Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Juliann Woods, Florida State University, College of Communication, Dept. of Communication Disorders. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 19, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 41 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes special report study entitled : Playtherapy & playful settings for children with autism. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

M.A. / This qualitative study will research five children's experience of long-term play therapy, from the perspective of the child. In exploring and describing the children's experience, the study will be a tentative delving into the 'inner workings' of one approach to play therapy, developed by this researcher in her private clinical practice. The research will aim to begin to make explicit the 'sub-text' of play therapy; that is, to give a voice to the child patient's usually unarticulated experience of the helping process. By directly researching the child's experience of play therapy from the perspective of the child, the study will represent a departure from the emphasis clinicians and researchers have historically placed on their theories and professional roles in therapeutic practice and discourse: Gardner, (1993) for example, in his account of the development of play therapy techniques in the twentieth century, reviews a broad range of classical and contemporary texts, all of which promote the central role of practitioners and their theories. Further, as noted by Spinelli (1994:77), "somewhat amazingly, given the large amount of studies dealing with therapy and therapists, there exist very few exhaustive studies that focus exclusively on the client's experience of therapy.'

The problem of this study was an analysis of the process of play therapy. The purposes of this study were (1) to describe the patterns of play activity, nonverbal expression, and verbal expression during the process of play therapy over fifteen sessions; (2) to compare the patterns of play activity, nonverbal expression, and verbal expression of boys and girls during play therapy; and (3) to verify the processes of play activity, nonverbal expression, and verbal expression during extended play therapy.

Child-centred play therapy is not the preferred treatment approach for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), because of the limited research demonstrating this treatment as a proper approach for childhood trauma. The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe the process of child-centred therapy with a four-year-old child with PTSD. An exploratory descriptive case study approach was utilised as it allowed for an in-depth description of a phenomenon in its therapeutic context. Data was collected through multiple sources to establish a comprehensive database. The data was analysed through Alexander’s content analysis and Guba’s model of trustworthiness. Findings included themes observed in the research participant dealing with PTSD of perfectionism, control, shame, mistrust, needing control, and perfectionism. The therapist’s application of Axline’s principles indicated these principles being enough for treating PTSD in a child. Some of those principles had immediate impact while others were cumulative in their effect.

Research in the field of attachment theory and object relations theory has indicated that early attachments between a child and his or her primary caregiver have significant implications for the development of that child. Early relationships begin to shape the child’s sense of self and other and healthy relationships lead to secure attachments. However, children who encounter early maltreatment or a disruption in caregivers are particularly vulnerable to developing insecure attachments and a disrupted sense of self and other, which has consequences for their subsequent psychological development. In the South African context, increasing numbers of children are being orphaned or placed in formal foster care with many children at risk for insecure attachments. This has implications for therapeutic work with an increased need to promote secure attachment relationships and a stable sense of self and other. The current case study aimed to describe the relational experience of play therapy that took place between a maltreated five year old female child and a female trainee therapist with this purpose in mind. The therapeutic process was embedded within a relational therapy framework which included object relations and attachment theory. The researcher made use of a qualitative descriptive dialogic research approach to conduct the research. The data were analysed using content analysis, where the play therapy sessions were analysed according to concepts relating to Fairbairn’s (1963) object relations theory as well as Winnicott’s (1965) object relations theory. Prominent themes that emerged included the role of the holding environment, splitting of good and bad objects and the presence of a false self versus a true self. In addition, the conflicting presence of two repressed ego structures, namely the libidinal and antilibidinal ego structure were noted throughout the therapeutic process.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a play-based teacher consultation (PBTC) program on individual teachers’ interpersonal classroom behaviors and teacher-child relationships. The research questions addressed the application of child-centered play therapy principles and PBTC increasing teacher responsiveness, decreasing teacher criticism, and enhancing teachers‟ perceptions of the teacher-child relationship in elementary school classrooms. Single-case design was utilized to examine eight teachers‟ perceptions over 16 weeks. The sample included 8 White female teachers from three local elementary schools. Teacher ages ranged from 28 to 59 years old. There were 5 kindergarten, 1 first grade, and 2 second grade teachers. The teachers participated in one educational training session followed by play sessions with children of focus and interactive modeling sessions. Trained observers, blind to the study’s purpose, utilized the Interaction Analysis System in classroom observations of the teachers, three times per week, to examine teachers’ interpersonal skills. Additionally, the teachers completed the Student Teacher Relationship Scale for the children of focus before and after the play session phase to examine change in the teacher-child relationship. Visual analysis of the data indicated the PBTC’s overall positive impact. 5 out of 8 teachers demonstrated increases in teacher responding scores at mildly to very effective criteria levels. All 8 teachers demonstrated decreases teacher criticism at effective to very effective criteria levels. The teacher-child relationships indicated mixed results, with 5 out of 8 teachers indicating positive changes in teacher-child relationships. Discussion includes implications for future research regarding single-case design, measurement of teacher change, and modifications of the PBTC model.

The study reported here attempts to demonstrate the utility of group play therapy as a method of reducing aggression in preadolescent aged boys. Previous research has attempted to demonstrate the value of play therapy as a method of dealing with a variety of emotional and behavioral problems.