We are often unsure how to be therapeutically effective when children present with developmental and processing challeng-es. These include neurodevelopmental deficits in the sensory, motor, affective, verbal, memory-oriented and organizational/executive areas. Although these issues are increasingly consid-ered in cases on the autistic and PDD spectrum, their signifi-cance in cases of toddlers and children with less severe presen-tations is often underestimated. But they nonetheless have a fundamental effect on the child’s sense of his/her own body, of self, and of social relationships. Psychotherapeutic strategies will be presented to help such children find ways to better organize and reflect on their feelings and behavior. Interven-tion strategies to be covered include play, games and other forms of lively interactions .Techniques of helping parents will be offered, both in helping them understand the child’s unique difficulties and strengths and in working constructively with emerging projections. The importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and of paying attention to therapists’ feelings will be stressed. The value of using detailed observations of short-term changes in child and family behavior in goal-setting will be considered. Demonstrate knowledge from several disciplines that illuminate what can go awry in children’s development.

Participants will:

- Use moment-to-moment interactions to diagnose and treat children with complex socio-emotional & sensorimotor difficulties.

- Demonstrate their use of play in psychotherapy in such situations.

- Identify their interdisciplinary-collaborative skills.

- Use their own emotional reactions in treatment planning and intervention.