SpecialKids

Therapists Use Play To Heal Hidden Hurts

by Holly Swanson

Tammi Van Hollander spends her days playing with puppets, clay, sand and finger paints. These common childhood activities seem like a great way to pass the time, but for Van Hollander they are the tools of her practice as a social worker and registered play therapist.

In a specially designed playroom at the Center for Psychological Services in Ardmore, PA, Van Hollander listens to children as young as age 3 work through tough issues such as sexual abuse, trauma, aggression, depression and divorce.

“Since children do not have the cognitive ability to communicate like adults, play is really the best medium for children to express themselves,” Van Hollander says. “Play provides them with a safe psychological distance from their problems.”

Children often can’t, or won’t, use words to express their issues, says Carol Bouzoukis, PhD, a Wilmington, DE play therapist and author of Pediatric Drama-therapy: They Couldn’t Run So They Learned to Fly (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, $36.95). But kids can gain mastery of their world through the use of toys, puppets, stories, and action figures. The play therapist acts as a careful observer and helps the child uncover, and deal with, his or her feelings.

Many times, children get so engrossed in their play that they disclose things they would otherwise avoid. This was the case for Yolanda Mitchell of Philadelphia (whose real name is being withheld). When her daughter was 5, Mitchell overheard her say something inappropriate while she was playing.

Several conversations later, her daughter revealed that she was being sexually abused. Mitchell’s daughter has now been receiving play therapy from Van Hollander for three years and has made great progress in dealing with her past.

“I think she feels safe and secure thanks to the therapy, and she’s aware that this happens to other people, too,” Mitchell says. “She definitely didn’t want to talk about things; even to this day she doesn’t go in and start talking. She’ll usually just clam up, but through the play she’ll express herself.

“She really looks forward to going (to therapy),” Mitchell says. “She’s happy to know she has someone she can talk to and it’s a safe place and always will be.”

The Play Therapy Session
In many situations, children and their parents begin the therapy session together. After spending a few minutes talking as a group, the parents leave and the therapist works one-on-one with the child, inviting him to play.

“Children don’t have the rules from home or school, so they are empowered to engage in pure, imaginative play,” Van Hollander says. “They work things out that are troubling them and express themselves freely without boundaries.”

Children are also invited to create a story using miniatures and shells in a sand tray. This becomes a form of non-verbal expression where children can work out their problems and conflicts in a safe environment. Often, family members will participate in the sand tray therapy to work out current issues, such as divorce or illness.

For young children with attachment issues and older children who have been adopted and lack a strong bond with their parents, filial therapy allows the parent to take an active role in the sessions, sometimes continuing them at home. Van Hollander says this therapy helps a child build a deeper bond through hugging, rocking, and nurturing.

“Being a kid isn’t that easy,” says Bouzoukis. Children often need help dealing with day-to-day issues such as socialization, aggression, potty training and bullying. Bouzoukis says play therapy can help deal quickly with these problems. “Parents tell me in as little as one session that I ?˜flipped a switch’ for their child. It works very succinctly.”

Play therapy has its limits. Children with certain forms of autism, for example, may be unable to work within the imaginative and unstructured realm of play. Other children are too guarded to allow themselves to play freely.

In the Classroom
Play therapy is also being utilized by teachers in preschool settings. Van Hollander regularly holds workshops at local schools to coach teachers on how to increase expressive play opportunities.

“We are a developmental preschool, and as such, truly believe that children learn much about life through their play,” says Nancy Rassiga, director of the Phebe Anna Thorne School in Bryn Mawr, PA. “Some of our children have speech and language delays, and this can impact play and social skill development. I thought that by having a play therapist present to us, the teachers might learn some new skills for fostering play development.” 

“I don’t think that we can provide the therapeutic intervention that a play therapist does,” says Rassiga. “But simply by allowing young children more play opportunities, we are allowing them to express themselves freely.”

By exploring their problems in the safety of their imaginations, “children will take us where they need to go within the healing process,” Van Hollander says.

Holly Swanson is a Harrisburg, PA freelance writer.