The Learn to Play 5 Day Workshop 20 - 24 January 2020 cost includes discounted registration for the Learn to Play Therapy: Introductory Course (2 Day Workshop) 20-21 Jan 2020; Play in Schools for Teachers and Therapists (1 Day Workshop) 22 January 2020; Imagine, Create, Belong: A new interventions for adolescents with social difficulties (2 Day Workshop)23-24 Jan 2020; pre-workshop refreshments, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, all workshop resources.

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This workshop combines the expertise of Karen Stagnitti (play) with Louise Paatsch (language and literacy and education) to bring to teachers and therapists ideas and explanations of why and how to embed play in the classroom. This workshop will cover why play is relevant to learning and the classroom, how to assess and on play using the Pretend Play Checklist for Teachers, how to link play ability to language and literacy, and how to embed play in the classroom to extend children’s language and literacy.

This is a very practical and hands on workshop with examples linking play abilities to the Australian curriculum.

This workshop would be valuable to professionals who work in schools and are interested in play, language and literacy.

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Research using Learn to Play Therapy has been extended to work with adolescents who experience social difficulties. This workshop introduces the play assessment for young people called the Animated Movie Test. This is an age appropriate assessment suitable for young people aged 8 - 15 years. The new intervention called Imagine, Create, Belong will also be explained. This new 8 week intervention for young people who are neurodiverse who attend mainstream high schools has been trialled in two research studies and found to increase young people’s self-insight into their social ability, maintain their flexible thinking and increase their narrative thinking. This results in more competence in their social ability. The manual also includes 16 Sessions for adolescents who attend special school and have challenging developmental issues.

This workshop would be valuable for those working with young adolescents who have social difficulties including social workers, occupational therapists, specialist teachers of young adolescents, psychologists and play therapists.

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Learn to Play Therapy aims to develop the capacity in children to self-initiate their own pretend play. Being able to play is essential to children because through play children learn about themselves and their world. Pretend play is complex play and research evidence has shown that children who develop more complex levels of pretend play increase in their abilities in social competence, narrative language, language, self-regulation, creativity, and problem solving.

The workshop uses a mixture of information giving case studies, video analysis and practice of the key skills involved in the process of Learn to Play Therapy.

This workshop would be valuable to therapists, social workers, psychologists and early intervention workers who work with families with children under 8 years of age who have a developmental delay.

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The Learn to Play 5 Day Workshop cost includes discounted registration for the Learn to Play Therapy: Introductory Course (2 Day Workshop) 6-7 Jul 2020; Parent Learn to Play: Train the Trainer (1 Day Workshop) 8 Jul 2020; Advanced Learn to Play Therapy (2 Day Workshop) 9-10 Jul 2020; pre-workshop refreshments, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, all workshop resources and a copy of Parent Learn to Play: Facilitator Manual and Parent Handbook.

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This workshops provides specific information on working with parents using the principles of Learn to Play Therapy. This course builds on the Learn to Play Introduction workshop as knowledge on the development of pretend play and how to assess spontaneous pretend play ability in children is assumed knowledge.

This one day workshop explains how to include parents as part of parent-child dyads in therapy as well as training participants to run the Parent Learn to Play small group course for parents. The workshop uses games and small group activities to help participants think about the development of a child "on the spot". Also covered is what to consider when working with parents/carers, principles in engaging parents, tricky questions.

This workshop would be valuable for professionals, including therapists, social workers, early intervention workers, psychologists, who work with families who have children aged 12 months to 5 years who have a developmental delay.

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Learn to Play Therapy aims to facilitate the ability of a child to self-initiate pretend play. The therapeutic skills required to facilitate this ability in children, who find it difficult to play, are explored more deeply in this 2 day workshop. This workshop builds on the Learn to Play Therapy Introductory 2 day workshop. In Advanced Learn to Play it is assumed that participants have knowledge of the development of pretend play and assessment of pretend play.

Participants are introduced to the framework which surrounds Learn to Play Therapy and the theoretical underpinnings of Learn to Play. The play room is discussed and advanced processes and principles are covered and practiced. The workshop also covers working with with children who have experienced trauma, children with autism, and working in schools.

This workshop would be valuable to therapists, social workers, psychologists and early intervention workers who work with families with children under 8 years of age who have developmental delay.

Registration now open