Outcomes

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2026 Outcomes to Date

The Play Therapy Center served 42 youth during the 2026 reporting period. Of those children, 25 remained in treatment long enough to have follow-up CBCL results.

 

Seventeen children have not been in treatment long enough or did not remain long enough to receive sufficient treatment for an outcome comparison (families left for a variety of reasons, such as scheduling difficulties, travel distance, or finding that the practice was not a good fit). These children are excluded from the outcome percentage calculations.

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Outcome                                               Number of children                                                Percentage of measured outcomes

 

Improved                                                          19                                                                                         76.0%

Remained the same                                           6                                                                                         24.0%

Worsened                                                           0                                                                                           0.0%

Total                                                                  25                                                                                       100.0%

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Outcomes by Care Setting

Care setting                                                Improved                              Remained the same                   Worsened

 

Foster care, kinship care,

or adopted                                                  8 (72.7%)                                        3 (27.3%)                             0 (0%)

Family of origin                                         11 (78.6%)                                        3 (21.4%)                             0 (0%)

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Outcomes by Gender

Gender                                                       Improved                              Remained the same                    Worsened

 

Boys                                                           10 (76.9%)                                    3 (23.1%)                                0 (0%)

Girls                                                             9 (75.0%)                                     3 (25.0%)                                0 (0%)

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Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity

Race/ethnicity                                             Improved                              Remained the same                    Worsened

 

White                                                           11 (78.6%)                                     3 (21.4%)                                0 (0%)

Black                                                              4 (57.1%)                                     3 (42.9%)                                0 (0%)

Mixed race                                                    4 (100.0%)                                      0 (0.0%)                                 0 (0%)

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The White/Hispanic client did not have follow-up results and is excluded from this outcome table.

 

These percentages describe children with measured outcomes. They do not predict an individual child’s response to treatment. Small group sizes limit comparisons between groups. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

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How I Measure Progress

I primarily use the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a standardized questionnaire completed by a parent or caregiver. It provides information about a child’s emotional and behavioral concerns. I generally repeat the CBCL about every three months to monitor changes over time.

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The areas I track depend on the child’s age:

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CBCL ages 1½–5: depressive problems, anxiety problems, autism spectrum problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, and oppositional defiant problems.

CBCL ages 6–18: depressive problems, anxiety problems, somatic problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems, and conduct problems.

 

These are the CBCL’s diagnostic-oriented problem scales. They identify reported concerns and do not establish a diagnosis by themselves. 

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Scores fall within the normal range, borderline clinical range, or clinical range. The normal range reflects fewer reported concerns. The borderline clinical range indicates elevated concerns. The clinical range indicates more substantial concerns that warrant further clinical consideration. 

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For the outcomes reported here, I use changes between these ranges:

 

How I Define Progress

Improvement-Moving from one range to a lower range Clinical range at intake to normal range at follow-up.

Remained the same-Staying within the same rangeClinical range at intake and clinical range three months later.

Worsening-Moving from one range to a higher rangeNormal range at intake to borderline clinical range three months later.

 

A child’s score may increase or decrease while remaining within the same range. Under this reporting method, that result is counted as remaining the same.

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Measuring outcomes for children in foster care

For children who have recently moved into a foster or kinship home, I may not include the intake CBCL in the outcome comparison. A new caregiver may not yet know the child well enough to provide a representative picture of the child’s emotional and behavioral concerns.

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In these situations, I may use a later CBCL as the starting point, after the caregiver has had more time to observe and understand the child.