New England’s 4th Annual Conference is a Success:
By: DeeDee Nold, LICSW, RPT-S
New England held their 4th Annual Conference in Hartford, CT on September 8th. The featured presenter was Dr. Brenda Bierdeman from New York. Brenda’s presentation on “Play Therapy with Sensory Integration Disordered Children: Understanding DSI, its impact upon children, & their treatment” was informative, entertaining and at times heartwarming. I had the privilege of hearing Brenda when she presented at the APT Convention in Nashville, so I knew it was going to be well worth the drive. The seventy attendees were treated to her insightful approach to these special and unique children. Some of the most useful handouts were her charts on the different sensory modalities and the impact on a child who is either hypo or hyper sensitive. I find these helpful diagnostically, as well as a means to educate parents. Based on that assessment, she presented charts and methods of remediation and treatment. Throughout her presentation Dr. Bierdeman involved the audience in multi-sensory tasks. It was a masterful example to all of us, that involving more than one modality increases attention and concentration. I feel this is one of the points as therapists that we need to remember in our educating and advocating for these children with parents and schools.
Brenda reminded the audience that only an Occupational Therapist can diagnose DSI, but that we can address the emotional overlay, as well as providing suggestions for at home treatments for parents. She stated that there is committee studying DSI for possible inclusion in the new addition of DSM. One of the most touching moments came when Brenda played a homemade short video prepared by one of her DSI clients on demonstrating the use of the “magic egg”. The young boy kicked and screamed inside his cocoon of fabric, to let out his feelings and re-center himself for his therapy session. Brenda pointed out that some clients may be too sensory compromised when they arrive for their session, and that they may need some exercises to release and stabilize before therapy can occur. She designates an entire room for that purpose. Her playroom was designed to have curtains that could cover the sandtray shelves for a child that was visually hypersensitive. In the end we took away some vital information about this special population that will help us think “out of the box” in order to make appropriate referrals and to utilize play therapy in assisting these children.
The annual branch meeting was held at the break, Sarah O’Brien, president of the New England Branch, stated that she was thrilled to have a convention in Connecticut for the first time and thanked Barbara van Hoff, LMFT, RPT of New Hope Center for organizing and the Village for Families and Children, Inc for hosting the event. A discussion of preferences for next year’s conference followed.
NE-APT's past Annual Conferences have featured Pamela Brunning, LICSW, BCD, Eliana Gil, PhD, RPT-S, Rise Van Fleet, PhD, RPT-S, Terry Kottman, PhD, RPT-S and Brenda Bierdeman, PsyD.
2010 Annual Conference
Save the Date
November 13, 2010
"Flexible Play Therapy in Trauma Treatment"
with Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S
Flexibility in Play Therapy: filling your tool box with the best from prescriptive, trauma focused, cognitive behavioral play therapy, multi-sensory and expressive play therapy approaches to meet each client's needs.
We are excited to offer this year's annual play therapy conference at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center in Marlborough, MA. The training will be from 9-4:30 on Saturday, November 13, 2010 with registration beginning at 8:30. Lunch will be included and vendors will be present throughout the day. We will also be hosting a pre and post conference on Friday evening and Sunday morning for more exciting CEU opportunities. More information on this to follow.
Rooms are currently on hold at the hotel for $89 per single/double room. Please call 508 460-0700 for reservations.
We are excited about having Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSE, RPT-S as our presenter this year. Paris is a well known speaker in Play Therapy and Trauma circles. She has written several books including: The Worry Wars: An Anxiety Workbooks for Kids and Their Helpful Adults!, Play Therapy with Traumatized Children: A Prescriptive Approach, Digging for Buried Treasure: 52 Prop-Based Play Therapy Interventions for Treating the Problems of Childhood part I and II, and Gabby the Gecko. To learn more about Paris, go to her website at www.parisandme.com
The New England Association for Play Therapy and Boston University School of Social Work present:
Metaphors in Play: What does it all mean? Using themes to decipher the child's play therapy process."
Learn to link a child's play behaviors to interventions that address the child's therapeutic needs and goals.
November 7th, 2008 with Helen Benedict, PhD, RPT-S 9am - 4pm (6 ceu's)
This workshop will focus on a systematic approach for identifying play themes and relationships. Data from studies will be supplemented by case materials and video examples to present ways to use play themes in both assessment and play therapy.
Learning objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1) describe the ways children use metaphoric themes and relationships in play therapy and be able to list several common themes seen in children’s play;
2) describe the different patterns of themes for boys and girls and how the patterns vary according to the various interpersonal stress or trauma the child has experienced;
3) describe the use of play themes in assessment; and
4) describe several therapeutic responses to children’s play themes based on cognitive-attachment theories.
Annual Conference 2009
