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Journal of Family Psychotherapy

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subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjfp20

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Play

Scaling
Pamela King

Private Practive, Life Directions Coaching in Logan , Utah , USA

Published online: 20 Dec 2013.

To cite this article: Pamela King (2013) Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Play Scaling, Journal of
Family Psychotherapy, 24:4, 312-316, DOI: 10.1080/08975353.2013.849555
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08975353.2013.849555

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Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 24:312316, 2013

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0897-5353 print/1540-4080 online
DOI: 10.1080/08975353.2013.849555

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Play

Scaling
PAMELA KING
Private Practive, Life Directions Coaching in Logan, Utah, USA

Downloaded by [Pamela King] at 14:24 22 February 2014

KEYWORDS children, play scaling, play therapy, solution-focused

INTRODUCTION
Scaling is one of the most common tools in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
(SFBT; de Shazer et al., 2007). Scaling questions are easily understood and
provide a concrete representation of the clients past successes and their
preferred future. Scales are very versatile and can be used with children and
adults. The therapist anchors the 10-point scale from 1 (the difficulty that
brought the clients into therapy) to 10 (the desired future). The therapist then
asks a series of questions to elicit details about the desired future, the clients
current state or number on the scale, and then invites a description of what
will be different when the client is slightly higher on the scale. Scaling in
Action (Zalter & Fiske, 2005) is a physical representation of the scale where
an imaginary or real scale is drawn in the room and participants position
themselves along the line, and then describe the details of the number they
have chosen.
Using SFBT with children is a good fit because children naturally think
about the future rather than the past, are intrigued by the idea of miracles, and will happily focus on what they are doing right rather than what
they are doing wrong (Berg & Steiner, 2003; Selekman, 1997). In addition,
SFBT facilitates collaborative, client-focused goal setting when working with
families.

Address correspondence to Pamela King, Life Directions Coaching, 270 North Main,
Logan, UT 84321, USA. E-mail: pam@lifedirectionscoaching.com
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PLAY SCALING
Play Scaling is a playful adaptation of Scaling in Action, which is suitable
for children or adults in individual, family, or group therapy. In this application, small toys or miniatures are used by clients to define positions (e.g.,
numbers or points) on the scale. Carefully selected toys are commonly used
in play therapy approaches such as The Play Genogram (Gil, 1994) and
sandplay therapy (Kalff, 2005; Lowenfeld, 2004). SFBT utilizes toys as a noninterpretive conversational tool to show ideas, desires, capacities, and coping
strategies. Play Scaling is, thus, an integrated technique of SFBT and play
therapy.
The toys and miniatures suitable for Play Scaling are quite varied. Some
clinicians might choose household items such as buttons, bottle caps, or
stickers; others could conduct the whole activity with sticks, twigs, leaves,
flowers, pebbles, or other things found outside. Clinicians might collect small
toys including multiracial and multi-age dolls, traffic symbols, cars, planes,
trains, and other modes of transport, as well as fairies, magicians, and religious symbols. Another popular set of toys is a wide selection of animals
including domestic, wild, jungle, forest, cold- and warm-blooded, and prehistoric creatures. Creating a representation out of clay or pipe cleaners,
drawing pictures, or cutting pictures from a magazine are among the myriad
of variations clinicians may opt to use.
A basic tenet of SFBT is to invite clients to focus on a future in which
their problems are resolved. From the intake session and throughout the
course of therapy, solution-focused clinicians elicit rich, detailed descriptions
of this problem-free future. Most adults and many children can successfully
imagine and describe this desired future state. The experiential component
of using toys to represent points along the scale enriches the descriptions
and serves as a profound verbal and nonverbal (symbolic) conversational
tool. The conversation about the toys serves as a client-centered metaphor
that can be mined for solutions in the persons life. The therapist focuses on
the clients past accomplishments and coping skills rather than pathology or
problematic dynamics. This process can be used as a procedure for helping
clients envision and reach their goals. The objects or drawings elicit curious
questions from the clinician and family members about details for each point
on the scale: what is happening, who is involved, what the scene is like, and
so forth.
Clients are introduced to the Play Scaling task in the following way:
Id like you to imagine a scale from one to ten where ten stands for
the best possible outcome for you/your family (using their words) when
you are successful in the ways you want to be, your job is fulfilling,
your family is getting along, youre doing things together, having more
playtime, Johnny is successful in school, etc. One is the opposite: for
example, the frustration or difficulty that brought you into therapy.

