Grant makes the compelling case for reframing and replacing a reductionistic pathology orientation with a neurodivergent-affirming one that effectively and respectfully serves the needs of ADHD, autistic and other neurodivergent children and teens, while collaborating with parents and teachers to offer resources and strategies they can use outside the playroom. By watching Grant work, you will learn to conceptualize counseling theories of play therapy through a neurodiversity-informed lens, transition from a top-down orientation to a collaborative and empowering one, and gain the confidence and skills needed to move your young clients forward on their developmental journeys.

Grounded firmly in both research and Grant’s wealth of clinical experience, the interventions demonstrated are tailored to primarily support common developmental and clinical needs that therapists are likely to encounter. And, while they often touch upon a myriad of benefits, the interventions are grouped into the following areas of focus:

Regulation/Sensory Integration: Helping clients understand their sensory and regulatory systems, finding play practices that help them self-regulate and collaborating with the adults in their lives to provide opportunities for coregulation

Emotional Identification: Assessing clients’ abilities to identify their emotions, validate the ways in which they experience their emotions, and developing tools for communicating with others about their feelings

Identity Awareness: Nurturing clients’ understanding of themselves as neurodivergent individuals through strengths-based play and language that builds self-worth

Social Navigation: Working with clients to identify their social goals and tailoring play to help them succeed, as well as supporting needs that might exist around safety and self-advocacy in a neuro-normative world

If your clinical work has been centered around deficit-based diagnoses such as ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder or you have not used play in your therapy with children and teens, this online course will expand your understanding of neurodivergence, introducing you to play therapy in general and neurodiversity-affirming play practices in particular. The videos in this online course demonstrate identity-affirming, strengths-based interventions that both client and therapist alike will enjoy, as well as techniques for including family members and teachers in the play therapy process, suggestions for using identity-affirming language, and tips on advocacy skills for neurodivergent individuals. Discover how to provide respectful, compassionate support for young neurodivergent clients who are often presented with an emphasis on what adults in their lives identify as oppositional behavioral, emotional problems or social ineptitudes.

So, grab a tube of bubbles and join Robert Jason Grant as you expand your clinical repertoire to make a difference in the lives of neurodivergent children, teens and their families.