Virtual Play Therapy

what to expect

In many ways, your child’s online play therapy session will be surprisingly similar to what they would experience during a session in our office.

You and your therapist will connect ahead of time if there are any materials to be gathered and/or set up. Typical items that might be used:

• Small blanket to designate the ‘special playtime area’

• Paper

• Crayons, colored pencils and/or markers

• Scissors

• Glue

• Small assortment of toys

• Playdoh

• Printed materials your therapist emailed to you

flexible scheduling

One significant difference we find with online therapy is that we can easily tailor session length and frequency to your child’s needs, thereby maximizing treatment effectiveness.

This means that if your child would benefit from multiple sessions per week that are only 15 minutes in length - we can do that!

Or perhaps your child has a 30 minute play therapy session on Monday afternoon followed by a 30 minute caregiver session on Wednesday evening.

And all without the extra hassle of driving into an office.

caregiver participation

Depending on your child’s age, needs and preferences your participation may range from setting up the session and promptly exiting stage left to fully engaging in the entire session.

When you are fully engaged in the session, your therapist may transition into a coach. As a coach, the therapist is supporting and guiding you, as the parent or caregiver, while you are doing the direct interacting with your child. This is an especially effective way of conducting online play therapy with even the youngest children.

For most elementary aged children, they may benefit from your physical presence in the room even if your active participation isn’t needed. This can help them stay regulated and discourage them from leaving to see what you might be up to in the other room.

If you have been asked to simply provide tech support and then leave, all you need to do is remain available by phone in the event that your presence in the room is needed again.

Your therapist will follow up either at the end of session or will schedule a separate time to check-in with you.

location

Our therapists are licensed to provide therapy in Maryland, DC, and/or Virginia. As per telehealth regulations, you must be physically located where your therapist is licensed at the time of your session.

Looking for virtual therapy groups for your Elementary Schooler? Check out our Minecraft groups!