their suggested contents are presented. A way of integrating this method into an elementary public school through a program of workshop training classroom teachers in techniques of play therapy is proposed. The method is adaptable to the classroom through creative activities, and the recognition of the feelings of the child by the therapist-teacher in a manner by which the child can gain insight into his behavior is discussed. (Author)

This monograph presents a variety of approaches to the handling of juvenile offenders, with an emphasis on diverting the juvenile from the criminal justice system. Papers cover the community-based treatment of juveniles in Massachusetts, diversion of juvenile offenders--as a new term used for new directions, human development and treatment programs, the use of the workshop, action research as a change model for corrections, and the role of the community in juvenile delinquency programs. Data charts, diagrams, and bibliographies are included. (KP)

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the influence of anthropomorphic models as a therapeutic vehicle to help 5-year-old Indian children to appropriately handle, and thereby decrease, physical and verbal aggression, and (2) to investigate the influence of group counseling with Indian mothers as it affects agression in their preschool children. Subjects in the 8-week study were 30 children randomly assigned to three groups. In Group I, children were placed in a controlled environment with human-feature, life-size dolls. Mothers of Group II met for 90 minutes weekly to see a film and participate in group counseling. The counseling model used was perceptual modification through verbal reinforcement. Group III was the control group. Pre- and post-observations and ratings were made for the subjects on an experimenter-designed instrument which measured quantitative aggression responses. Study results revealed no significant differences in physical, verbal, or total aggression between experimental and control groups before or after treatment. Indian mothers significantly increased verbal output during treatment, but results indicated that this change bore no relationship to children's aggressive behavior at preschool. (DR)

A diagnostic treatment center for learning disabilities and emotional problems was developed to serve six school systems. Evaluation by the multidisciplinary staff covered behavior, family background, health, and intellectual, perceptual motor, emotional, and educational functioning. Treatment plans, developed by the team which subsequently met with the school personnel, involved the child in play, and educational or behavioral therapy on an individual or group basis. Treatment also altered the child's environment by providing family therapy and parent counseling, mothers' groups, school or parent conferences, or staff consultants to work with school personnel. Consensual judgment of change (by parents, schools, and staff) in school work, and in educational and behavioral functioning indicated mild improvement in 60.9% of the cases and marked improvement in 16.2%, with girls showing more improvement (p less than .01). Appendixes provide ranking scales and client classification and other forms and describe treatments. Descriptive data are given for a sample of 350 cases. (JD)

The references listed are: (1) journals, (2) dissertation abstracts, (3) books, (4) reports, and (5) monographs. The main subjects covered are: (1) children's play, (2) psychotherapy with disturbed children through the medium of play therapy, and (3) various aspects of child development, both normal and abnormal. The materials listed date from 1925 to 1968. (EK)

There are many unanswered questions about play therapy. Monitored play therapy is an attempt to discover answers to these questions. The main emphasis is on quantitative recording and analysis of the process and outcome of play therapy. However, because of its newness, monitored play therapy also has some weaknesses. The main strong point is the conceptual and physical separation of the stages of play into aggression and construction. The use of separate play rooms for aggression and construction eliminates many problems. However, some of the weaknesses found in this framework are: (1) the equality of stimulus properties of the two rooms, (2) differences in times required to complete games in the two rooms, (3) the importance of a skill factor in playing games, (4) little opportunity to manipulate aggressive materials in the clients own way, (5) no opportunity for the destruction of objects, and (6) no creative outlet for aggression. The role and limits of playroom aggression are explained as being within the limits of social acceptability. Monitored versus traditional play therapy is discussed, primarily with respect to the conceptual framework, data, and value of play therapy over no therapy. (KJ)

This paper describes the processes of Monitored Play-Therapy, a method which seeks to measure the changes which may take place over a number of play therapy sessions. The laboratory is in use at Georgia State College in Atlanta and is designed for boys seven through twelve years of age. The Monitored Playroom Laboratory consists of a control booth and two connected playrooms, one with aggressive toys and games, the other with constructive toys and materials. The control booth contains dials which indicate: (1) the time spent by each child in a room, and (2) the time spent with various toys and materials. The control booth also functions as an observation booth and contains the necessary equipment. The major stages which children in Monitored Play-Therapy seem to progress through are: (1) exploratory, (2) aggressive, and (3) constructive. On the basis of these stages, it is possible to chart the process of Monitored Play-Therapy from session to session. These data can then be analyzed in many ways, including (1) number of shots fired from guns in aggressive room, and (2) change of conversation patterns. The next step will be to analyze therapists notes to determine the frequency of different types of activities from the shelf materials. (KJ)

