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Child centered play therapy (CCPT) is a therapeutic intervention that provides the environment for children to work through and heal from difficult experiences through expression of play and therapeutic relationship. It has been demonstrated effective with multiple types of disruptive behaviors. I conducted single-case research to explore CCPT's influence on children who had four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and provided analysis of data collected from one assessment administered weekly and one assessment at pre-, mid-, and post-intervention: the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Young Children. The two participants (one 8-year-old White American male and one 9-year-old White American female) demonstrated significant improvement in total difficulties and prosocial behaviors. The study revealed potential therapeutic benefits for utilizing CCPT with children who had four or more ACEs. Encompassed in discussion of study results are implications for practice, suggestions for future research, and limitations.

The present meta-analytic study examined the overall effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) and child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) for children experiencing internalizing problems. After conducting a comprehensive literature search and review, 25 studies published between 2000 and 2023 met the following inclusion criteria: (a) published and peer-reviewed; (b) used CCPT or CPRT as an intervention; (c) participants were ages 3 to 13 or parents of children ages 3 to 13; (d) study outcomes related to children's internalizing problems, such as anxiety, depression, or withdrawal; (e) used single group within study or between study design, including randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials; (f) published between January 2000 and April 2023; (g) published in English; (h) used standardized measurements; and (i) reported effect sizes, or means and standard deviations, or the author disclosed the means and standard deviations upon request. Final analysis included 28 individual effect sizes using a random effects model to determine the overall effect size for 6 analyses that included CCPT/CPRT combined between, CCPT/CPRT combined within, CCPT between, CCPT within, CPRT between, CPRT within. Moderating variables included gender, age, ethnicity, and number of CCPT sessions. CCPT and CPRT effect sizes were statistically significant and ranged from small to large effects. Results support the use of CCPT and CPRT with children for the reduction of internalizing problems. Procedures and results, including the coding process, limitations, and implications are discussed.

Childhood poverty is a prevalent concern in the United States and is associated with poor psychological and academic outcomes. Psychosocial stressors associated with life in poverty may interrupt the development of a positive self-concept, ultimately hampering the academic achievement of children in poverty. As the therapeutic objectives of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) support the development of an increasingly positive self-concept, I explored the impact of CCPT on the academic achievement of children in poverty. Participants were composed of 55 students between the ages of 4-7 years old from seven Title 1 elementary schools in the southern United States. Of the 55 study participants, 12 (22%) were female and 43 (78%) were male. Regarding participant ethnicity, 7 (13%) were African American, 1 (2%) was Asian American, 5 (9%) were multi-racial, 35 (64%) were Latino, 6 (11%) were Caucasian, and 1 (2%) did not report ethnicity. Participants were randomly assigned to either a 16 session CCPT treatment group (n = 25) or a waitlist control group (n = 30). A mixed between-within ANOVA was conducted to evaluate improvement in academic achievement scores between treatment and control groups across time. Results indicated a statistically significant interaction effect on the Early Achievement Composite Score of the Young Children's Achievement Test (p = .042). The standardized difference between groups was Cohen's d = .53 indicating a medium effect size. Overall, findings from this study support CCPT as an effective intervention to promote improvements in the academic achievement of children in poverty.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a certain set of abuse household dysfunction experiences that many children in the United States experience. Children who experience multiple ACEs are more likely to have negative mental and physical health issues as they grow older. These outcomes include ADHD, depression, cancer, heart disease, and early death. In this study, I examined the effectiveness of child centered play therapy (CCPT), a developmentally appropriate treatment modality, with children who have experienced two or more ACEs and who are also demonstrating inattention and impulsivity symptoms. Participants were 34 students from five Title 1 elementary schools in the southwest United States (28 males and 6 females; age range 5-8 years old with a mean age of 6.12). In the sample, participants were comprised of 29.4% African American (n = 10), 38.2% Caucasian (n = 13), 17.6% Hispanic/Latino (n = 6), and 14.7% identified as biracial (n = 5). Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received 16 CCPT 30-minute sessions twice a week (n = 17) or a waitlist control group (n = 17) that received treatment at the conclusion of the study. Using a factorial ANOVA, results indicated statistically significant improvement of CCPT treatment group over waitlist control group on the ADDES-4 School Total and the DOF Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Problems scale indicating that CCPT was an appropriate treatment model for children who have experienced ACEs and inattention and impulsivity symptoms.

