Written by two authors with a combined experience of more than fifty years in the residential treatment of severely aggressive-and often traumatized-children, this book has proven invaluable to new as well as seasoned child practitioners. The chapters cover the nuts and bolts of play therapy with this extremely challenging clinical population, including the therapeutic alliance, aims of play therapy with aggressive children, setting limits on destructive and obtrusive behaviors, typical play themes of aggressive children, and developing distancing and displacement through playful action and through teaching, modeling, and structuring action play. Other chapters cover such topics as: how to create more mature defenses and calming strategies; the role of interpretation; the use of spontaneous drawings as a bridge to fantasy play; specific drawing techniques to create access to the inner world of children; how to teach and model pro-social skills and the language of feeling; and how to facilitate affect expression and modulation, contained reenactment of trauma, and children's ability to mourn tangible as well as intangible, unacknowledged and invisible losses. Later chapters cover the therapeutic process and techniques to facilitate termination. The authors introduce the Play Therapy Decision Grid, which is intended to guide the therapist into the levels of therapy best suited for the child at any given point based on the child's resources and the anxiety engendered by the therapy.

"This handbook presents us with a treasure trove, not only of compassionate and sensitive insights into the inner life of abused, highly disturbed children but also of a plethora of specific tools to help violent children. The book belongs on the shelf of any therapist who is deeply committed to helping heal children with severe aggression problems. Many of the ideas will serve as useful strategies for those of us who work with worried or angry children who have less severe traumas but who still need us to help them forge more effective defenses and to learn more self-calming and more reflective techniques in managing their troubles." - PsycCRITIQUES

"In this companion toUnderstanding and Treating the Aggression of Children, psychologists experienced in providing services to aggressive children and their families present a comprehensive guide to play therapy for professionals to drow on in treating this challenging population." - Scitech Book News

"Every page in this book is a testament to the enormous experience these two authors have in the treatment of aggressive children in residential settings. All aspects of play therapy are covered chapter by chapter and numerous examples are provided about what one might say to a child at the various difficult moments, dividing interpretations as empathic or dynamic. In this client-centred but certainly also therapist-directed therapy, they helpfully discuss how to set boundaries throughout the different phases of therapy and present a helpful array of activities around behaviours and feelings." - Psychotherapy:Theory, Research, Training, Practice

"In this age of brief therapies, Crenshaw and Mordock provide a much needed reminder of the long term work that is needed with severely traumatized children....A Handbook of Play Therapy with Agressive Children is exhaustive enough to be appropriate for a beginning therapist, yet has hidden gems that would appeal to more seasoned therapists who can discover them with a sense of "aha."" - Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic: A Journal for the Mental Health Professions, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Fall 2007)