Non-directive play therapy with autistic adolescents: a qualitative study of therapists’ interactional practices
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Eliza Maciejewska
Eliza Maciejewska is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. She has been awarded M.A. degrees in both Psychology and English. Her research interests include: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), communication, autism therapies, discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Her most recent publication is “Autistic resources from a discourse-analytic perspective” (2020,
Qualitative Psychology 7(3): 348–366).
Abstract
This case study identifies and examines interactional practices of non-directive play therapists during their therapeutic sessions with autistic adolescents. The study involved two therapists and two adolescents (siblings) on the autism spectrum. The video-recorded sessions took place at participants’ home and were conducted in Polish. Employing insights and tools from discourse-analytic approaches, in particular conversation analysis (CA), the findings show how clients and therapists are both involved in co-constructing therapeutic interactions by orienting to each other’s utterances. CA is presented in this article as a useful tool for recognizing and describing the therapists’ interactional contributions and their local functions. The therapeutic practices identified in the analysis (talk-in-practice) – e.g. mirroring, meaning expansion, recast and scaffolding – are further juxtaposed with theories concerning interactional practices in non-directive therapies (talk-in-theory) in order to provide a more detailed picture of these practices as well as complete them. The findings from this study expand the current state of knowledge of non-directive play therapies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and carry practical implications for specialists involved in ASD treatment.
About the author
Eliza Maciejewska is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. She has been awarded M.A. degrees in both Psychology and English. Her research interests include: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), communication, autism therapies, discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Her most recent publication is “Autistic resources from a discourse-analytic perspective” (2020, Qualitative Psychology 7(3): 348–366).
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the adolescents and the therapists who participated in this study.
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Research funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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Conflict of interest: I have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Appendix 1: Transcription conventions – adapted from Jefferson 2004
| ↑↓ | Shifts into high/low pitch |
| (1.0) | Pause length (in seconds) |
| (.) | A ‘micropause’, i.e., a pause of less than a second |
| (( )) | A nonverbal activity, e.g., crying; author’s comments |
| ::: | Prolongation of immediately preceding sound. The more colons the greater the extent of the stretching. |
| ? | Rising intonation |
| . | Falling intonation |
| , | Continuing intonation |
| °dog° | Lower volume than surrounding talk |
| dog | Stressed syllable |
| DOG | Higher volume |
Appendix 2: Polish transcription
Focus on the client – joint attention
| 01 J (Julia): | co Elizabeth powiedziała:? |
| 02 A (Anna): | Elizabeth powiedziała:, się zapytała nas, czy możemy |
| 03 | przejść do drugiego pokoju↑, bo chciałaby |
| 04 | iść sama z Mike’m na ćwiczenia↑ a Mike nie chce iść |
| 05 | do pokoju Julii (.) ˚na ćwiczenia˚. |
| 06 J: | (0.3) co Mike nie chce? |
| 07 A: | Mike nie chce iść do tego pokoju obok, |
| 08 | w którym my zawsze jesteśmy. |
| 09 J: | (0.4) co Mike nie chce? |
| 10 A: | a co ja mówię że Mike nie chce? |
| 11 J: | Mike nie chce:: do pokoju Julii, bo ja tu byłam. |
| 12 A: | mhm. tak, ty tam byłaś, racja. |
| 13 J: | (0.3) co Mike nie chce? |
| 14 A: | Mike nie chce iść do drugiego pokoju (1.0) |
| 15 | chce tutaj mieć ćwiczenia (1.0) sam z Elizabeth. |
Mirroring
| 01 J (Julia): | ((woła terapeutkę po imieniu)) Elizabeth? |
| 02 E (Elizabeth): | ((odwraca się do Julii)) słucha:m? |
| 03 J: | a ja mam tylko białe? |
| 04 E: | pokaż ((siada obok Julii, ogląda |
| 05 | jej paznokcie)) tak, ty masz białe paznokcie, z naklejkami, |
| 06 | bardzo ładne. |
| 07 J: | a ja mam ↑bia:łe |
| 08 E: | mhm. masz białe. |
| 09 J: | ja mam białe. |
| 10 E: | masz białe. mhm. |
Meaning expansion
| ((Elizabeth pokazuje kręgle w różnych kolorach)) | |
| 01 E (Elizabeth): | to jest jaki kolo:r? |
| 02 M (Mike): | Grzegorza. |
| 03 E: | BRA:WO: ((klaszcze)) TA:K, Grzegorza traktor jest zielony, |
| 04 | su:per. ((pokazuje żółty kręgiel)) teraz Julia: |
| 05 J (Julia): | słoneczko. |
| 06 E: | su:per, bra:wo. teraz Mike. |
| 07 M: | (3.0) latem jest gorąco . |
| 08 E: | LATEM JEST GORĄCO, JA:SNE. żółty kolor |
| 09 | to jest gorą:co, słoneczko:, oj ta:k, brawo. |
Online commentary
| 01 E (Elizabeth): | ˚okej, idę szukać Julii˚. Julia, Ju:lia, |
| 02 | Julia, Ju:lia ((zagląda za walec)) tu nie ma. |
| 03 | pod materacem na pewno siedzi. ((podnosi materac)) |
| 04 | MAM CIĘ. No, nie ma jej. (2.0) |
| 05 | Mike, gdzie jest Julia? (5.0) pod poduszką? (3.0) |
| 06 | gdzie jest ta Julia? JE::ST ((przytula Julię)) |
| 07 | mam cię. mam cię Julia. |
Recast
| 01 J (Julia): | bo cię, bo cię nie uważyłam? |
| 02 E (Elizabeth): | No, nie zauważyłaś. |
Scaffolding
| 01 E (Elizabeth): | uwaga:, rzucam żabę: |
| 02 J (Julia): | (2.0) nie rzucaj mnie: |
| 03 E: | możesz powiedzieć Julia, nie rzucaj do mnie:↑ |
| 04 J: | nie rzucaj do mnie:↑ |
| 05 E: | dobra Julia:, rzucam do Mike’a. uwaga: |
| 06 J: | nie rzucaj do mnie: |
| 07 E: | dobra Julia: |
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Full Length Articles
- “Un projet de justice et de progrès social”: President Macron’s 2020 new year message to the nation. A linguistic viewpoint
- Proximal versus distant suffering in TV news discourses on COVID-19 pandemic
- Reframing Arabic narratives on Daesh [ISIS] textually through translation: MEMRI’s translation as a case study
- Non-directive play therapy with autistic adolescents: a qualitative study of therapists’ interactional practices
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Full Length Articles
- “Un projet de justice et de progrès social”: President Macron’s 2020 new year message to the nation. A linguistic viewpoint
- Proximal versus distant suffering in TV news discourses on COVID-19 pandemic
- Reframing Arabic narratives on Daesh [ISIS] textually through translation: MEMRI’s translation as a case study
- Non-directive play therapy with autistic adolescents: a qualitative study of therapists’ interactional practices
- Intensification for discursive evaluation: a corpus-pragmatic view
- Entextualizing high energy texts: an exploration of modal shift on a Chinese online video-sharing website Bilibili
