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Intensive Child‐Centered Play Therapy for Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Schottelkorb April A.,
Swan Karrie L.,
Ogawa Yumiko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/jcad.12300
Subject(s) - autism spectrum disorder , aggression , play therapy , intervention (counseling) , psychology , clinical psychology , autism , medicine , pediatrics , psychiatry
To investigate the effectiveness of intensive child‐centered play therapy (CCPT) for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the authors randomly assigned 23 children with diagnosed ASD and symptoms of ASD on the Social Responsiveness Scale–2nd Edition (Constantino, 2012), to an intensive CCPT condition ( n = 12) or a no‐intervention control group ( n = 11). Children who participated in 24 sessions of CCPT showed a statistically significant decrease in ASD core symptoms and behavioral symptoms, such as externalizing problems, attention problems, and aggression, compared with children in the control group. Implications are discussed.