Page 108 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

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Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
PPT 2: Play therapy: Present moments, attunement and resonance – Post your questions here (July 2020)
These questions would serve as key discussion points in the next remote learning class.
Discussion board threads: Excerpts of students’ questions related to the voice-over PowerPoint (PPT) slides on play therapy (July–August 2020). Please note these are not the students’ real names.
Rose: The way I am understanding it is that it is like a ripple effect. When you do something with the child and it resonates with them, it leads to ripples of progress and effective work together. I am not sure if I am understanding it correctly though?
Sarah: I kind of understand resonance, but please could you provide another case, example or explanation of what you’re referring to?
(It became clear to me, from both Rose and Sarah’s questions, that resonance and attunement with the client was a difficult concept to grasp for the beginner play therapist. The next remote learning class would then explore these concepts with further case examples to help unpack these therapeutic concepts more fully.)
Kenneth: How would you build resonance with a child who has been exposed
to trauma and resort to dissociative coping skills? In other words, a child who is disconnected and answers in one-word responses or is too scared to engage with the toys.
(This student’s question alerted me of the need for more engagement with aspects of polyvagal theory and the impact of trauma on the brain and body. The critical understanding of trauma theory was further developed through additional readings shared with students and critical reflection discussions of clinical case examples in the next remote learning class.)
Bontle: With regards to anxiety in children. What happens if you are faced with a client’s parent who is extremely anxious? As you mentioned in your slide, you did have a client like this where she had called numerous times. Please can you elaborate more on how you dealt with this? Do you also mention relief from the parent’s side concerning grief being hereditary? Won’t they feel guilty because they passed it on, or the grandparent passed it on?
(Arising from this student’s question, it was necessary to explore further in the next remote learning class strategies to use when working with diversity issues of cultural and spiritual beliefs; as well as ethical aspects to engage parents effectively.)
Sihle: I also want to find out about where superstitions fall? I know that they come from the fear of something bad happening if this behaviour is not done, but where would it fall in the points on slide four of direct conditioning, observational learning, information transfer, anxious parenting and non-associative fear acquisition?
(For this important question, the student is using the key aspects of the literature studied to reflect more deeply about how this applies to indigenous beliefs and practices.)
PPT 5: Play therapy: Working with anxiety in children – Post your comments here (August 2020)