Child Therapy in Plano, TX
Is Your Child Acting Out At Home Or In School?
Have mornings in your household become a battleground, with frequent tantrums over small requests or tears when plans change?
Do you find yourself getting frequent notes from school about your child’s impulsive or “defiant” behavior?
Are you noticing your child becoming more irritable, anxious, and withdrawn, even though you know they’re trying their best?
For many parents, addressing these challenges isn’t easy. Naturally, you want to support your child, but their pushback, emotional outbursts, and refusal to follow rules may leave you feeling powerless. You might end up yelling in desperation because it feels like nothing else works. Routine disruptions often lead to meltdowns, homework ends with arguments, and simple requests such as bath time spark chaos, leaving parents fighting with their child or each other.
Lots Of Children Feel Overwhelmed By Big Emotions
The day might start with the whole family on edge, and by late afternoon, there’s another message from your child’s teacher about a failure to follow directions. Your child senses your disappointment, and you’re unsure of how to reconnect.
Over time, these patterns can chip away at your child’s confidence and your family’s sense of closeness. What may look like defiance is often a fear of failure, sensitivity, or insecurity that your child can’t put into words. Kids who feel “different” from their peers may withdraw, lash out, or internalize shame, while their parents feel exhausted and worry about what the future holds.
You don’t have to face this chapter alone. With guidance from an empathetic therapist, your child can learn new skills, strengthen their self-esteem, and build healthier patterns at home and at school.
Have Questions About Child Therapy? Reach Out Today.
Family Stressors And Life Transitions Can All Impact Children
The demands of our modern society place immense pressure on parents. Today, 48% of parents say their stress feels “completely overwhelming” on most days, and these stressors can influence children as well.
Packed schedules, long hours, and even working from home while physically present but emotionally unavailable can make it harder for kids to feel secure and supported. Family transitions such as moving, divorce, a new sibling, or adjusting to a blended family can leave children feeling scared and anxious. If your family has recently lost a loved one, kids often lack the emotional tools to process what they’re experiencing, and sometimes, these heavy emotions can lead to tantrums, arguments, and rule-breaking.
No Parent Wants To See Their Child Struggle
Many parents automatically blame themselves when their child acts out or grapples with social challenges and intense emotions. While it’s natural to feel sad and frustrated in these circumstances, these behaviors are not reflective of “bad parenting” or a “bad child.” If your child is having a difficult time, it’s not a personal failure.
Nowadays, these reactions are often responses to a fast-paced world that does not accommodate children's developing emotional and executive functioning skills. Understanding these factors and letting go of blame can help you approach your child with empathy and understanding. Furthermore, with guidance from a skilled therapist, your child can learn essential lessons that will benefit their wellbeing and relationships for years to come.
Through Therapy, Children Can Gain Valuable Skills In A Safe Environment
Therapy gives your child a space to explore their inner world at their own pace. Your child’s therapist will meet them where they are developmentally, engaging with their interests, paying attention to how they express themselves through play, and helping them build emotional resilience one step at a time. In therapy, your child can practice coping skills and healthy behaviors in a pressure-free environment.
What To Expect In Child Therapy Sessions
We begin child therapy by connecting with parents first. Your child’s counselor will meet with you for one or two intake sessions before working with your child, taking the time to learn about your family dynamics, your child’s history, what they’re struggling with, and anything you’ve tried so far to address these challenges. Together, we’ll identify goals that feel meaningful and realistic, whether that’s reducing tantrums, improving social skills, or moving forward with treatment for childhood depression, trauma, or anxiety.
Parents play an important role in their children’s progress. We aim to meet with parents after every four child sessions to share insights. During these meetings, you’ll learn valuable details about your child’s progress, equipping you with new skills for parenting difficult behaviors at home. For some families, joint parent-child sessions are incorporated to improve communication or deepen your mutual understanding.
In our practice, we support kids through play therapy, which uses play—the natural language of childhood—as a window for kids to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Children often have trouble sharing their emotions with words, but through play, they can show what they’re thinking and feeling in an age-appropriate way.
Treatment Approaches To Child Therapy
For younger children, therapy often takes place in our playroom, filled with toys, art supplies, LEGOs, a sandbox, and more. Your child’s therapist isn’t just watching them play—instead, they step into your child’s world with curiosity.
As trust develops, the struggles you’re seeing at home or in school can show up in the playroom, too. But when a block tower collapses, or a game goes wrong, your child can express their disappointment in a safe place with guidance around naming their emotions, problem-solving, and practicing healthier responses.
For older children ages eight to twelve, sessions may still take place in the playroom or they might be held in a traditional therapy setting, depending on your child’s comfort level. Games, art projects, and story-building can help with social skills and emotional awareness.
When appropriate, we help older kids understand how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect, giving them strategies to apply both in and outside of counseling. As a parent, you want to ensure that your child feels safe, understood, and capable.
Play therapy provides the tools, practice, and support to make that possible. Through guided play, your child can practice expressing their feelings, solving problems, managing their emotions, and building positive relationships. In time, you’ll both learn to navigate challenges as they arise, laying the foundation for healthier family connections.
But You May Still Have Questions About Child Therapy…
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For children, play therapy can be transformative. Play is a child’s natural language, and toys are their words. Through guided play, children express feelings, process experiences, and learn coping skills—just like adults do in talk therapy. A child will feel like they are playing, but a therapist can constantly track and communicate with the child as they express and communicate through play.
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Parents are a vital part of the process when we are working with children in counseling. Your child's therapist will schedule routine parent sessions to communicate and collaborate with you throughout the duration of counseling. You’re also welcome to reach out with questions or share updates about your child’s life outside of therapy at any time.
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Progress can vary depending on the child’s age and developmental stage, the type and severity of their challenges, and parental involvement. Children make progress in gradual steps that are usually noticed first in the therapeutic playroom and begin to transfer to their outside world, where parents and teachers can see a shift in behavior, attitude, emotional regulation, and self-confidence. On average, these shifts begin to happen after about 12 sessions, or 3 months.
Play Therapy Can Help Your Child Grow
If you’re interested in exploring play therapy for your child, we encourage you to reach out to our practice to learn more. You can call our office at 214-919-7177 or fill out our contact form to book a free consultation or schedule your first session.