Another great blog!

Love this blog! Note the different types of play therapy techniques.

http://flourishnthrive.wordpress.com/blogroll/

The Good-At Game

The “Good - At” Game

·      Source: “Digging for Buried Treasure: 52 Prop-based Play Therapy Interventions for Treating Problems in Children.” (Paris Goodyear-Brown, 2002)

·      Purpose: To increase overall self-esteem and practice making positive self-talk statements.

·      Treatment Modality: Good for individuals, groups, and families of all ages.

·      Materials needed: A can of play-doh for each participant. Treasures (glass stones, coins, colored baubles). Beads, cotton balls, etc. for face.

·      Implementation: Open a can of play-doh for each participant. Begin by telling the client to take a little chunk of the doh and put it aside. Roll the rest into a ball. Then press both thumbs into the middle (to begin to hollow out the center) and mold it into a shape that looks like a cup or a nest. The take the leftover doh (that was put aside) and place it in front of the client. Instruct the client to roll it into a ball and then flatten it into the shape of a pancake. Invite the client to create facial features for the flat circle of doh using stones, coins, etc. from the treasure chest. When the face is finished, have the client fill up the rest of the doh (shaped like cup or nest) with treasures. Put the lid/face on top of the cupped piece, covering up the treasures. The client has now created a rough play-doh person. The therapist points out that the play-doh person doesn’t look very interesting from the outside. Since you can’t tell a lot of about this person from the outside, she has to be opened up. She has to tell us about all the things that make her special. Model pulling out one treasure at a time from the play-doh person’s body while making a statement that begins with “I am good at…”. The therapist should model statements like “I am good at listening.” It is important that client begin to realize that skills and abilities that she may take for granted are part of what make her unique and special. The child or client then has a turn to make a “Good-At” statement for each of the treasures in his/her play-doh person.

·      Processing questions: What could you tell about the play-doh person from the outside? What was inside the play-doh person and how is that like the things inside you? Was it hard to think of things that you are good at? How did it feel to say nice things about yourself?