310 | CCPT With Toddlers and Preschoolers: What Changes and What Doesn’t

In this episode, I respond to a question from Mara in North Carolina—and a handful of other listeners—about working with very young children in Child-Centered Play Therapy, specifically those under the age of five. I share what you can expect when seeing toddlers and preschoolers in the playroom, including how their play differs, what sessions often look like, and how the process tends to unfold at a much faster pace.

I also talk through common concerns like session length, speech challenges, attachment to caregivers, and the tendency toward repetitive play. While the CCPT model stays the same, younger clients show us the power of the process in a condensed and accelerated form. This episode is a great resource for anyone working with—or considering taking on—younger kids in the playroom.

PlayTherapyNow.com is my HUB for everything I do! playtherapynow.com. Sign up for my email newsletter, stay ahead with the latest CCPT CEU courses, personalized coaching opportunities and other opportunities you need to thrive in your CCPT practice. If you click one link in these show notes, this is the one to click!

If you would like to ask me questions directly, check out www.ccptcollective.com, where I host two weekly Zoom calls filled with advanced CCPT case studies and session reviews, as well as member Q&A. You can take advantage of the two-week free trial to see if the CCPT Collective is right for you.

Ask Me Questions: Call ‪[phone]‬, or email: [e-mail]
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Common References:
Cochran, N., Nordling, W., & Cochran, J. (2010). Child-Centered Play Therapy (1st ed.). Wiley.
VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.
Landreth, G.L. (2023). Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th ed.). Routledge.
Bratton, S. C., Landreth, G. L., Kellam, T., & Blackard, S. R. (2006). Child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) treatment manual: A 10-session filial therapy model for training parents. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Benedict, Helen. Themes in Play Therapy. Used with permission to Heartland Play Therapy Institute.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,
your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.
Hi,
I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
The Kid Counselor.
This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get
a master class in child-centered play therapy
and practical support and application for your
work with children and their families.
In today's episode,

(00:20):
I'm answering a question from Mara in North Carolina,
but also several others that have emailed about the same topic.
So I'm kind of integrating very like-minded questions.
I'm actually reading Mara's question,
but several other people have expressed the same thing.
So this is kind of a hybrid answer for several of you,
but Mara in North Carolina,

(00:42):
thank you for the email.
Mara's question is
getting a new client
who is the youngest that she's ever seen and who is not quite 4.
So a 3 and 3 and 10 months or so,
almost 4 year old.
What do you do differently,
if anything,
with your youngest clients?
And
I've had several other who have emailed about the 5 and under population,

(01:03):
so this is definitely something that's on a lot of y'all's minds.
So I'm glad that we're able to talk about this.
Thank you for the email,
Mara and others
at all.
So
when we think about
children
in that very young range,
so I will see children actually in their 2s.
Obviously our,
our range that we promote is 3 to 14.

(01:25):
But I do here and there see an older 2 year old,
so you know,
2 and 92 and 10,
somewhere around there.
But especially with those younger kids,
it does
change the dynamic a little bit.
They are very young,
so they typically are less verbal.
They often are difficult to understand if there are any kind of speech concerns,

(01:48):
delays,
and or just the fact that they're young.
Their enunciation and pronunciation is often difficult to understand.
You become really adept at interpreting
young kids speak,
the more you do it.
I actually,
I don't really have a problem with it anymore,
but I know a lot of therapists say,
I just have no idea what this kid says every time they come in.

(02:09):
And that can be even with older kids that have
speech impediments or delays or accents or things like that,
but
especially with your younger ones,
they are sometimes a little bit harder to understand,
so be prepared for that.
And the question specifically,
what do you do differently?
Nothing different.
We still are fully adherent we use the reflective responses,

(02:30):
we use the pillars,
we fall back on the rules of thumb and the tenants,
so we don't change anything,
but it does present itself a little bit differently.
So one of the questions I get asked pretty frequently is do I do a shorter.
Amount of session time for the 5 and under range.
I don't.
I still do a 50 minute therapeutic hour,

(02:51):
but I do know of some CCPTs that limit those sessions to 30 minutes.
Their rationale is
they're younger and even 30 minutes feels like an eternity.
And I get that in theory,
I'm just on an hour
and so
I see kids at the top of the hour or the bottom of the hour depending on the day,

(03:12):
and it's just easier for me and my schedule to keep that 50 minute therapeutic hour
and I've never had a kid.
Not make the 50 minutes.
So
that is never really that big of a concern for me,
but there are CCPTs that will reduce the length
of time for a session with really little ones.
What will you expect to see in the playroom?

