1. Who is Garry Landreth?
Carl Rogers – founder of person-centered therapy
Virginia Axline
Student of Carl Rogers
Founder of child-centered play therapy
Clark Moustakas
Early child-centered play therapist

2. Who is Garry Landreth? Garry Landreth
Founder and director of Center for Play Therapy, University of North Texas
Author of the most popular child-centered play therapy text book, Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship
First person to conduct treatment outcome studies of child-centered play therapy (CCPT)
Co-founder of the Association for Play Therapy (APT; a4pt.org)

3. What Causes Therapeutic Change in Children?
Awareness of and responsiveness to subtle cues in child – subtle forms of communication (e.g., paying attention to child’s pulling hangnail)
Therapist’s participation in a secure relationship
Child’s freedom to explore not only the environment but also the contents of his or her own mind

4. Principles for Relationships with Children
I am not all knowing; therefore, I will not even attempt to be (contrast with child PDT and child CBT)
I know so little about the complex intricacies of childhood; therefore, I will allow children to teach me.
I will relinquish the grasp I have on reality and try to enter the world as experienced by the child.
It feels good to be an authority, to provide answers; therefore, I will need to work hard to protect children from me!
I have learned most of what I know from experiencing; therefore, I will allow children to experience.

5. The Meaning of Play
Cultivating a developmental perspective in play therapy
World of reality and verbal expression (Epstein’s rational system; Freud’s secondary process)
Conceptual-expressive world (Epstein’s experiential system; Freud’s primary process)
Forms of communication
Verbal – domain of adults who have acquired symbolic sophistication
Nonverbal – domain of children (≤11 years old) who have not acquired symbolic sophistication
Play
Activity (e.g., enactment)

6. The Meaning of Play (cont.)
Functions of Play
UN proclamation of play – universal and inalienable right of childhood
Play is the singular central activity of childhood
Contrast between work and play
Work
Goal-directed
Accommodation of environmental demands
Play
Intrinsically rewarding
Assimilation of environment to match the child’s concepts (e.g., child using spoon as car)
What happens for children during play?
Children discharge energy and relieve frustrations
Children learn social and life-task skills
Children master and achieve difficult goals
Children experiment with and understand culture
Children resolve conflicts and communicate feelings

7. The Meaning of Play (cont.)
Play as medium of communication
Self-initiated and spontaneous
Restrictions to verbal communication place a barrier to the therapeutic relationship: “Come up to my level of communication and communicate with words.”
Play in the therapeutic process
Definition: “Play therapy is defined as a dynamic interpersonal relationship between a child (or person of any age) and a therapist trained in play therapy procedures who provides selected play materials and facilitates the development of a safe relationship for the child (or person of any age) to fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors) through play, the child’s natural medium of communication, for optimal growth and development” (p.11)

8. Play in the Therapeutic Process (cont.)
Success of therapy depends most importantly on the development and maintenance of the therapeutic relationship
Toys are words; play is the language – the playing cure
Children for whom direct communication is too threatening can safely project all feelings and attitudes through toys they select
Play as the symbolic language of self-expression reveals
What the child has experienced
The child’s reactions to what was experienced
The child’s feelings about what was experienced
What the child wishes, wants, or needs
The child’s perception of self

9. The Meaning of Play (cont.)
Symbolic play
Play bridges the gap between concrete experience and abstract thought (Piaget, 1962)
Children learn to cope by engaging in self-directed exploration (beginning of development of insight)
The symbolic nature of play allows for displacement – a distancing from the content that makes their experiences safe for children to address
Children experience being in control of their experiences

10. The Meaning of Play (cont.)
Stages in the play therapy process (Moustakas, 1955)
Initially diffuse negative feelings
Ambivalent feelings – generally anxious or hostile
More focused negative feelings expressed toward significant others
Ambivalent feelings expressed as positive and negative feelings toward significant others
Clear, distinct, separate, usually realistic positive and negative attitudes, with positive attitudes predominating (differentiation and integration)

11. The Meaning of Play (cont.)
Play of adjusted and maladjusted children
Maladjusted children’s play
More dysphoric feelings
Conflictual themes
Play disruptions
Negative self-disclosing statements
Play out conflicts in more of the session
More intense aggression
Adjusted children’s play
Less intense aggression
More acceptance of responsibility
Less conflict-ridden