Short-Term Play Therapy for Children, Second Edition

This volume presents a variety of play approaches that facilitate children’s healing in a shorter time frame. Invaluable for any clinician seeking to optimize limited time with clients, the book provides effective methods for treating children struggling with such challenges as posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, disruptive behavior, mood disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and parental divorce. Individual, family, and group treatment models are described and illustrated with richly detailed case examples. Featuring session-by-session guidelines, chapters demonstrate how to engage clients rapidly, develop appropriate treatment goals, and implement carefully structured brief interventions that yield lasting results.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Gary B Kaniuk, Psy.D.(Cermak Health Services)
Description:This book presents short-term approaches to play therapy for children, including individual work, family work, and group work. In this era of managed healthcare and limited resources, this book provides readers with various treatment options. The previous edition was published in 2000.
Purpose:According to the editors, this book is "an up-to-date presentation of how to do short-term play therapy with children who have psychological problems of varying degrees. The second edition includes revised and updated revisions of some of the same chapters..., incorporating new treatments and techniques that have had clinical significance." They conclude, "This book provides creative and effective techniques to help play and other child therapists become more adept in brief play therapy and offer the safety, security, and enjoyment needed for children to work through their difficulties in a playful, therapeutic format with long-lasting results."
Audience:The editors intend the book for play and other child therapists, as well as graduate level students. Both editors have extensive experience and impeccable credentials.
Features:This book is divided into three parts covering individual, family, and group play therapy. In part one, the authors address specific diagnostic categories such as PTSD, anxiety, disruptive behavior disorders, mood disorders, and ADHD. Chapter 3, on short-term play therapy for children with disruptive behavior disorders, is well written and presents a method of working with difficult children, not a theory. The author helps readers to understand why a child behaves in disruptive ways and how to work with both the child and parents. Part two provides ideas for working with adoptive families and combining sand play and family therapy, among others. Part three includes working with children with social skills deficits and children whose parents are divorcing. The book is easy to read and practical. The chapters provide a step-by-step approach with case illustrations. The book is especially essential for graduate students who need to know what techniques/strategies are in the field. The beauty of this material is that it provides short-term interventions, which are especially needed in this era of managed care. There are no obvious shortcomings, but the more the book tries to cover (individual, family, and group work), the more it becomes obvious it is only possible to treat the subject rather superficially. This is a resource that can whet a reader's appetite to find more in a specific area.
Assessment:This is an important resource for those who work with children or are studying to do so. It is practical and full of creative ideas for individual, group, and family interventions. Many of the chapters present specific session guidelines. And most importantly, these ideas can be implemented in a relatively brief period of time, in accord with the demands of insurance companies. This second edition is justified because it has been updated and includes five new chapters.

Heidi Gerard Kaduson, PhD, RPT-S, specializes in evaluation and intervention services for children with a variety of behavioral, emotional, and learning problems. She is past president of the Association for Play Therapy and codirector of the Play Therapy Training Institute. She has lectured internationally on play therapy, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and learning disabilities. Dr. Kaduson's publications include The Playing Cure and 101 Favorite Play Therapy Techniques (Volumes I, II, and III). Dr. Kaduson maintains a private practice in child psychotherapy in Monroe Township, New Jersey.
 

Charles E. Schaefer, PhD, RPT-S, a nationally renowned child psychologist, is Professor of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. He is cofounder and director emeritus of the Association for Play Therapy, and founder and codirector of the Play Therapy Training Institute in Hightstown, New Jersey. Dr. Schaefer is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Play Therapy.  He has written or edited more than 50 books on parenting, child psychology, and play therapy, including The Therapeutic Use of Child's Play, Foundations of Play Therapy, Handbook of Play Therapy, Play Therapy with Adolescents, and Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children. Most recently, he is coeditor (with Heidi Gerard Kaduson) of Contemporary Play Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. Dr. Schaefer maintains a private practice in child psychotherapy in Hackensack, New Jersey.