• Connect parents with parent support groups or advocacy groups and resources in the community that can strengthen their support system. If no parent support groups are available, the therapist might consider starting a support group for parents.
• Focus on therapeutic relationship building with parents, which encompasses several of the above suggestions and includes implementing unconditional regard, providing empathy, genuine acceptance, and understanding.
Case Example Jessica (biological mother) and her 9-year-old daughter Ella (pseudonyms) began AutPlay®
of interventions that would work best with her daughter with the therapist (i.e., movement-based regulation interventions) and what to avoid (i.e., expressive arts interventions). The therapist and Jessica had an ongoing collaborative dialogue about what would work best for Ella and what would be problematic based on Jessica’s expertise about her daughter. This made play interventions more successful and moved therapy forward more quickly.
therapy to help Ella with emotional
regulation challenges. Ella had previously been diagnosed with ASD and was experiencing a great deal of dysregulation at home and school. Jessica was an active and well-educated parent regarding her daughter’s diagnoses (see below) and was willing to participate in therapy. The therapist and Jessica formed a collaborative approach to addressing Ella’s regulation challenges (as co-change agents). In the standard AutPlay®
therapy process, Jessica and Ella participated in
a formal assessment time (parent completed inventories and parent and child play observations) to further identify Ella’s struggle areas to establish treatment goals of decreasing dysregulation meltdowns and improving emotional regulation ability.
Jessica and Ella participated in sessions together and learned a variety of regulation play therapy interventions to implement at home between sessions. Jessica was instrumental in sharing the types
Ella also had a previous diagnosis of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) and pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). These were newer conditions to the therapist, and Jessica again was instrumental in providing information to the therapist about both diagnoses, how Ella was affected, and how the conditions would affect the interventions and regulation treatment goals. Jessica shared information about these conditions and the therapist and parent set up a system of notifying each other in advance if either party was feeling ill and if Ella was flaring (an abrupt onset of symptoms that can increase dysregulation) on the day of her appointment. Parent and therapist also addressed school issues collaboratively, combining therapist expertise on ASD, school policies, and special education law with parent expertise about her daughter’s learning needs and academic challenges. The co-work relationship between the therapist and parent was critical for advising school personnel on implementations needed to accommodate Ella in providing least-restrictive environments for her education.
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www.a4pt.org | June 2020 | PLAYTHERAPY | 17
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