310 | CCPT With Toddlers and Preschoolers: What Changes and What Doesn't

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You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.

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Hi,

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I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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The Kid Counselor.

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This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get

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a master class in child-centered play therapy

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and practical support and application for your

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work with children and their families.

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In today's episode,

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I'm answering a question from Mara in North Carolina,

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but also several others that have emailed about the same topic.

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So I'm kind of integrating very like-minded questions.

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I'm actually reading Mara's question,

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but several other people have expressed the same thing.

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So this is kind of a hybrid answer for several of you,

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but Mara in North Carolina,

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thank you for the email.

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Mara's question is

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getting a new client

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who is the youngest that she's ever seen and who is not quite 4.

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So a 3 and 3 and 10 months or so,

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almost 4 year old.

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What do you do differently,

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if anything,

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with your youngest clients?

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And

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I've had several other who have emailed about the 5 and under population,

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so this is definitely something that's on a lot of y'all's minds.

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So I'm glad that we're able to talk about this.

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Thank you for the email,

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Mara and others

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at all.

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So

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when we think about

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children

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in that very young range,

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so I will see children actually in their 2s.

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Obviously our,

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our range that we promote is 3 to 14.

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But I do here and there see an older 2 year old,

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so you know,

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2 and 92 and 10,

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somewhere around there.

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But especially with those younger kids,

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it does

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change the dynamic a little bit.

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They are very young,

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so they typically are less verbal.

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They often are difficult to understand if there are any kind of speech concerns,

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delays,

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and or just the fact that they're young.

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Their enunciation and pronunciation is often difficult to understand.

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You become really adept at interpreting

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young kids speak,

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the more you do it.

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I actually,

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I don't really have a problem with it anymore,

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but I know a lot of therapists say,

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I just have no idea what this kid says every time they come in.

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And that can be even with older kids that have

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speech impediments or delays or accents or things like that,

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but

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especially with your younger ones,

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they are sometimes a little bit harder to understand,

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so be prepared for that.

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And the question specifically,

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what do you do differently?

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Nothing different.

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We still are fully adherent we use the reflective responses,

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we use the pillars,

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we fall back on the rules of thumb and the tenants,

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so we don't change anything,

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but it does present itself a little bit differently.

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So one of the questions I get asked pretty frequently is do I do a shorter.

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Amount of session time for the 5 and under range.

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I don't.

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I still do a 50 minute therapeutic hour,

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but I do know of some CCPTs that limit those sessions to 30 minutes.

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Their rationale is

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they're younger and even 30 minutes feels like an eternity.

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And I get that in theory,

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I'm just on an hour

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and so

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I see kids at the top of the hour or the bottom of the hour depending on the day,

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and it's just easier for me and my schedule to keep that 50 minute therapeutic hour

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and I've never had a kid.

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Not make the 50 minutes.

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So

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that is never really that big of a concern for me,

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but there are CCPTs that will reduce the length

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of time for a session with really little ones.

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What will you expect to see in the playroom?

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They tend

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to

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play very repetitively.

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In other words,

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they gravitate toward the same few toys.

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And they don't tend to branch out and do a lot of exploratory or investigative play.

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If they really like the marble run,

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for example,

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they're gonna play the marble run week after week after week.

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If they really like the sand tray,

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they're going to play in the sand week after week after week.

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They'll get the same puppets,

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they'll get the same toys.

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They're very repetitive in nature.

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It's I suspect,

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I don't know that this is

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indicated in literature anywhere,

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but my experience is I think that

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there are so many things in the playroom that it's a little bit overwhelming.

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So once they gravitate towards something and they like

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it and they can play with it appropriately,

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it's easy for them.

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So they just kind of go back to that again and again.

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They're still doing meaningful work even if it's

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the exact same toy every single week,

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they will bring in what they need to bring in.

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They will address what they need to address.

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So there's no concern that,

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well,

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they only ever played with two things the whole time I saw them.

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Whether that's

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2 things or 22 things,

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they're still going to do the work.

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So we trust the child,

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we trust the process,

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no matter what.

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But they will tend to be quite repetitive in nature.

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They often are

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quite aware of a parent or caregiver.

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In other words,

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they will listen for someone in the lobby

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and they'll tell you like,

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oh,

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I heard my mom,

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or that's my mom's cell phone,

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or I heard my sister,

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or I think my mom just.

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Got a text message or so they're very attuned to

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caregiver and loved one

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because that is their

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safe person

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and they're young so they're used to being with

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that person they're used to the security of that person

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they tend to be more focused on

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where

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their loved ones are and what they're doing than older kids,

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so that will just be a natural factor that will likely emerge in sessions.

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Sometimes they'll say.

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I want to go see what mom's doing,

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and you just pseudo limit set on that.

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So be prepared for the engagement and interaction with

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parents and or siblings being a little bit different.

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And then my other thought is,

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when you have really young kids,

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they

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are very quick through the process.

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They don't know to resist.

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They come in and they dive in fast

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and the phases move at lightning speed

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and they are just so quick

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to do their work.

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So it's not

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unusual at all

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to be 3 weeks in and you can see that they're kind of already in their work.

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It's a very fast pace.

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They typically do not require 30 to 40 sessions.

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Everything is just sped up.

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And that's

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appropriate for them.

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It's not like,

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oh man,

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they're skipping phases and they're gonna have to backtrack.

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They're

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just happy to play

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and they can't fight or resist.

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They're unconscious.

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They are so young,

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they just,

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it all comes out and it's really quick.

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So be prepared for that as well because it does shift the,

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the rapid nature.

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And that's not necessarily something that we're used to.

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Sometimes it's a more steady,

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consistent pace,

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and that's not true with the under 5 group.

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I personally love working with 234,

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and 5 year olds.

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They

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love to be there,

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they love to play,

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they dive in,

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they work hard.

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You see the.

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Changes so much faster.

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Parents report changes so much faster.

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It's just,

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it's kind of really

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meaningful to see

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everything happen because sometimes,

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you know,

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you're 30 weeks in

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and it's like,

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man,

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I know that progress is happening,

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but

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I mean,

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I,

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I said this in,

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in an episode ages and ages ago like hope is slow.

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And transformation is slow.

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And that can just kind of feel like it's,

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it's taking a while.

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That is not true with young kids.

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They are just,

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you know,

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guns blazing all in and it's just kind of like you hang

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on for the ride in those cases and I love that.

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And I love how

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parents

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so quickly tell you that things are changing.

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So that's really fulfilling as a CCPT

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to know that it's so evident what's happening in the playroom.

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So Mara and others,

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thank you for that question.

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I hope that that's helpful.

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Many of us are working with younger and younger kids,

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so obviously we kinda need to be prepared for that.

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So I really appreciate the question.

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I love you all so much.

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You know that by now,

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but it's worth saying again.

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We'll talk again soon.

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Bye.

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Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.

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Brenna Hicks.

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For more episodes and resources,

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please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.