Reflective family play: A model for whole family intervention in the infant and preschool clinical population.

This article proposes a new treatment model, Reflective Family Play, for clinical intervention in two-parent families of children aged 0 to 5 years. It is play-based and grounded in the evidence-based treatment approach of Watch Wait and Wonder (WWW) as well as the assessment tool known as the Lausanne Family Play paradigm (LFP). WWW is a dyadic treatment for caregivers and their infants or preschoolers that has been shown to shift attachment in the very young (N.J. Cohen, E. Muir, & M. Lojkasek, 1999; N.J. Cohen, M. Lojkasek, E. Muir, R. Muir & C.J. Parker, 2002). The LFP is a more recent adaptation of the Lausanne Trilogue Play paradigm (LTP; E. Fivaz-Depeursinge & A. Corboz-Warnery, 1999). Together, the LTP/LFP have now been used for over 2 decades as reliable measures of the family alliance and interactions in two-parent households. By combining concepts from WWW and the LTP/LFP, a novel approach is presented for treatment in two-caregiver households. Clinical excerpts are used to illustrate.