Play therapists use children’s natural symbolic play as a method of mental health treatment (Landreth, 2012). Meta-analysis research has demonstrated the effectiveness of treating children with play therapy (Bratton, Ray, Rhine, & Jones, 2005), and child-centered play therapy (CCPT) has proven to be an effective treatment for children with externalizing behaviors such as aggression and other disruptive behavior (Bratton & Ray, 2000; Bratton et al., 2005). Some studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of brief and short-term CCPT, such as twice weekly within two to three months (Blanco & Ray, 2011; Shen, 2002) and when delivered in an intensive format, conducting 12 sessions within three weeks (Jones & Landreth, 2002). In this current study, I sought to determine the effectiveness of intensive CCPT with children identified as having externalizing problem behaviors. Participants were recruited from public schools in the urban area of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia area. A total of 24 participants completed the study: 18 boys and 6 girls aged 6 to 9 years old (M = 7); 17 Australian Caucasians, 1 English (UK) Caucasian, 1 Asian, 3 Hispanic/Latino, and 2 Biracial. Participants were randomly assigned: 12 to the experimental group and 12 to the wait-list control group. Children in the experimental group received 20 intensive CCPT sessions: twice daily for 10 days. For each child participant, a parent completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a teacher completed the CBCL Teacher’s Report Form (TRF) three times: at pretest, posttest, and one-week follow-up. Mixed between-within ANOVAs were conducted applying an alpha level of .05 to interpret statistical significant and η2 calculation to assess practical significance. Follow-up results indicated a statistically significant interaction effect on CBCL Externalizing score, F (2, 44) = 14.747, p < .001, with a large effect size of η2 = .277. Results also indicated a statistically significant interaction effect on the TRF Externalizing score, F (2, 44) = 4.042, p = .024, with a large effect size of η2 = .135. Therefore, both parents and teachers indicated that children with externalizing behaviors who received intensive CCPT showed a significant decrease in those behaviors. The results of this study indicate that when time and financial resources call for short-term, intensive CCPT for children with problematic externalizing behaviors, practitioners may use it with confidence that its effectiveness has been demonstrated through this research.

BRITO, Rosa Ângela Cortez de. A criança como Outro: uma leitura ética da Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança. 2012. 139f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2012. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-25T14:48:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-RACBRITO.pdf: 1142285 bytes, checksum: b21f65921989c6fe5fff0cdf53e8ae2d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-25T17:20:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-RACBRITO.pdf: 1142285 bytes, checksum: b21f65921989c6fe5fff0cdf53e8ae2d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-25T17:20:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-RACBRITO.pdf: 1142285 bytes, checksum: b21f65921989c6fe5fff0cdf53e8ae2d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / The Child-Centered Play Therapy, understood not only in the Axline’s original proposal, but also from the VanFleet, Sywulak and Sniscak’s perspective, has as its premise the notion that the play is a ludic dialogue that promotes the expression of feelings and the expansion of possibilities in the child’s life. The therapy would help the child to identify, recognize and express his/her feelings. The therapist should, therefore, have the skills to enable a safe space for the child’s expression. This ability is understood by Amatuzzi as an ethical previous disponibility. For a philosophical perspective of the ethics of the Child-Centered Play Therapy, it is taken as basis the Lévinas’ ethics of radical alterity, who proposed the responsibility as subjectivity’s structure. The ethical condition would be developed by the openness and availability to the Other, towards the Other’s difference. The non-conceptuable levinasian Other, human being’s antecedent and transcendent, establishes an asymmetric relationship with the Same. From these perspectives, it presents the guiding question of this research: what is the place for the radically Other in Child-Centered Play Therapy? To answer this question, the following general objective was traced: analyze the place reserved to the Other in the Child-Centered Play Therapy. The specific objectives are: inquiry the relation between otherness and subjetivity, based on levinasian ethics, in the Child-Centered Play Therapy; to develop a new reading of Child-Centered Play Therapy, based on radically Other. The chosen methodology was the Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, which proposes the fusion of horizons between the author and the interpreter in order to create a new horizon of comprehension. From the similarities between the Person Centered Therapy and the Ethic of radical alterity, developed by Vieira & Freire and Schmid, it is presented as result that there is a place to the levinasian Other in the Child-Centered Play Therapy, as long as the therapist is openness and disponibility to the trauma that represents the arrival of the child in his/her absolute difference. It is also verified that the child who comes to the attendance, therefore, would be understood as the levinasian Other, whom the therapist is called upon to respond. To enable the therapist openness, he/she (the therapist) should experience permanent processes of inadequacy in the face to face relationship with the child. Grateful for the support of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) in the development of this research. / A Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança, aqui entendida não somente na proposta original de Axline, mas também a partir da ótica de VanFleet, Sywulak e Sniscak, tem como postulado a noção de que o brincar é um diálogo lúdico que propicia a expressão dos sentimentos e a expansão das possibilidades na história de vida da criança. A terapia ajudaria a criança a identificar, reconhecer e expressar melhor seus sentimentos. Cabe ao terapeuta, portanto, apresentar habilidades que possibilitem um espaço de segurança para a expressividade da criança. Essa habilidade do terapeuta é compreendida por Amatuzzi como uma predisponibilidade ética. Para que a ética da LCC seja pensada em seu viés filosófico, toma-se como base para este trabalho a ética da alteridade radical de Lévinas, que propôs a responsabilidade como estrutura da subjetividade. A condição ética dar-se-ia na abertura e disponibilidade ao Outro, à sua diferença. O Outro levinasiano não conceituável, antecedente e transcendente ao ser, estabelece uma relação de assimetria com o Mesmo. Partindo dessas perspectivas, apresenta-se a questão norteadora desta pesquisa: qual o lugar destinado ao radicalmente Outro na Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança? Para responder tal questionamento, o seguinte objetivo geral foi traçado: analisar o lugar destinado ao Outro na Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança. Os objetivos específicos são: a investigação entre alteridade e subjetividade, a partir da ética levinasiana, na Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança; a realização da releitura da Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança, a partir do radicalmente Outro. A metodologia utilizada é a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer, que propõe a fusão de horizontes entre autor e intérprete para a criação de um novo horizonte de compreensão. A partir das aproximações entre a Abordagem Centrada na Pessoa e a Ética da alteridade radical, realizadas por Vieira e Freire e Schmid, apresenta-se como resultados a existência de espaço para o Outro levinasiano na Ludoterapia Centrada na Criança, desde que o terapeuta seja abertura e disponibilidade ao trauma que representa a chegada da criança em sua diferença absoluta. Verifica-se, também, que a criança que chega para o atendimento se apresenta como Rosto, que remete ao Infinito e à transcendência do Outro. A criança, portanto, seria entendida como o Outro levinasiano, a quem o terapeuta é intimado a responder. Para que a abertura do terapeuta seja possibilitada, este deve vivenciar processos permanentes de inadaptação no face a face com a criança. Presta-se agradecimentos pelo apoio da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) no desenvolvimento deste trabalho.

