Have you seen our staff playing 1:1 with children before? This is through our Therapeutic Membership, which offers SPL’s Signature Play Coaching program. Learn more about this very special program and how it can support you and your child!
Seeing the Need for Play Coaching
SPL offered onsite childcare to members for the first 2 years in business. Many families shared how important time with our staff was in this model, and they often used it as a way to practice gentle separation, to experience positive social interactions with adults who were child-led, and a way to take a short break while their child was able to play safely and happily.
When we decided to wind down this program, we recognized the incredible work that our staff had done with our members. We saw the changes in children when they had 1:1 interactions with our staff in the play space. We saw them more often regulated, joyful, engaged, and interactive. The children who had consistent interactions with our staff seemed to make significant changes to their engagement style while in our space. Parents recognized this, and often would ask our staff to be babysitters or school aides for them!
We also recognized a need for something that could take the place of ‘social skills groups’ for autistic and neurodivergent children. While some families have found that social skills groups were effective for their child, others have found it to be ableist/problematic in the way it works to change children’s behaviors. Many other families have been turned away from social groups and told their child was ‘not yet ready’ for a social group.
Staff Training
We began our Play Coaching model with staff who had worked over 1 year at SPL in Open Play. These staff were expertly trained in how Spirited Play Labs supports children and families. They also completed DIR/Floortime 201, a 40 hour course through ICDL that trained staff in the Floortime method. Karen Schulz, our Program Director, met with them weekly to give them training in developmental practices and parent coaching, too!
As we grew this program, we recognized the amazing possibility this career path had for young people. While many of our staff will go on to become therapists and get master’s degrees, some choose not to. Some of our staff have shared with us that their learning disabilities or neurodivergence will make graduate school challenging, but they continued to have a strong desire to work intimately with neurodivergent children in a helping capacity.
Each Play Coach gets 12-30 clients on their ‘caseload’ in which they develop individual relationships with your child and you. They get to see progress month-to-month, they get to collaborate with your child’s therapists, and they get to utilize play coaching to support your child in the natural setting. They have shared with us they are incredibly satisfied and fulfilled by their caseloads!
Play Coaching uses the Social Model of Disability
Play Coaching is possibly unfamiliar to you, even if your child has attended speech therapy or occupational therapy. Most therapy models are medical, in which there is a goal to improve/fix your child and change them. It is on the child to learn and adapt in this model, and most parents wait in the waiting room while their child does all the work. The therapist talks with you the last 5 minutes and often uses a lot of confusing terminology, so you are often left unsure about how to take the work home with you.
Play Coaching relies on the social model of disability. This model utilizes the community to adapt the environment to support the disabled or neurodivergent child. While children continue to build functional skills to self-advocate and have access to what they need, we work to adapt the environment so they can be included. This means the responsibility doesn’t just fall on your child; it falls on you, other caregivers, friends, strangers. We work to create an inclusive culture that means we all take care of one another.
How do we do this? Well, we want you the caregiver to be intimately involved in all sessions your child attends. You can watch, you can ask questions, you can play too; either way, we want you there with us! This will allow for you to bring our play coaching model into your child’s home and school and beyond.
We also rely on our Member Agreements when people become SPL members, in which we ask the other families in the play space to maintain a level of care and connection to one another. This creates a culture of community that can often be hard to find elsewhere. We have created a safer, supportive space where we can educate ourselves on one another’s needs and meet them as best as we can!
Interested in Play Coaching?
Well, now that you know the history of play coaching, you may be interested in trying it out! This model is private pay and funded through RCEB for children over age 3. If you’d like to upgrade to a Therapeutic Membership, reach out to your location’s Supervisor!
BERKELEY: berkeley@spiritedplaylabs.com, 510-647-8926
SAN RAMON: sanramon@spiritedplaylabs.com 925-804-6273
You can also learn more here. We look forward to supporting you and your child in this way.