Child-Centered Play Therapy in Elementary Schools

This thesis presents a rationale for providing counseling, and more specifically childcentered play therapy, to elementary school children. The purpose of this study was to measure the outcomes and evaluate the results of a community-based early intervention program that provided child-centered play therapy to students in three schools in a rural county in Western New York State. Teacher assessments, therapist reports, and parent reports were used to measure change in the students involved in the study. The importance of early intervention and preventive services is discussed, as well as the tenets and benefits of child-centered play therapy. The results of the 14 students studied demonstrated that child-centered play therapy is an effective modality for working with children. The author advocates for the implementation of the Early Intervention Program in more schools