Product Description

Increasing a child′s competence and trust

Attachment–based play can help build the intimacy that creates the healthy parent–child interactions that are so vital to a child′s development. This is especially true for children how are troubled by emotional or learning difficulties. The thoroughly revised second edition of the author′s classic work Theraplay offers clear, easily understood guidelines for professionals and parents to a dynamic and proven approach for treating children with attachment and relationship problems.

Based on the work of the founder of the renowned Theraplay Institute in Chicago, this new book explores how to use play to communicate love and authority and shows how this effective form of treatment increases a child′s competence and trust. A comprehensive resource, the book offers effective techniques for working with special populations including children who have been adopted or are in foster care, victims of trauma or abuse, and youngsters with autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Written in a clear and instructive style, Theraplay is an excellent guide for both parents and professionals who work with children.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #185504 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Review
"Theraplay should be mandatory for every child placed in foster care or an adoptive home." (Kevin O′Connor, author, The Play Therapy Primer)

"This well–organized, detailed book . . . will delight both neophyte and experienced professional. . . . Theraplay has the capacity to transform [an] insecure parent–child relationship . . . to one of mutual pleasure and trust." (Miriam Elson, author, Self Psychology in Clinical Social Work)

"This is a much–needed resource, and I highly recommAnd it." (Charles E. Schaefer, professor of psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University)

"Booth has made explicit the reality of attachment–based play′ that is Theraplay. She has gone further than the first edition in integrating parents into the treatment. . . . By giving parents the skills to take the interventions home, she enables Theraplay to be a much more effective brief therapy method." (Daniel A. Hughes, author, Facilitating Developmental Attachment)

"Helping to create, restructure, or restore a child–parent relationship is an awesome task and a sacred trust. The Theraplay method provides a structure for working with both children and their caregivers to develop robust, wholesome relationships." (Beverly James, author, Treating Traumatized Children and Handbook for Treatment of Attachment–Trauma Problems)

From the Inside Flap
Using Play to Develop Trust and Joy in Parent–Child Relationships Theraplay, modeled on the natural, playful patterns of healthy interaction between parent and child, helps troubled families develop the responsiveness and structure vital to a child′s development. Theraplay shows parents how to use play to communicate love and authority and to engage their children in interactions that develop competence, self–esteem and trust. Booth′s revised edition brilliantly integrates Jernberg′s innovative approach with recent research on attachment and the effect of stress and trauma on child development. In a clear, forceful style and illustrated by vivid therapeutic vignettes, Theraplay demonstrates how this creative and joyful treatment can help even the most challenging children and their families.

"This well–organized, detailed book . . . will delight both neophyte and experienced professional. . . . Theraplay has the capacity to transform [an] insecure parent–child relationship . . . to one of mutual pleasure and trust." ––Miriam Elson, author, Self Psychology in Clinical Social Work

"This is a much–needed resource, and I highly recommAnd it." ––Charles E. Schaefer, professor of psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University

"Theraplay should be mandatory for every child placed in foster care or an adoptive home." ––Kevin O′Connor, author, The Play Therapy Primer

"Booth has made explicit the reality of attachment–based play′ that is Theraplay. She has gone further than the first edition in integrating parents into the treatment. . . . By giving parents the skills to take the interventions home, she enables Theraplay to be a much more effective brief therapy method." ––Daniel A. Hughes, author, Facilitating Developmental Attachment

"Helping to create, restructure, or restore a child–parent relationship is an awesome task and a sacred trust. The Theraplay method provides a structure for working with both children and their caregivers to develop robust.

From the Back Cover
Using Play to Develop Trust and Joy in Parent–Child Relationships

Theraplay, modeled on the natural, playful patterns of healthy interaction between parent and child, helps troubled families develop the responsiveness and structure vital to a child’s development. Theraplay shows parents how to use play to communicate love and authority and to engage their children in interactions that develop competence, self–esteem and trust.

Booth’s revised edition brilliantly integrates Jernberg’s innovative approach with recent research on attachment and the effect of stress and trauma on child development. In a clear, forceful style and illustrated by vivid therapeutic vignettes, Theraplay demonstrates how this creative and joyful treatment can help even the most challenging children and their families.

"This well–organized, detailed book . . . will delight both neophyte and experienced professional. . . . Theraplay has the capacity to transform [an] insecure parent–child relationship . . . to one of mutual pleasure and trust."––Miriam Elson, author, Self Psychology in Clinical Social Work

"This is a much–needed resource, and I highly recommend it." Charles E. Schaefer, professor of psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University

"Theraplay should be mandatory for every child placed in foster care or an adoptive home." Kevin O’Connor, author, The Play Therapy Primer

"Booth has made explicit the reality of ‘attachment–based play’ that is Theraplay. She has gone further than the first edition in integrating parents into the treatment. . . . By giving parents the skills to take the interventions home, she enables Theraplay to be a much more effective brief therapy method." ––Daniel A. Hughes, author, Facilitating Developmental Attachment

"Helping to create, restructure, or restore a child–parent relationship is an awesome task and a sacred trust. The Theraplay method provides a structure for working with both children and their caregivers to develop robust, wholesome relationships." Beverly James, author, Treating Traumatized Children and Handbook for Treatment of Attachment–Trauma Problems.

Customer Reviews

A book to refer back to again and again!
I can not say enough positive things about this outstanding book. As a child therapist, who works with many children in the foster care system and increasing numbers of adopted children, Theraplay has become the single most important tool in my repertoire of therapy modalities. It is very exciting to find a method of working with children that offers practical and impactful strategies to try, which are very different from what you may already be doing. I have also attended the Theraplay trainings at the Theraplay Institute in Chicago and am near completion of the Theraplay Certification process. Even if I am not using Theraplay with a particular child, the foundation and understanding of attachment that this model has given me pervade my work. Parents of children that I am using Theraplay with often report dramatic progress in their child's behavior and attachment to them in a short period of time. One father of an internationally adopted child that I am using Theraplay with said it best. He stated, "We finally came to realize that our child was not going to be able to fully benefit from all the supportive services we were taking him to (including occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy) until he was able to form an attachment with us. Theraplay has allowed that attachment to form and we are now seeing much more progress in other areas of development."

The model of using parents as co-therapists, as presented in the book, is very empowering to parents and the parents I use Theraplay with have many positive comments to say about this. One foster/adoptive mother recently told me she thinks that every foster or adoptive parent should be required to learn Theraplay. She adds "It has given me a whole new understanding of my adopted children and their needs."

Theraplay is not only useful for children with attachment and bonding difficulties, but I have found it particularly useful for children diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. This is a comprehensive book that you will refer back to again and again.

Interesting but questionable
I was recommended this book by a social worker who specialises in adoption, and was interested as my children are adopted, and because I am a counsellor myself and am training to be a play therapist.
I found it a very interesting read, and thought it illustrated well the importance of helping children develop healthy attachments, especially those children who have been separated from their family of origin. However, the methodology of the therapy I found quite shocking. It is extremely therapist led, and, I thought, frequently humiliating, especially for parents. For example, sessions often include making an inventory of a child's small hurts and rubbing them with baby powder. I guess this is to symbolise love and care. The author is also frequently openly critical of parents' attempts to co-operate with her agenda in sessions.
I imagine that this book would appeal to those who like to work in a very tightly managed and directive way to help children and families, such as social workers may. It is less likely to appeal to mainstream play therapists, counsellors or psychotherapists who work in an exploratory way. If you are a parent of a troubled child, be prepared to find the book patronising and disparaging.
This may be one to get out from the library before thinking of buying, as I wish I had.