Sooner or later, almost all parents have to deal with a child’s separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is defined as a developmental stage in which a child suffers distress when apart from a primary caregiver, usually starting around 8 months of age when the child comprehends object permanence. For some parents of children with special needs, [...]
Therapy for children has changed a great deal since the days when Anna Freud used play as a way to apply the psychoanalytic techniques of her famous father to the problems of children. Time-limited cognitive behavior modification (CBT) has largely replaced the use of psychoanalytic techniques, and open ended play therapy. Therapy occurs in many [...]
After going through the process of diagnosis for a child with special needs, many parents are overwhelmed by the cost of private therapy and treatment. Then there’s the difficulty of scheduling therapies, and for some children, the trauma of separation from the parent during therapy. What if there was a therapy that could be done [...]
In winter of 2010, we launched a brand new program aimed at training our volunteers in “Play Therapy.” Play Therapy is a technique used by therapist to promote closeness and connection among volunteers and their child with special needs. As with all new programs, we were unsure of the success but confident in the plans that had been [...]
In 2009, we received some amazing news from the federal government…Friendship Circle was the recipient of a $1,000,000 grant! Upon receipt of the grant, we dove head-first into planning our new programs. We contacted Adam Brode (longtime supporter and amazing therapist) from The PLAY Project. Together with Adam, we have been training 100 teen volunteers [...]
