What is Individualized Play Based Coaching for Children?

Play Based Coaching works with children who are age 10 and under.  It can be an effective way to help children who are experiencing difficulty in some area of their lives. It works for children in the same way that counseling or therapy works for adults. Play looks very simple, but in fact is quite complex. In play based coaching, children

•  Increase social skills- behaviors are viewed as a missing skill so the focus is on teaching the child the skill.
• Increase ability to self-regulate- the ability to manage your thoughts, feelings and behaviors, is the foundation for all other learning.  Developing the ability to self-regulate in order to cope well with stress and stay focused is one of the big jobs of childhood.  Sometimes, children develop self-regulation naturally from being around stress free, self-regulating adults, from playing and exercising, from being in nature, eating healthy foods, and getting plenty of sleep.  More often, in our current culture, children struggle with attention, learning and impulse control issues due to the inability to self-regulate.  Discipline is seen as something developed WITH children rather than something done TO children.
• Increase problem-solving skills - Parents and teachers find they can constructively transform conflict into positive teaching moments, staying in control and in charge, and the children in their care feel safer and better connected.
• Decrease anxious symptoms- encourage feeling identification and naming the fear. Establishing safe routines and rituals to decrease the symptoms and learning coping skills to manage the emotions.