Play Therapy – Counseling for Young Children
Unfortunately, traumatic and socially disruptive events affect children – even young children – just like they affect adults. The medical term for this is Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, and there is growing evidence that ACEs can lead to harmful outcomes that reach throughout the lifespan. ACEs can refer to a wide range of experiences, including abuse in the home, bullying from peers, witnessing violence in the family or community, abandonment, food insecurity, parental divorce, death in the family, long-term hospitalization.
The younger the child who experiences a negative or traumatic event, the more difficult it is for him or her to process and work through. Similarly, young children who suffer from developmental delays, social anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and sensory disorders have difficulty processing and communicating their emotions and expressions. In other words, traditional counseling or therapy sessions are not beneficial in this age group because they simply do not have the brain maturity yet.
Does this mean that young children do not benefit from counseling for ACEs or other emotional disturbances? Not at all. However, it does mean that it is important to find a way to work with the level of maturation they do have. This has lead to the development of a particular type of therapy: play therapy.
The University of North Texas Center for Play Therapy defines play therapy as counseling that “utilizes play, children’s natural medium of expression, to help them express their feelings more easily through toys instead of words.” Another way to describe this is a developmentally appropriate, play-based form of mental healthcare for children ages 3-10 years.
Play is the language of children. It is an essential form of self-expression, imagination, exploration, knowledge gathering. It stimulates creativity and reinforces thinking skills and development.
Play therapy differs from simple and regular play, in that the activities are directed by a therapist and with a particular purpose. This allows young children to confront problems, whether they are emotional, social, or traumatic, in a way they understand and that is developmentally appropriate. Children’s responses to play involved in therapy can also be used to understand types of dysfunctional thinking that may be occurring.
Through play, trained therapists can help children with the following:
- Learn adaptive behaviors in stressful situations
- Promote healing from prior trauma or ACEs
- Learn to interact more effectively with others around them
- Learn how to express feelings safely.
- Develop creative problem solving skills
- Learn new social skills
- Develop self-confidence
Lasting improvements and solutions can be taught to these children, which allows them to potentially prevent the repercussions of ACEs or overcome emotional dysregulation.
Final thoughts
A favorite saying of Pediatricians is “children are NOT small adults.” This is true in many aspects of medicine, but in mental health I think it is particularly applicable. Traditional therapy avenues do not work well in children, especially young children. At the same time, however, children are just as affected by traumatic events and require help from therapists to be able to work through these and avoid lasting difficulties later on in life.
If you are concerned that your child may have experienced an ACE or if you find your child is struggling with regulating emotions for any reason, please reach out to your child’s Pediatrician about the possibility of utilizing play therapy.
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