Long-Term Child Centered Play Therapy and Academic Achievement of Children A Follow-Up Study

• Published in: International journal of play therapy Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Blanco, Pedro J, Ray, Dee C, Holliman, Ryan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Educational Publishing Foundation 01-01-2012
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; At Risk Populations; Client Centered Therapy; Elementary School Students; Female; Human; Long Term Care; Male; Play Therapy; play therapy; academic achievement; treatment length; child-centered
• ISSN: 1555-6824; 1939-0629
• DOI: 10.1037/a0026932

This follow-up study measured the impact of long-term Child Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) with 18 academically at-risk elementary school students. Through the use of a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance, researchers examined the use of CCPT from preintervention to midintervention (16 sessions) to postintervention (26 sessions). Results indicated that children who participated in 26 sessions of CCPT demonstrated statistically significant improvement on the Early Achievement Composite as measured on the Young Child's Achievement Test, along with increases in the Spoken Language, General Information, Writing subscales. Participants showed statistically consistent improvement in academic achievement scores over the full duration of the study.