A Guide to Child Therapy: Let's Play

by Max B. Price, Geri Price

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765703217
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2001
Pages:	333
Product dimensions:	9.26(w) x 6.16(h) x 1.29(d)

About the Author

B. Max Price received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oklahoma, Norman. Specializing in child psychology, Dr. Price has been in group private practice since 1977 with Behavioral Medicine Associates and Integris Baptist Medical Center Outpatient Counseling. Since 1998, he has practiced with the Center for Counseling and Care of Oklahoma, Inc. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Psychological Association and is a member of the American Psychological Association and the National Register of Psychologists. He is the author of two books, numerous publications and magazine articles on child guidance, parenting, children in crisis, and children and stress.

Geri Price received her Bachelor's degree in Business from Oklahoma City University. She has been a Senior Consultant for the Center for Nonprofit Management, working with dozens of organizations in Strategic Planning. She has published several magazine articles. She currently works for the Oklahoma County Metropolitan Library System coordinating afterschool and summer reading programs for high-risk/low income elementary school children. The Price's have two children, Tracey and Todd, and four grandchildren.

Table of Contents

	Preface	v
	Acknowledgments	xi
Part I	Basics
1	Let the Play Begin: Conducting a Play Therapy Session	3
2	Diagnostic Play: Assessing the Child's Needs, Developmental Level, and Core Conflicts	19
3	Starting Points: Basic Assumptions, Uses of Play in Therapy, Characteristics of an Effective Play Therapist	37
4	What About Theory?: The Necessity of Theoretical Orientation, Theory Applied	51
Part II	Tools of the Trade
5	Basic Play Therapy Materials Descriptions and Uses	65
6	Therapeutic Storytelling Mutual Storytelling Technique and Different Variations	87
Part III	Specific Problems
7	Treatment of Anxiety and Depression	119
8	Treatment of Behavior Problems	141
9	Play Therapy Applied to Separation and Loss: Divorce, Absentee Parent, Death, Adoption, Foster Care	173
10	Play Therapy Applied to Trauma and Illness: Violence, Natural Disasters, Illness	213
Part IV	Behavior Therapy
11	Managing Difficult Behavior in the Office, School and Community: Description and Intervention	249
12	Parent Consultation: for Managing Behavior Problems Principles, Model, and Example	277
	Afterword	293
	Appendixes	295
	References	319
	Index	321

Editorial Reviews

In A Guide to Child Therapy, Max and Geri Price have produced a gem of a book that will be a major source of information and help for students who are interested in learning to do play therapy as well as for seasoned professionals who are interested in improving and developing their skills. This book is broad based, using various psychotherapeutic techniques and strategies applicable to play therapy with children. There is a wealth of practical experience covering everything from furnishing a play therapy office through assessment and extended treatment. Ideas are presented in clear prose that is well organized, flows effortlessly, and communicates very effectively. If one were to have only one book on the shelf dealing with play therapy, this is the book. It is a joy to read.

C. Eugene Walker

In this book, Max and Geri Price provide us with the wisdom of years of experience in working with troubled, often traumatized, children. Faculty charged with teaching and supervising play therapy will find that this book contains extensive practical material on the theories, diagnostics, and techniques of play therapy, targeted at helping students integrate their academic knowledge into competent professional practice. Both the novice and the accomplished therapist will gain volumes from the Prices' vision as they share not just the science, but the genuine art of play therapy. As a result, we will all do a better job of helping those children whose lives are entrusted to our care.

Thomas J. Vaughn

This work shows how to use play therapy to diagnose and treat children suffering from depression, behavior problems, separation, and loss. It describes ways to model effective parenting for parents, tells how to help parents understand appropriate developmental expectations for children, and gives guidelines for dealing with specific types of problems. Case material, practical exercises, consent forms, and a list of supplies are included. Max Price is a child psychologist in private practice. Geri Price works for the Oklahoma County Metropolitan Library system coordinating reading programs for high- risk and low income children. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)