Play therapy practices among elementary school counselors.

This study surveyed elementary school counselors who were members of the American School Counselor Association regarding play therapy practices in the schools. Participants (N = 381) were surveyed regarding their training in play therapy, their use of play therapy, their belief system regarding play therapy, and their perceived limitations to the use of play therapy in the schools. Although school counselors appear to believe in the utility of play therapy in the schools, certain barriers were found to exist that were detrimental to its implementation. Counselors identified lack of time available with students and lack of training in play therapy as the primary limitations to its use in the schools. ********** Recent literature encourages the use of play therapy as a counseling medium for elementary school counselors (Baker & Gerler, 2004; Newsome & Gladding, 2003; Schmidt, 2003; White & Flynt, 1999). In addition, play therapy helps school counselors in the implementation of the National Standards developed by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). These standards guide counselors to help students "acquire the attitudes, knowledge and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others" (ASCA, 2003, p. 2). When responsive services are required of the elementary school counselor, play therapy appears to be one of the developmentally appropriate methods of intervention. Responsive services address the immediate concerns of students. Individual counseling and group counseling are integral to responsive services. Counselors use these remedial interventions with students who have difficulty making healthy choices and for those who need assistance in coping with difficult situations (Cobia & Henderson, 2003). In the elementary school, responsive services cover a broad range of interventions, from providing counseling groups for children of divorce to assist with their emotional struggles, to offering individual counseling for an abused child not functioning in school, to providing crisis intervention for a child who has lost control. Play therapy can be a way to help elementary school students deal with these issues. RATIONALE FOR PLAY THERAPY The use of play therapy is based on a developmental understanding of children. Piaget's (1962) theory of cognitive development recognizes the differences between the way that children understand and process information and the way that adults function. Most children at the elementary level function at two stages: the "Preoperational Stage" (2-7 years) and the "Concrete Operations Stage" (8-11 years). These stages are approximately identified with chronological ages but there are significant variations among children. At the Preoperational Stage, a child is acquiring the skill of language in which symbols are used to mentally represent objects. Also, in this stage, a child's thinking is rigid and limited to how things appear at the time. This is the stage of magical thinking in which children create implausible explanations for things that they do not understand. Regarding play, a child's play behaviors become increasingly imaginary and fantasy driven. The play, however, will increase in complexity from make-believe play to encompassing emerging cognitive patterns. Internally, the child is improving understanding and knowledge, but externally, the child lacks the ability to communicate this enhanced way of processing within the world. Play is one of the primary ways in which a child can communicate this internal awareness of self and others. During the Concrete Operations Stage, the child grows in personal ability to reason logically and organize thoughts coherently. Children are able to manipulate ideas and accept logical societal rules. However, they can only think about actual physical objects. They are limited in their ability to engage in abstract reasoning. In this stage, children are unable to express certain complicated emotions, such as guilt or resentment, because of the need for abstract thought to understand such emotions. …