One of the most common questions we are asked is, “how long does play therapy take to see a change in my child?” If you are reaching out for help you are anxious for things to get better. You can feel confident that play therapy is an evidenced-based approach that works to address a variety of emotional and behavioral concerns in children. The length of child-centered play therapy varies depending on the needs of the child, the severity of the concerns, and the individual child’s response to play therapy.
Most research indicates that it takes approximately thirty sessions for deep emotional or behavioral challenges. Does this man that every child will need thirty sessions? Not at all. Rather thirty sessions are an average. Some children improve much faster while more serious or ongoing problems may take longer to resolve.
Play therapy is a weekly appointment lasting forty-five minutes. During that play session, your child will come to the playroom with the play therapist. In session, your child will play with the toys in the playroom. On the outside, it may just look like play, but the playroom affords a child the opportunity to work through their challenges, make sense of their internal experience, find solutions to their problems, and process past experiences. In other words, when children are at play, they have control over things that they do not normally have control over. This helps them learn to navigate their world and learn how to respond in more self-enhancing ways. As a result, you will notice a decrease in your child’s challenging behaviors and you’ll notice that things are going well most of the time.
After every five play therapy sessions, a parent meeting is held to discuss the child’s progress, what they are working on in the playroom, and how they are working towards resolution of their problems. Parents are an important part of the play therapy process. During these meetings you will also be given tools to help support the parent-child relationship and address common parenting challenges. We know that children heal faster when family members are a part of the play therapy process.
We hope that this gives you a better idea of how long play therapy will last. Play therapy is the most developmentally appropriate mental health intervention for children ages 3-12. If your child is showing emotional or behavioral concerns, please contact us for a free parent consultation at 832-521-8809 or fill out our contact form on our website. We’d be happy to schedule a time to talk with you and determine if play therapy is the right fit for your child and your family.