Resources
For more information on play therapy, please visit play-therapy.com. This website includes some helpful articles such as:
- What is play therapy?
- Strengthening parent-child relationships through play
- How parents can help children through traumatic events
- What makes strong families?
Recommended Reads for Parents and Teachers
I have read countless books in an attempt to find some that are useful and caregiver friendly. These are my current favourites:
No Drama Discipline by Dan Siegel and Tina Bryson.
This book provides an effective, compassionate road map for managing your child’s behaviours, and describes a discipline approach that strengthens brain development and your relationship with your child.
The Explosive Child by Ross Greene.
This book is great for caregivers with older children. It describes a collaborative problem solving approach that can greatly help inflexible, easily frustrated, and explosive children across home and school environments.
The Happy Sleeper by Heather Turgeon.
Sleep impacts virtually every part of your child’s life. Good quantity and quality sleep is the foundation for emotional adjustment, behaviour, and learning. There is so much advice out there on how to support healthy sleep habits in young children. However, many approaches contradict one another, and some inadvertently create a high level of stress for young children. I have found this book to be the best for providing a balanced perspective on how to implement behavioural strategies to help your child establish healthy and independent sleep habits, while also nurturing a secure attachment between you and your child. It offers a lot of great tips for children ages 0-6.
Raising your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.
This book is one of my “go-to” resources for parents. It explains why children behave the way they do through numerous examples and a positive viewpoint. This book will help you to better understand and reframe your child’s behaviour, and will help you to manage meltdowns and typical trouble spots in the day by providing strategies that will fit and work with your child’s unique temperament.
Professional Organizations
Psychologists’ Association of Alberta (PAA)
College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP)
Alberta Play Therapy Association (APTA)
Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy (CACPT)