(03:34):
They tend
to
play very repetitively.
In other words,
they gravitate toward the same few toys.
And they don't tend to branch out and do a lot of exploratory or investigative play.
If they really like the marble run,
for example,
they're gonna play the marble run week after week after week.
If they really like the sand tray,

(03:55):
they're going to play in the sand week after week after week.
They'll get the same puppets,
they'll get the same toys.
They're very repetitive in nature.
It's I suspect,
I don't know that this is
indicated in literature anywhere,
but my experience is I think that
there are so many things in the playroom that it's a little bit overwhelming.

(04:15):
So once they gravitate towards something and they like
it and they can play with it appropriately,
it's easy for them.
So they just kind of go back to that again and again.
They're still doing meaningful work even if it's
the exact same toy every single week,
they will bring in what they need to bring in.
They will address what they need to address.
So there's no concern that,

(04:36):
well,
they only ever played with two things the whole time I saw them.
Whether that's
2 things or 22 things,
they're still going to do the work.
So we trust the child,
we trust the process,
no matter what.
But they will tend to be quite repetitive in nature.
They often are
quite aware of a parent or caregiver.

(04:58):
In other words,
they will listen for someone in the lobby
and they'll tell you like,
oh,
I heard my mom,
or that's my mom's cell phone,
or I heard my sister,
or I think my mom just.
Got a text message or so they're very attuned to
caregiver and loved one
because that is their

(05:19):
safe person
and they're young so they're used to being with
that person they're used to the security of that person
they tend to be more focused on
where
their loved ones are and what they're doing than older kids,
so that will just be a natural factor that will likely emerge in sessions.
Sometimes they'll say.
I want to go see what mom's doing,

(05:41):
and you just pseudo limit set on that.
So be prepared for the engagement and interaction with
parents and or siblings being a little bit different.
And then my other thought is,
when you have really young kids,
they
are very quick through the process.
They don't know to resist.

(06:02):
They come in and they dive in fast
and the phases move at lightning speed
and they are just so quick
to do their work.
So it's not
unusual at all
to be 3 weeks in and you can see that they're kind of already in their work.
It's a very fast pace.
They typically do not require 30 to 40 sessions.

(06:26):
Everything is just sped up.
And that's
appropriate for them.
It's not like,
oh man,
they're skipping phases and they're gonna have to backtrack.
They're
just happy to play
and they can't fight or resist.
They're unconscious.
They are so young,
they just,
it all comes out and it's really quick.
So be prepared for that as well because it does shift the,

(06:50):
the rapid nature.
And that's not necessarily something that we're used to.
Sometimes it's a more steady,
consistent pace,
and that's not true with the under 5 group.
I personally love working with 234,
and 5 year olds.
They
love to be there,
they love to play,
they dive in,
they work hard.

(07:11):
You see the.
Changes so much faster.
Parents report changes so much faster.
It's just,
it's kind of really
meaningful to see
everything happen because sometimes,
you know,
you're 30 weeks in
and it's like,
man,
I know that progress is happening,
but
I mean,
I,
I said this in,
in an episode ages and ages ago like hope is slow.

(07:33):
And transformation is slow.
And that can just kind of feel like it's,
it's taking a while.
That is not true with young kids.
They are just,
you know,
guns blazing all in and it's just kind of like you hang
on for the ride in those cases and I love that.
And I love how
parents
so quickly tell you that things are changing.

(07:56):
So that's really fulfilling as a CCPT
to know that it's so evident what's happening in the playroom.
So Mara and others,
thank you for that question.
I hope that that's helpful.
Many of us are working with younger and younger kids,
so obviously we kinda need to be prepared for that.
So I really appreciate the question.
I love you all so much.
You know that by now,
but it's worth saying again.

(08:16):
We'll talk again soon.
Bye.
Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.
Brenna Hicks.
For more episodes and resources,
please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.