So, how do you know if your child needs play therapy? What if they are ‘just being kids’? It’s a good question.
Do any of these conditions sound familiar regarding your 3 to 12 year-old child?
Anxiety symptoms
- Crying incessantly when left alone without mom and dad, even for regular day care or class appointments?
- Being a bit older, but still taking hours to get to bed or fall asleep, or resisting bedtime?
- Refusal to go to school or participate in school or social activities?
- Being excessively worried or fearful about everyday life events?
Depression symptoms
- Lack of energy or frequently feeling sad?
- Not interacting with peers or engaging in typical ‘kid’ activities?
- Difficulty maintaining sleeping patterns or falling asleep?
- Low self-esteem, feeling like they are not as important as a sibling, or not as good as other kids in school?
Mood dysregulation symptoms
- Quickly getting angry, sad, excited, happy, etc. and transitioning quickly between those states?
- Has a difficult time self-soothing, or won’t stop crying despite parental efforts to calm them down?
- Has frequent and intense temper outbursts, abnormal for their age?
- Persistently feeling irritable or angry?
Aggression and impulsivity symptoms
- Acts on impulse, even if the result could be harmful to themselves or others, in a way that is abnormal for their age?
- Makes decisions quickly; doesn’t think before acting, in ways that are abnormal for their age?
- Makes demands of immediate nature? (e.g. they must have that toy NOW, or they can’t focus).
- Lashing out at others uncontrollably?
- Engaging in power struggles, or persistently trying to disobey for the sake of disobeying?
- Physically harming others? (e.g. hitting siblings without being provoked).
Physical side symptoms
Sometime there can be other unexplained physical symptoms in conjunction with the above, such as stomach cramps, headaches or wetting the bed (at an age when they should be toilet trained).
Of course the list can go on. And the causes for these symptoms can be many. However, if you’ve been worried for some time and feel your child’s behaviour matches one or multiple symptoms listed above, it may be wise to at least begin an inquiry into child play therapy.
Get a free consultation to learn if child play therapy in North Vancouver can help your family
If you are at a loss of what to do with your child’s problem behaviours, and feel they are now interrupting their day-to-day life, I encourage you to give me a call.
We can schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation where I can assess your needs and make recommendations on what I can offer. I also service clients looking for play therapy in West Vancouver, and other Metro Vancouver areas.