International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol 34(2), Apr 2025, 51-62; doi:10.1037/pla0000233
Existing research provides preliminary evidence that child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a viable social–emotional intervention for children on the autism spectrum. However, limited research exists to evaluate the pattern of change among autistic children during CCPT. The present study is the first repeated-measures design exploring the impact of CCPT, an evidence-based child mental health intervention, on autistic children’s social–emotional assets and emotional and behavioral problems across four times during intervention based on teacher reports. Participants consisted of 19 autistic children recruited from two Title-1 elementary schools in the Southwestern United States who were aged between 5 years and 8.25 years (M = 6.22, SD = 0.91), presenting with varied levels of cognitive functioning and speech and language abilities. Over 60% of participants were identified by their parents as children of color. Results indicated that participants’ increased time in CCPT predicted statistically significant improvement in social–emotional assets measured by the Social–Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales–Teacher (Merrell, 2011) total score with a large effect size. Results also indicated that participants’ increased time in CCPT predicted a statistically significant reduction in emotional and behavioral problems of irritability, social withdrawal, and hyperactivity/noncompliance, measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist–Second Edition (Aman & Singh, 2017), with large effect sizes. Findings of this study revealed substantive changes in social–emotional assets as early as eight CCPT sessions and reduction of emotional and behavioral concerns as early as 12 CCPT sessions. Clinical significance, implications for practice, and limitations of the study are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)