This study examined the effectiveness of intensive child-centered play therapy with children identified as having disruptive behaviors. Participants were recruited from public schools in the urban area of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia area. A total of 24 participants completed the study: 18 boys and 6 girls aged 6 to 9 years old (M ϭ 7); 17 Australian Caucasians, 1 English (U.K.) Caucasian, 1 Asian, 3 Hispanic/ Latino, and 2 Biracial. Participants were randomly assigned: 12 to the experimental group and 12 to the waitlist control group. Children in the experimental group received 20 intensive Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) sessions: twice daily for 10 days. For each child participant, a parent completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a teacher completed the CBCL Teacher's Report Form (TRF) 3 times: at pretest, posttest, and 1-week follow-up. Results of factorial ANOVAs indicated a statistically significant interaction effect on CBCL Externalizing score, F(2, 44) ϭ 14.747, p Ͻ .001, with a large effect size of 2 ϭ .277. Results also indicated a statistically significant interaction effect on the TRF Externalizing score, F(2, 44) ϭ 4.042, p ϭ .024, with a large effect size of 2 ϭ .135. Therefore, both parents and teachers indicated that children with externalizing behaviors who received intensive CCPT showed a significant decrease in those behaviors.

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