Tips For Successful Teletherapy Sessions with Kids & Teens From a Play Therapist!

venturing into the world of telehealth with children can be intimidating for even seasoned therapists, but you've come to the right place this guide will provide you with a variety of resources and tools to provide effective telehealth sessions for children of all ages telehealth looks different depending on the child's age, developmental level, interests, and needs we will look at a variety of resources and tips for children 3 6 years old, 7 11 years old then follow up with those amazing teens and tweens before we do that, it is important to talk about involving the child's caregivers working with parents here are a few general tips in working with parents regarding teletherapy before starting your sessions with a new child client, encourage parents to have a place where the child can play/talk with privacy hopscotch requires clinicians to ensure confidentiality and privacy can be maintained during sessions therefore, common areas like the kitchen or in the car on the way to practice are not appropriate places to hold a session brainstorm with caregivers if this is an issue, and explain we want to have the same level of privacy in our telehealth sessions as we would in the office and why this is important and necessary make sure you and the caregiver(s) have each other's phone numbers in case of an emergency, but especially for younger kids (who tend to push boundaries and may need extra assistance during the session!) ask the parent(s) if there are any preferred websites or games their child would like to play with you in session you may need to talk about how and why they are used (rapport building, mastery, control, and coping) parents have different views on the types of games their child is allowed to play, so make sure you are respecting their preferences for their child generally, the games should be something you are able to play with the child (instead of just acting as a spectator) but sometimes allowing the child to be the “expert” and show you how to play can be therapeutic working with kids for younger kids, be prepared to do shorter sessions, especially when you're first starting with a new child client sessions could be less than 30 minutes, depending upon the child’s participation and attention span, so it may be helpful to have the parents check in every 10 minutes in case there are any challenges, like difficulty keeping the child focused on the screen the remaining part of the session could be completed with the parent(s) in the session and/or meeting with the parent(s) alone to discuss concerns, treatment goals, parenting strategies, homework, etc telehealth recommendations for 3 6 year old’s prior to the first session, ask parents to arrange to have a box of toys that they child can play with during the session with you toys recommended include play doh, coloring books, markers and/or crayons, legos, cars, and baby dolls a complete list of items that can be used in play based work suggested by the center for play therapy can be found https //cpt unt edu/recommended toy list you can then use tracking strategies to facilitate a child centered session where you identify play themes that are significant for their treatment you can learn more about this https //citeseerx ist psu edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10 1 1 832 3984\&rep=rep1\&type=pdf https //sesamestreetincommunities org this website is helpful for both parents and professionals you can find activities on a variety of topics like trauma, grief and divorced/separated parents https //www youtube com/user/cosmickidsyoga/videos this youtube page is a great way to engage kids in mindfulness share your screen and let the child select their favorite character/movie and have some fun! virtual bibliotherapy youtube has a variety of books that are animated that can be shared in session including the https //www youtube com/watch?v=xm7sytd9xss , https //www youtube com/watch?v=almnpxnehye https //www youtube com/watch?v=aiwjzzwqnpg and more! telehealth recommendations for 7 11 year old’s children ages 7 11 are usually able to use the keyboard without too much difficulty so you have more websites from which to choose from to integrate play into their telehealth sessions ask your child clients about some things they like to do online as a way to build rapport and select activities that are going to keep them engaged throughout the session while also addressing therapeutic goals some suggested activities for 7 11 year olds https //www roblox com/ this app has different games that your client can select for you to play together like paintball, uno and hide and seek the only "rule" you should provide is that they select a game that you are both able to play together like you would in the office online sand trays this allows you to do sand tray in telehealth sessions the two websites that are the most user friendly are http //www onlinesandtray com (free) and http //www simplysandplay com (which offers both a free and a paid version) other websites that provide resources that are similar to toys in our playroom include an https //onlinedollhouses com and an https //onlinepuppets org ; "puzzle races" for kids who like puzzles, https //www jigsawexplorer com is a good website for free puzzles one idea for using this site is to have the child select the puzzle for you both to complete have them share their screen and you can have yours pulled up on another device then countdown to zero from three and start the race to see who completes the puzzle first! telehealth recommendations for tweens and teens finally, when working with teens and tweens, depending upon their interests and developmental level, they may prefer activities that are more art based, or that involve games or music also, you may find that you will not use these activities for the whole session or each session that’s okay sometimes tweens/teens like to "just talk", but these activities can be used to help explore issues, particularly when they are more silent, encourage communication about hard subjects, facilitate emotional expression and assist in learning new skills, like problem solving and conflict resolution youtube clips these are good for psychoeducation or to facilitate activities around relaxation/deep breathing including this https //www youtube com/watch?v=cdkyrpw yuc , the https //www youtube com/watch?v= j2ukuk5p10\&t=2736s or https //www youtube com/watch?v=3bkuoh8ckfc\&t=98s https //zentangle com this art activity is something that can be used with the client drawing on the virtual whiteboard or drawing on a piece of their own paper https //sounditouttogether org/game this can be used to help with emotional expression encourage the client to pick a beat and write a song to express how they're feeling http //www onlinesandtray com (free) and http //www simplysandplay com (offers both a free and a paid version) can also be helpful for telehealth sessions also, don’t forget to check out the rest of our ideas for teletherapy interventions in the hopscotch provider resource center intervention library helpful links for therapists play based interventions to use in your telehealth counseling sessions developed by dr april duncan, dsw, lcsw, rpt s edited by michelle rigg, lcsw, rpt