Aggressive behaviors in childhood currently serve as the leading cause of counselor referrals within the United States. Children exhibiting maladaptive aggressive symptomology are at an increased risk for highly externalized and problematic behaviors across the lifespan. Emotional self-regulation and empathy are two constructs currently believed to be closely related to aggression, but a lack of research exploring these variables currently exists in the counseling literature. In this study I examined the effect of child-centered play therapy (CCPT), is a manualized, developmentally responsive, and nondirective intervention, on these variables. Participants were 71 students from four Title 1 elementary schools in the southwest U.S. referred by teachers for aggressive behavior (12 females, 59 males; age range 5-10 years with mean age 6.28. The sample consisted of 52.1% (n = 37) children identified as African American, 21.1% (n = 15) as Latina/Latino, 19.7% (n = 14) as Caucasian, and 7% as multiracial (n = 5). Participants were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of a twice-weekly CCPT experimental group (n = 36) or a waitlist control group (n = 35). Results of descriptive discriminant analyses (DDA) of the Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scale and the Children’s Aggression Scale scores revealed that parents perceived children’s group membership in CCPT as significant and reasonably predictive of improvement in children’s aggression, self-regulation, and empathy. However, teachers did not perceive a statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to these variables. These results suggest the relevancy of CCPT for parents in providing children with a developmentally responsive intervention to reduce aggressive behaviors and support their healthy development.

The current study is the first repeated-measures design exploring the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT), an evidence-based child psychotherapy intervention, on autistic children's social-emotional assets, and emotional and behavioral problems across four times during intervention based on teacher reports. Participants consisted of 19 autistic children recruited from two Title-1 elementary schools in the southwest United States who were aged between 5 years and 8.25 years (M = 6.22, SD = .91), presented with varied levels of cognitive functioning and speech and language abilities. Over 60% of participants were identified by their parents as children of color. Results indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted statistically significant improvement in social-emotional assets measured by Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales-Teacher (SEARS-T) total score with a large effect size. Results also indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted a statistically significant reduction in emotional and behavioral problems of irritability, social withdrawal, and hyperactivity/ noncompliance, measured by Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Second Edition (ABC- 2), with large effect sizes. Findings of this study revealed substantive changes in social-emotional assets as early as 8 CCPT sessions, and reduction of emotional and behavioral concerns as early as 12 CCPT sessions. Clinical significance, implications for practice, and limitations of the study are discussed.

Virginia Axline developed a new field of child psychotherapy by applying a nondirective approach to the burgeoning experimentation of utilizing play in therapeutic work with children. While much biographical information is available regarding other leaders in the fields of counseling and psychology, historical research into Axline and her development of child-centered play therapy represent a gap in the literature. The purpose of the current study was to: 1) examine the professional contributions of Virginia Axline; 2) gather personal information regarding Axline that contributes to deeper understanding of her theory; and 3) identify life circumstances or events that influenced Axline's professional contributions. Historical methodology was utilized to locate and examine artifacts and materials necessary to create an interpretive biography of Axline's life and work, with a focus on her professional influences, experiences, and contributions. Historical methods utilized include historiography, oral history, and interpretive biography, with an emphasis on established and accepted source criticism and data synthesis processes. The research yielded a number of historically significant and previously unknown documents valuable to the field of CCPT including personal correspondence, academic writings, and interviews, as well as academic and government records. The research also established new information about and understandings of several of Axline's professional relationships. The research also calls into question the original authorship of scholarly contributions in the field of counseling for which Axline may have deserved, but not received credit. Included in the biography is information related to Axline's early life, higher education, career timeline, professional development, mentoring relationships, research interests, student perceptions, collegial relationships, personal hardships, professional interests and advocacy, teaching and learning methods, and her decline in later life.