POINT
Cleaning Up Together Provides Natural Skill- Development Opportunities DD, LPC, RPT-S, ACAS
Kottman & Meany-Walen (2016) proposed that play therapists and children are partners in the clean-up process, and that clean up time should be a collaborative effort that can help build the therapeutic relationship. O’Connr (2000) suggested that children need structure governed by their developmental level and a level of challenge in play therapy. Clean-up time at the end of the play session is one task that can provide such developmentally appropriate structure and process. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related conditions and abilities. Structured moments, such as end-of-the-session clean up, can be matched to the child’s developmental ability and provide the appropriate level of challenge for treatment gains. Clean-up time provides the play therapist with an additional opportunity to address
Many evidence-based treatments for ASD implement multiple hours of therapist-child interventions per week (Siri & Lyons, 2010). It is essential that play therapists take advantage of every second of a play session from initial greeting to clean up. For children with ASD and related conditions, cleaning up at the end of the session provides an opportunity to further skill acquisition and development, especially for relational, functional, and transitional skills. Grandin (2006) highlighted how valuable clean up times are for transferable skill development in children with ASD, how it will serve them into adulthood, and how there is a positive response (and sometimes a sought-out need) to the routine and consistency the clean-up process offers.
End-of-the-session clean-up is another chance for the therapist and the child to exchange and to work collaboratively. The clean-up time can be a fun and engaging time that furthers the child’s treatment goals. Instead of a directive issued just for the sake of cleaning, the
THE MIDDLE GROUND
therapist can create interventions with clean-up time that target social- skill improvement (e.g., turn taking, working with another person to complete a task, joint attention skills), step completion skills, problem solving ability, sensory motor regulation, and interaction (i.e., connection) improvement. Structured clean-up time play interventions include:
You pick for me game – the therapist and child take turns choosing what the other person must clean up (promotes turn taking and working collaboratively with another person).
Character clean-up – the therapist and child each dress up as a character and clean up in the style of the character (promotes pretend play skills).
Clean-up moves – the therapist and child take turns indicating a movement that must be done while cleaning up, such as cleaning in slow motion, hopping, or walking backward (promotes turn taking, regulation, sensory processing).
Race against the clock – The therapist uses a timer to set a time limit, and the therapist and child work together to try and get everything cleaned up before the time runs out (promotes time awareness, focus, staying on task, working collaboratively).
Grant (2017) proposed that every moment, and often the most natural moments, provide[s] an opportunity for children with ASD to facilitate skill development and to further enhance their quality of
life. End-of-the-play-session
clean up time can be much more than basic clean up; it can be fun, it can be playful, and it can be purposefully designed to help children with ASD improve in a variety of skill challenges and achieve their treatment goals.
Therapeutic Goals as Determinants for Cleaning Up After Session AMANDA ROBINSON, MA, LPC, RPT
Whether or not play therapists ask clients to clean up after session likely reflects their theoretical orientations and their clients’ therapeutic goals. Their clean-up practices also may vary prescriptively according to clients’ particular needs (Schaefer & Drewes, 2016). Notably, play therapists may take into account client autonomy versus responsibility, an emphasis on the nurturing relationship or the importance of social collaboration, grounding (and for whom), and whether the therapist emphasizes acceptance or cause and effect in the relationship.
Autonomy vs. Responsibility: Play therapists who choose not to ask clients to tidy up likely want to encourage self-determination. Nondirective play therapy is child-led, and many agree the playroom
16 | PLAYTHERAPY March 2019 |
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should be a space where children can make decisions freely. The therapist already places necessary limitations on this freedom, so whenever they can grant a child autonomy, they should. By contrast, other play therapists may see value in encouraging accountability. After all, professionals already practice “returning responsibility” (Landreth, 2012) in order to facilitate esteem-building. Is asking them to pick up toys
Nurturing Relationship vs. Social Collaboration: Practitioners who do not ask clients to clean may place high importance on nurturing in the therapeutic relationship. Asking children to clean runs the risk of facilitating a power struggle and ending the session on a sour note. More practically, what would be an appropriate consequence if the client
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