Thirteen institutionalized children from 4-1/2 to 14 years old, diagnosed as autistic, atypical, or childhood schizophrenic, were observed for three years to obtain a detailed description of their speech and language behavior. Case histories were assembled from available medical and psychological data. During a program of experimental relationship therapy, controlled observations were conducted to evaluate each child's linguistic functioning. Although case studies constitute the main contribution of the research, additional findings were as follows: there was a high incidence of first born males of Jewish parents of relatively high socioeconomic status; severe family disorganization had occured in seven of the 12 families; prior to residential placement the children had a wide range of diagnoses; many atypical medical signs were present in the children's birth histories and later diagnoses; there was a significant correspondence between reports of their behavior during the study and reports made previously by other case workers; the majority of the children exhibited indifference, unresponsiveness, minimal or no speech, stereotyped or ritualistic behaviors, hyperactive behavior, and eating and sleeping problems. Observations of speech and language suggested central nervous system dysfunction and the language deficits persisted despite the relationship therapy. (JB)

A proposal to carefully examine some current thinking on early learning and attempts to project their implications into the design of a unique learning facility that would offer a supportive and stimulating environment for young children two to six years of age, providing for their individual needs and differences. The concepts examined were selected because it was felt that within their broad framework could be included a wide and varied range of subject matter that seemed to be relevant to early learning and facility design. The ideas presented should stimulate the thinking of all those concerned with the education of the very young. Included are sections on--(1) dependence, independence, interdependence, (2) early stimulation and learning, (3) manageable complexity, (4) the play of young children, and (5) the role of the teacher. (RK)

The primitive elements from which drama evolved--group participation with no audience, a strong relationship between drama and other arts, and a sense of emotional release associated with physical expression--are also the bases for creative drama. Creative drama in the secondary school should (1) avoid a formal stage, the intrusion of an audience, or the unnecessary suppression of noise, (2) eliminate most scenery, costumes, and other technical aspects of drama, (3) involve all children in the drama, with hesitant ones gradually being drawn into the acting, (4) permit extensive freedom of movement and involvement, (5) encourage spontaneous speech, and (6) provide the teacher with extra knowledge about the child's character and emotional state. For a beginning class, introductory pantomime activities, such as crossing a creek on stones, can settle the class and encourage concentration. Next, short improvised plays based on stories or ideas can be acted. After a series of such lessons, the work can develop along a variety of lines--completely free form, improvisation within an assigned part, a partially scripted play, or literary study of drama. [Not available in hard copy due to marginal legibility of original document.] (LH)

The Second Grade Underachievers Program seeks to test the efficacy of educationally oriented play groups as a remedial educational technique as contrasted with individual tutoring, or a combination of tutoring plus educational play groups. The program attempts to interest and involve neighborhood agencies in more after-school programs that are educationally supportive in scope. Since seven-year-old children should be most receptive to educational material when it is presented creatively in the context of games, inasmuch as play is naturally more relevant to them than serious learning exercises, the project used innovative group play techniques to teach and reinforce learning by second graders diagnosed and referred to as underachievers by their teachers. The play technique, it is felt, might also overcome the anxiety that underachieving second graders might feel in the classroom. (JM)

Filial therapy is the process of training parents in the ideas and techniques of play therapy, so that they can continue therapy at home. Extending the same idea to the school would reach less severely disturbed children who might not otherwise receive therapy, and would expand the therapeutic community to reach many more children. Teachers, as therapists, would work preventatively, feel better equipped to discuss problems with parents, and probably benefit in overall classroom technique from the training. The 11 teachers from the Jesse Selover Elementary School in Sayreville, New Jersey, were trained in filial therapy techniques and worked with withdrawn pupils from their own classes, grades kindergarten through five. Each teacher met with the experimental pupils 45 minutes once a week for 17 weeks, and met once a week in group discussion. Significant differences were found between experimental and control groups, the experimental reaching regular classroom average in social behavior. (BP)

Involving seven Tucson school districts, a children's home, and a child guidance clinic, the Covert School (Children Offered Vital Educational Retraining and Therapy) was designed to initiate, compare, and evaluate educational approaches to the problems of emotionally disturbed children. Six distinct approaches were implemented, including a residential school, a day school, special class programs, a group approach combined with a tutorial program, a supportive teacher for children in regular classes, and recreational therapy for children in regular classes. Areas involved were identification of problem children, the teacher as team member, teacher evaluation and reporting, techniques to be demonstrated, pupil and project evaluations, teacher objectives and purposes, the teacher's professional role, classroom management, and means of teacher identification of individual problems to determine classroom procedures. The school's philosophy, location and physical plant, and organization (cooperation, coordination, admission and dismissal procedures, and implementation planning) are described. (RK)

