Theraplay: Helping Parents and Children Build Better Relationships Through Attachment-Based Play [Paperback]

Ann M. Jernberg (Author), Phyllis B. Booth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787943029 | ISBN-13: 978-0787943028 | Publication Date: October 27, 1998 | Edition: 2

Increasing a child's competence and trust

Attachment-based play can help build the intimacy that creates the healthy parent-child interactions that are so vital to a child's development. This is especially true for children how are troubled by emotional or learning difficulties. The thoroughly revised second edition of the author's classic work Theraplay offers clear, easily understood guidelines for professionals and parents to a dynamic and proven approach for treating children with attachment and relationship problems.

Based on the work of the founder of the renowned Theraplay Institute in Chicago, this new book explores how to use play to communicate love and authority and shows how this effective form of treatment increases a child's competence and trust. A comprehensive resource, the book offers effective techniques for working with special populations including children who have been adopted or are in foster care, victims of trauma or abuse, and youngsters with autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Written in a clear and instructive style, Theraplay is an excellent guide for both parents and professionals who work with children.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Theraplay should be mandatory for every child placed in foster care or an adoptive home." (Kevin O'Connor, author, The Play Therapy Primer)

"This well-organized, detailed book . . . will delight both neophyte and experienced professional. . . . Theraplay has the capacity to transform [an] insecure parent-child relationship . . . to one of mutual pleasure and trust." (Miriam Elson, author, Self Psychology in Clinical Social Work)

"This is a much-needed resource, and I highly recommAnd it." (Charles E. Schaefer, professor of psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University)

"Booth has made explicit the reality of attachment-based play' that is Theraplay. She has gone further than the first edition in integrating parents into the treatment. . . . By giving parents the skills to take the interventions home, she enables Theraplay to be a much more effective brief therapy method." (Daniel A. Hughes, author, Facilitating Developmental Attachment)

"Helping to create, restructure, or restore a child-parent relationship is an awesome task and a sacred trust. The Theraplay method provides a structure for working with both children and their caregivers to develop robust, wholesome relationships." (Beverly James, author, Treating Traumatized Children and Handbook for Treatment of Attachment-Trauma Problems)

From the Inside Flap

Using Play to Develop Trust and Joy in Parent-Child Relationships Theraplay, modeled on the natural, playful patterns of healthy interaction between parent and child, helps troubled families develop the responsiveness and structure vital to a child's development. Theraplay shows parents how to use play to communicate love and authority and to engage their children in interactions that develop competence, self-esteem and trust. Booth's revised edition brilliantly integrates Jernberg's innovative approach with recent research on attachment and the effect of stress and trauma on child development. In a clear, forceful style and illustrated by vivid therapeutic vignettes, Theraplay demonstrates how this creative and joyful treatment can help even the most challenging children and their families.

"This well-organized, detailed book . . . will delight both neophyte and experienced professional. . . . Theraplay has the capacity to transform [an] insecure parent-child relationship . . . to one of mutual pleasure and trust." --Miriam Elson, author, Self Psychology in Clinical Social Work

"This is a much-needed resource, and I highly recommAnd it." --Charles E. Schaefer, professor of psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University

"Theraplay should be mandatory for every child placed in foster care or an adoptive home." --Kevin O'Connor, author, The Play Therapy Primer

"Booth has made explicit the reality of attachment-based play' that is Theraplay. She has gone further than the first edition in integrating parents into the treatment. . . . By giving parents the skills to take the interventions home, she enables Theraplay to be a much more effective brief therapy method." --Daniel A. Hughes, author, Facilitating Developmental Attachment

"Helping to create, restructure, or restore a child-parent relationship is an awesome task and a sacred trust. The Theraplay method provides a structure for working with both children and their caregivers to develop robust.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2 edition (October 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787943029
• ISBN-13: 978-0787943028
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to refer back to again and again!, June 27, 1999

By 

Karen L. Buckwalter (Quincy, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theraplay: Helping Parents and Children Build Better Relationships Through Attachment-Based Play (Paperback)

I can not say enough positive things about this outstanding book. As a child therapist, who works with many children in the foster care system and increasing numbers of adopted children, Theraplay has become the single most important tool in my repertoire of therapy modalities. It is very exciting to find a method of working with children that offers practical and impactful strategies to try, which are very different from what you may already be doing. I have also attended the Theraplay trainings at the Theraplay Institute in Chicago and am near completion of the Theraplay Certification process. Even if I am not using Theraplay with a particular child, the foundation and understanding of attachment that this model has given me pervade my work. Parents of children that I am using Theraplay with often report dramatic progress in their child's behavior and attachment to them in a short period of time. One father of an internationally adopted child that I am using Theraplay with said it best. He stated, "We finally came to realize that our child was not going to be able to fully benefit from all the supportive services we were taking him to (including occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy) until he was able to form an attachment with us. Theraplay has allowed that attachment to form and we are now seeing much more progress in other areas of development."

The model of using parents as co-therapists, as presented in the book, is very empowering to parents and the parents I use Theraplay with have many positive comments to say about this. One foster/adoptive mother recently told me she thinks that every foster or adoptive parent should be required to learn Theraplay. She adds "It has given me a whole new understanding of my adopted children and their needs."

Theraplay is not only useful for children with attachment and bonding difficulties, but I have found it particularly useful for children diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. This is a comprehensive book that you will refer back to again and again.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book offers elegant solutions to complex problems., June 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Theraplay: Helping Parents and Children Build Better Relationships Through Attachment-Based Play (Paperback)

Jernberg and Booth explore attachment beginning in the nursery, what it looks like when all goes well and when it doesn't. Difficult concepts are presented in ways that make them highly accessable. The beauty of this work, is in the solutions that are offered. As I read this book, I found my self saying repeatedly, "this make too much sense." After reading Theraplay, I registered for the next training offered in Chicago. Anyone working with children in most any capacity would benefit from this well researched, time-tested work. Reading this book and attending the training has had a tremendous, positive impact on my work as a child therapist.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is very helpful., March 30, 2007

By 

Patricia L. Marks (Morristown, N.J. United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Theraplay: Helping Parents and Children Build Better Relationships Through Attachment-Based Play (Paperback)

This has many wonderful suggestions for working with children and parents.