It is 7:00 am and little Johnny is getting up for his first day of the 1st grade. However, you notice Johnny is not jumping around and he seems so irritable at the smallest things. He is not making his normal decisions quickly and he is not putting on the first day outfit you spent two weeks finding the perfect everything for. You are very confused as his twin sister Savannah got up two hours early and showered and is already downstairs talking about what to have for breakfast. You run him through his morning because you want to get those perfect pictures. His sister is all ready for her first day and Johnny is still picking at his breakfast saying his stomach hurts. School is mentioned, he avoids the topic and switches it as fast as he can. As the week goes on you see a change in your first grader (such as isolation and not wanting to be around anyone) that is not typical as well as not eating and complaining his stomach is still hurting. What is not realized, is little Johnny is having sever anxiety and it is showing up in his isolation, his tummy aces, and his loss of interest in school. His sister Savannah is showing pre-school jitters and excitement for the next school year that has come up. Though they are twins, they are handling this vastly different and little Johnny needs someone to step in and help him sort out all the big

feelings he is having right now. That is where a play therapist can step in and give Johnny those tools to explore. Child center play therapy is using a child’s natural language (play) to help them explore and learn the skills and big emotions they are having without expecting them to talk in a chair like we do in adult therapy.

Isolation

Kids who are separating themselves from the everyday activities such as Johnny in the above story are starting to show signs of isolation. Often kids will go to their room for a break or to just relax after a long day but then they will come back out and hang out with the family, with friends, and even the family pets. In Johnny’s situation he is avoiding friends and not spending time with his family. Though being in the room for a child is normal, it becomes concerning when they are no longer wanting to be with their friends or family. In this situation with Johnny having a Play Therapist step in and work with him to start feeling this big energy (what I like to call emotion) can help Johnny to learn skills and ways to start navigating this feeling of anxiety without the pressure of talking about it.

Sickness

Sickness is a strong indicator as the weeks go on in school that Johnny is having a big internal reaction to the emotion he is experiencing. In a book called “The Body Keeps the Score” By Bessel van der Kolk it talks about how the body can internalize and remember things such as anxiety and fear and then eventually cause the reaction in different ways. In the case of Johnny, it causes him to feel sick and react in a way that is hard for him to process without the pressure to talk it through. A few other great resources for our children that we use in the playroom are books like “The Worry Monster” and “Ruby Finds a Worry”. These books are great for children to start noticing their internal struggles and how it feels on the inside. Play therapy a line

with books and working with our children to overcome the sickness and see that really that big energy is what they are feeling and how do they make choices to over come that.

Irritability/Impulsiveness

Often we will see that our kids look as thought they are having behaviors and are being difficult, but just like Johnny this is a relation to what is going on inside of them. As adults we struggle with our own feelings and what it feels like in the moment and we can last out or do something that we would rather not have done and probably would not have done if we were thinking clearly. Well, the same thing is true for our little ones. They also have no idea how to handle big energy or big thoughts and sometimes it is more than they can handle, and this is their way of acting out. Johnny is no different. Johnnys twin is embracing and has a different experience in her school than Johnny. However, she will also process the same way as him with out bursts as well, hers just might be less expressive since she is having a moment and Johnny is have a struggle that has been going on for a while. Having someone step in and let Johnny have a controlled area that is safe, and he can act out this big energy allows him time to say I need help and this is too big for me. IN the playroom Johnny learns this and takes the time to be in the energy and the therapist can help him to walk through it.