BIG

ADHD • TRAUMA

BIG
ODD • ANXIETY • ANGER

BEHAVIORS in small containers

When it comes to working with dysregulated
children, sometimes the biggest behaviors
come in the smallest containers.
From tantrums and defiance to self-injury and withdrawal, even the most skilled professionals
find themselves focused on extinguishing the troubling behavior rather than stepping back to ask:
What is the underlying emotional need?

BEHAVIORS
In Big Behaviors in Small Containers, you’ll find 131 practical, fun, and ready-to-use play therapy
interventions that shift the paradigm around problematic behaviors to allow for therapeutic
growth and healing. Based on TraumaPlay™, a treatment approach that prioritizes attachment,
co-regulation, and the science of the stress response system, the interventions inside will
help kids:

131
• Develop a sense of safety and security
• Expand their window of tolerance
in small containers

Interventions for Disorders of Dysregulation

Trauma-Informed Play Therapy
• Cope adaptively with anger, anxiety, and other strong emotions
• Enhance their emotional literacy
• Strengthen social skills and self-esteem

131 Trauma-Informed Play Therapy

• Challenge and overcome unhelpful thoughts
• Develop a coherent narrative around trauma and other difficult experiences
• And more! Interventions for Disorders
Whether you’re a therapist, teacher, doctor, caregiver, or trusted grownup in a child’s life, the of Dysregulation
tools inside will allow you to become the co-regulating, nurturing, and consistent presence
that your “small container” needs to remain grounded in the face of stress, big feelings, and
difficult situations.

Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S, is one of the leading

experts on the intersection of childhood trauma and play therapy in the world. In her
groundbreaking model, TraumaPlay™, she integrates both directive and non-directive Goodyear-Brown
approaches to treatment into an umbrella framework that gives clinicians structure to
employ evidence-informed interventions with confidence while encouraging creativity
and freedom to follow the child’s need all along the way in treatment. She is the
A N X IET Y
A NGER
Clinical Director and Senior Clinician of Nurture House, the Executive Director of
the TraumaPlay Institute, a TedTalk speaker, an Adjunct Instructor of Psychiatric Mental Health at
ADHD
AUM A
Vanderbilt University and a sought-after speaker.

TR
US $36.99/CAN $46.99
PUB087240
ODD
P pesipublishing.com
P
9 781683 734673 Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S
 1.2 DEEPENING THE PATH

DESCRIPTION:
Children and their caregivers may need help shifting their paradigm about goal setting
away from behaviors they want to stop seeing and toward behaviors they want to start
seeing. Many families come into treatment with the goal of extinguishing the negative
behavior. This intervention helps clients understand that change happens as new neural
pathways are laid down and adaptive behaviors are strengthened through practice, rather
than through making the goal the cessation of a behavior.

TREATMENT GOALS:
• Identify adaptive behaviors for therapeutic growth
• Help the client understand that practicing new skills helps create change

MATERIALS NEEDED:
• Kinetic sand tray
• Deepening the Path handout

DIRECTIONS:
1. Invite the client to run their pointer finger through the sand once. Watch as the sand
slowly moves back into place.
2. Explain that the brain is a lot like the sand, or like tall grass:
“When you walk through tall grass one time, it will bounce right back up. But when
you walk through it over and over, it starts to lay down and a path is formed. The
same is true in your brain when you try new things: If you do something once, it’s
not likely to ‘stick’ as something that works. But if you practice something over and
over, a new neural path is formed and you can use that new behavior again.”
3. Explain that you want to help them figure out what to do, not just what to stop doing.
Clients will likely have already identified the goals in a negative way, such as to stop
lying. For the child who comes from maltreatment or neglect, their lying may have
been adaptive and stem from a place of being unable to trust others to meet their
needs. In this case, the pathway you need to deepen might be stated as risking telling
the truth. If the lying is an impulsive behavior of a child with ADHD, the pathway that
may need to be deepened is stopping to think before answering. Become curious with
the client and/or caregiver about which behaviors, thoughts, and strategies will create
new pathways or strengthen current ones.
4. Give the client the Deepening the Path handout and have them write the behavior they
want to strengthen in the path. In many cases, new pathways of responding may need
to be identified for both the caregiver and the child or teen.

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 DEEPENING THE PATH HANDOUT
When you walk through tall grass one time, it will bounce right back up. But when you
walk through it over and over, it starts to lay down and a path is formed. The same is true
in your brain when you try new things: If you do something once, it’s not likely to “stick”
as something that works. But if you practice something over and over, a new neural path is
formed and you can use that new behavior again.
Write the pathway you want to deepen, or practice, in the path below. This might be a
behavior that helps you build relationships with other people, like using your words to ask
for what you need. Or it might be a behavior that helps you feel calm, like taking a deep
breath before you respond to someone else’s words or actions.

Copyright © 2022 Paris Goodyear-Brown. Big Behaviors in Small Containers. All rights reserved. 7
 1.3 PAVING THE PATH

DESCRIPTION:
After a long-term treatment goal has been concretized with the Deepening the Path
handout, caregivers and clients need help breaking down this goal into shorter-term,
actionable objectives. This intervention offers a tool for setting short-term treatment goals.

TREATMENT GOALS:
• Create short-term goals for treatment
• Break down therapeutic goals into actionable steps

MATERIALS NEEDED:
• Kinetic sand tray
• Miniature stepping-stones
• Completed Deepening the Path handout (from activity 1.2)
• Paving the Path handout

DIRECTIONS:
1. Using the same kinetic sand tray from the Deepening the Path activity (1.2), remind
the client that the kinetic sand slowly started encroaching on the path they had made
with their finger. Invite the client to create a new path in the sand, but this time add
stepping-stones to keep the sand held back.
2. Once the client has added the stepping-stones, explain that the stepping-stones
are like the small steps they will take toward change. Discuss actionable steps for
treatment (growing self-regulation skills like deep breathing, noticing their self-talk
without judging it, etc.). These actionable steps are framed as paving practices.
3. Lastly, give the client a copy of the Paving the Path handout and have them complete
it. It is most helpful if the caregiver can be available for this session, as some of the
steps may involve them.

ADAPTATION FOR TELEHEALTH:

Many children and teens enjoy building in the digital worlds of Minecraft™. Clients can
make paths in Minecraft and use this game platform for developing treatment goals and
actionable stepping-stones to those goals.

8
 PAVING THE PATH HANDOUT
The deepened pathways will be more defined if the stepping-stones pave the way. List a
paving practice (an adaptive behavior) for each stone.

GOAL: _______________________

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Copyright © 2022 Paris Goodyear-Brown. Big Behaviors in Small Containers. All rights reserved. 9