Play Therapy Practices among Elementary School Counselors

When elementary school counselors have a solid developmental understanding of children, play therapy might be one counseling intervention that they use with their students. Landreth (2002) has promoted the use of play therapy in schools by explaining that its objective is to help children get ready to profit from what teachers have to offer. Play therapy is an approach that may help school counselors to effectively assist children in their developmental growth. This study surveyed elementary school counselors who were members of the American School Counselor Association regarding play therapy practices in the schools. Participants (N = 381) were surveyed regarding their training in play therapy, their use of play therapy, their belief system regarding play therapy, and their perceived limitations to the use of play therapy in the schools. Although school counselors appear to believe in the utility of play therapy in the schools, certain barriers were found to exist that were detrimental to its implementation. Counselors identified lack of time available with students and lack of training in play therapy as the primary limitations to its use in the schools.