THIS IS A CONDENSED EDITION OF THE FULL NARRATIVE REPORTS SUBMITTED BY THE COUNSELORS OF INDIANA'S 15 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GUIDANCE PILOT PROGRAMS. THE REPORTS DESCRIBE IN DETAIL THE PHILOSOPHY, GOALS, OBJECTIVES, PROCEDURES, AND OUTCOMES OF THEIR UNIQUE PROGRAMS. MOST OF THE COUNSELORS INCLUDED PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. CLARIFICATION OF THE BASIC ISSUES CONCERNING THE ROLE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR WAS THE FIRST TASK OF THE PARTICIPATING COUNSELORS. SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR THE PILOT PROGRAMS WERE DELINEATED SO THAT THE SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING COULD SERVE AS MODELS. (AO)

THE PUBLICATION INCLUDES THE SPEECHES OF THE TWO KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, A PROGRESS REPORT OF THE OHIO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PILOT PROJECTS, AND THE SUMMARIES OF NINE WORK-GROUP SESSIONS. THE TOPICS PRESENTED ARE--IMPLEMENTING DEMOCRACY IN THE CLASSROOM, WORKING WITH GROUPS IN THE CLASSROOM, TESTING IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, PLAY THERAPY IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND THE CHILD STUDY PROGRAM, CHILD STUDY IN ACTION, ADLERIAN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM, MENTAL HEALTH IN THE CLASSROOM, PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES, AND COORDINATION AND PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS IN LEARNING. (AO)

CHILDREN WHO ARE INARTICULATE CAN NOT BENEFIT FROM TRADITIONAL THERAPY METHODS. SINCE THE PRIMARY TOOL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY IS VERBAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PATIENT AND DOCTOR, CREATIVE DRAMATICS COULD BE A USEFUL PREPARATION FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY. A NON-CLINICAL TEACHER WHO WAS SKILLFUL AND EXPERIENCED IN CREATIVE DRAMATICS WAS THE GROUP LEADER FOR SIX CHILDREN IN A PROJECT USING CREATIVE DRAMATICS OVER A 42-SESSION PERIOD. IN THE BEGINNING THE TEACHER HAD TO PROVIDE AS MUCH CONCRETE HELP AND IMMEDIATE REWARDS AS POSSIBLE. THE CREATIVE DRAMATICS APPROACH WAS EFFECTIVE IN INCREASING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN FIVE OF THE SIX CHILDREN. THEY BECAME MORE SPONTANEOUS AND MORE FREE TO EXPRESS THEIR INNER THOUGHTS AND FANTASIES. THE CHILDREN DEVELOPED GREATER FLUENCY AND BECAME INCREASINGLY EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED WITH EACH OTHER. FUTURE PLANS INCLUDE USING CONTROL GROUPS AND A CLINICALLY TRAINED TEACHER TO DIRECT THE PROGRAM OF CREATIVE DRAMATICS. (EB)

PLAY WHICH INVOLVES NATURAL MOVEMENT HELPS THE CHILD TO LEARN ABOUT THE PROPERTIES OF MATTER AND ABOUT HIMSELF. AN EXPANSIVE AND VERSATILE USE OF SPACE FOR LIVING INCREASES WITH EXPLORATION. FREEDOM TO MOVE IS INTELLECTUAL AND EMOTIONAL, AS WELL AS PHYSICAL. NEW EXPERIENCES ARISING OUT OF CURIOSITY AND INTERACTION WITH HIS OWN FAMILY AND OTHER CHILDREN HELP THE CHILD TO SORT OUT HIS FEELINGS AND RESPONSES. THEREFORE, THE CHILD NEEDS TO LEARN ABOUT THE POTENTIAL USES OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF HIS BODY THROUGH IMITATIVE MOVEMENT (OF TRAINS MOVING, BIRDS FLYING, ETC.) AND DRAMATIC PLAY. IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT CHILDREN WILL PACE THEMSELVES IN ALTERNATING PERIODS OF MOVEMENT AND REST, IF THEIR ENVIRONMENT IS NOT TOO STRUCTURED. IN A SCHOOLROOM SITUATION CHILDREN CAN CONTROL SOME PHYSICAL MOTION WHEN THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE SOCIALLY AND ARE EXPERIENCING REWARDING MENTAL ACTIVITY. TOO RIGID A SCHEDULE OR TOO MUCH TIME PRESSURE CAN INHIBIT A CHILD'S REACTIONS AND ACTUALLY HOLD UP LEARNING. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FOR $0.85 FROM NEA, 1201 SIXTEENTH STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036. (MS)