Name: Syed Wajahat Ali Naqvi

Assignment Name: Play Therapy Case

Class: PMDACP-2nd Semester

Teacher: Dr. Saima Masoom

Case:

A child who is 14 years old has frequent fights with classmates and doesn’t show interest in
studying. He gets involved in a fight with his siblings. How will you go through therapy sessions
with him?

First Assessment & Case-Taking Process:

Before starting the therapy, the child will be assessed, and complete case history will be taken of
childhood, academic, family, psychological, and social background to highlight the hidden
conflicts and issues in the child’s behavior.

Rapport Building:

A strong and friendly relationship will be created with the child using the skills of empathy,
genuineness, prompts, affirmation, and giving unconditional positive regard, so that child can feel
uncomfortable with the therapist in therapy to explore his emotions in a better way.

Identifying the Problem:

The nature of the problem will be identified with assessment, and case history and by using the
master skills of active listening for designing the treatment plan.

Story Telling & Role Playing:

Storytelling and role-play techniques will use with the child to explore the unrevealed issues which
are very helpful to draw the complete picture of the problem.

Aggression Play Therapy:

Aggression Play Therapy will use because in this case, the main problem in the child is anger due
to which he fights with their classmates and siblings. Usually, aggression play therapy for children
or adolescents is very helpful to release their aggression in a safe place and safe way. Play therapy
spaces often include different types of toys which involves also aggressive animal toys such as
dinosaurs, sharks, and alligators which children can use to act out what is happening in their lives.

Use Some Anger Management Techniques:

• Personify anger for giving understanding to the child of problem/circumstances and to

objectify the solution for its better solution.
• Anger Iceberg for building self-awareness about emotions, and events. Stressors that
trigger to write under the Iceberg.
• Anger Balloon technique to teach the child how to act out the emotions in a safer way.
• Anger Fortune Cookies to teach the child how to replace negative self-talk with positive
messages.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy:

PCIT may also be helpful to fix the behavioral problem in this child, fighting with classmates and
siblings. Especially in the presence of disturbances in parent-child relationships. This model is
based on developmental psychology and social learning theory. Initially, parents are trained to
ignore negative behavior and focus on positive behavior. Then parents will train to maintain
compliance with their children. Parents are also committing to play with children on the daily
basis. This helps the healthy relationship with children with their parents and caregivers through
which children will able to solve their behavioral issues.

Sessions Detail:

The length of each session will be held on 30 to 45 minutes weekly or 2 times a week. The first
phase of play therapy is commonly referred to as the exploratory stage which focuses on the
relationship and trust building with the child and will require 4 to 5 sessions. Now the next stage
of therapy is the resistance phase in which children are confronted with the recognition of
maladaptive behavior which will require 2 or 3 sessions after this therapy shifts to the growing
phase in which children learn, heal step out of their comfort zone, and making changes in
maladaptive behavior. This will require long sessions probably 6 to 7 sessions. After stabilizing
the behavioral and emotional needs now the number of sessions will decrease gradually and, in a
month, a child will be called for a follow-up session. After multiple follow-up sessions with the
changes and drastic improvements in a child’s behavior on a monthly basis, the case will be shifted
to the termination phase with healthy and happy closure.

References:

Ltd., S. (2018, July 23). The benefits of aggressive play therapy. Safari Ltd®. Retrieved October
18, 2022, from https://www.safariltd.com/blogs/toys-that-teach/aggressive-play-
therapy#:~:text=Aggressive%20play%20therapy%20allows%20children,as%20clay%20or
%20Play%2Ddoh.

Angela Pruess LMFT, C. T. + P. C. (2022, April 4). 7 simple but effective anger management
activities for Kids. Parents With Confidence. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from
https://parentswithconfidence.com/anger-management-activities-kids/

Zheng, X. (2011). Students with interpersonal relationship disturbance in elementary schools

and the process of the positive psychotherapy for Parents: Children Counseling.

Donna A. Hander, Charles L. Thompson, Counseling Children 8th Edition

Play therapy makes a difference - association for play therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19,
2022, from https://www.a4pt.org/page/PTMakesADifference?%20

Sepp, J. (2022, August 3). Stages of play therapy. Ensemble Therapy. Retrieved October 19,
2022, from https://www.ensembletherapy.com/blog/stages-in-play-therapy