Behavioral Play Therapy with Children with Williams Syndrome: Examination of Parent Ratings of Anxiety
Mentor 1
Bonita P. Klein-Tasman
Mentor 2
Brianna Yund
Mentor 3
Kenia M. Rivera
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 7q11.23. Previous studies have found that fears are a significant behavioral characteristic of WS (Dykens, 2003). Behavioral Play Therapy (BPT), based heavily in Replays (Levine & Chedd, 2007), uses cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and a play-based approach focused on humor to reduce anxiety. Replays has children practice being in the situations that make them anxious with adult support (Levine & Chedd, 2007). The adult uses humor and play to allow children to reexperience the event with less anxiety. BPT provides a manual that guides the clinician in conducting focused functional behavior assessments, fear ladders, and unbundling (Klein-Tasman & Levine, in progress). The current study aims to examine the methods used to collect and organize survey tracking data to identify areas for improvement in the treatment manual and research approach. Seven participants (ages 5-7) participated in 2-3 BPT sessions over a period of two to three days at UWM. Parents completed online weekly and daily tracking surveys before and after the treatment sessions. The surveys required them to score anxiety (i.e., maximum, minimum, typical, anticipatory questions) and parental factors (i.e., amount of interference, degree stopped, parental distress) for different fears. Their data will be examined. This study is a small but crucial step in the long-term goals of the BPT study, which is to create an online manual to train practitioners working with kids with WS in BPT to maximize resources for kids with WS. Fine-tuning the approach based on our work to date can help to improve the approach used so that community-based research about the effectiveness of this approach in decreasing anxiety can be conducted.
Behavioral Play Therapy with Children with Williams Syndrome: Examination of Parent Ratings of Anxiety
Union Wisconsin Room
Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 7q11.23. Previous studies have found that fears are a significant behavioral characteristic of WS (Dykens, 2003). Behavioral Play Therapy (BPT), based heavily in Replays (Levine & Chedd, 2007), uses cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and a play-based approach focused on humor to reduce anxiety. Replays has children practice being in the situations that make them anxious with adult support (Levine & Chedd, 2007). The adult uses humor and play to allow children to reexperience the event with less anxiety. BPT provides a manual that guides the clinician in conducting focused functional behavior assessments, fear ladders, and unbundling (Klein-Tasman & Levine, in progress). The current study aims to examine the methods used to collect and organize survey tracking data to identify areas for improvement in the treatment manual and research approach. Seven participants (ages 5-7) participated in 2-3 BPT sessions over a period of two to three days at UWM. Parents completed online weekly and daily tracking surveys before and after the treatment sessions. The surveys required them to score anxiety (i.e., maximum, minimum, typical, anticipatory questions) and parental factors (i.e., amount of interference, degree stopped, parental distress) for different fears. Their data will be examined. This study is a small but crucial step in the long-term goals of the BPT study, which is to create an online manual to train practitioners working with kids with WS in BPT to maximize resources for kids with WS. Fine-tuning the approach based on our work to date can help to improve the approach used so that community-based research about the effectiveness of this approach in decreasing anxiety can be conducted.