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P. King

Clinicians strive to use the clients words to describe the clients preferred
futures, which may have been elicited through a Miracle Question (de Shazer
et al., 2007): On the table there are a variety of objects for you to choose
from; please select one or more items that represent (using their words) the
ten on your scale and choose something that represents the bottom of your
scale; expand the description of the 10 by asking, Is there anything else you
would like to add that would help describe what it would be like to be at the
ten; anything else? Tell me about the duck (or whatever item is chosen);
are the duck and the sunshine related?; spend more time eliciting details on
the 10 than the 1; and if the client needs to talk more about the 1 position
or the problem, listen carefully to understand how difficult it has been, ask
coping questions, and listen for times when the problem is not as bad, which
will then move the conversation toward exceptions and solutions (de Shazer
et al., 2007). Clinicians may draw a line on paper to indicate where 1 and
10 are, or the client may simply place them on the table in the positions that
seem appropriate to them:
Now please choose something that shows where you are right now on
the scale from one to ten and place it where it belongs. I see you are
this far up (pointing to or indicating the clients current position) on the
scale; what number would you say that is?

If the number is anything above a 1, the clinician compliments the

position and continues with the following invitation:
Wow, so you are at a three (or whatever number they say). I am
wondering why you are at a three rather than a one. Select items
to represent those things that have helped you get that high on the
scale. What else has helped you to be this far up on the scale? If
your mother/brother/sister/friend (choose a relevant relationship) were
to select an item that symbolizes how you got this high on the scale,
what do you suppose they would choose?

If the client identifies their current position as 1 or lower, compliment

them on their coping abilities and continue with the following invitation:
This is clearly a difficult situation for you. I am wondering how you
have been able to cope in the midst of the difficulties. What items do
you suppose could represent some of those strengths and abilities you
have that have allowed you to manage the current stressors? What else
has helped you to cope? Who else is aware of the abilities you have in
managing all of this? What items would they choose?

After eliciting as much detail as possible about the strengths, personal

characteristics, and behaviors that have allowed or helped them to be as

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high as three (or whatever number they state) or coping with being a 1,
then move on to the next step of identifying past successes (exceptions;
de Shazer et al., 2007) and elaborating on these past events: What is the
highest you have ever been on the scale? Clients are then asked to describe
those occurrences of being higher on the scale, again inviting them to select
miniatures that represent those positions. It is important to get as much detail
as possible about these past successes. Clinicians may pose questions such
as, Who was present; what might they say about your success? Then, the
clinician asks about higher points on the scale: Now, lets imagine you are
just one point higher. What will be happening that will tell you that you are
at a four? Clients might physically move items or might choose new ones to
represent the higher point.
The metaphor that is introduced through selection of miniatures guides
the therapeutic conversation. For example, the selection of train tracks and
stop signs at dead end intersections may prompt questions such as, Tell
me about the stop signs. What difference does it make to follow the stop
signs; what happens after you stop; when do you know its time to go; what
direction is go; when has stopping been helpful?, and so on, eliciting as
much detail as you can. The therapists curiosity and questions allow the
client to define the meaning of their scale and toy choices rather than the
therapist interpreting or inferring meaning.
Play Scaling can be used in family therapy as well. Family members create their individual scales and listen to the explanations of the
others. Then, the family is invited to select items from their personal
scales and any additional miniatures needed to create a family scale,
where 10 represents everyones goals being met. Relationship questions
may include, What do you like or find most interesting about (family
members) choices? How are these two figurines related? Non-evaluative
comments or statements of curiosity are helpful tools in eliciting details;
for example, I wonder what is happening at this point on the scale, I
see these two are about an inch apart. Details of the desired future state,
past successes, and relationship questions are all critical components of the
intervention.
Families typically respond positively to Play Scaling. Experiential activities often result in more animated conversations between clients and
therapist. Children have a higher level of therapeutic engagement because in
addition to being fun, it is concrete and, therefore, cognitively appropriate
for them. Parents respond well to Play Scaling because it puts their child at
ease and gives them a way to talk about their progress outside of therapy.
The collaborative, respectful stance of SFBT assumes parents want what is
best for their child and that they and their children are the experts on their
family. Clinicians may invite families to photograph their scales and may
include a photo as part of their clinical record.

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CONCLUSION
Play scaling is a creative integration of SFBT and play therapy. Children and
adults benefit from having a concrete representation of their presenting concern and preferred future. Play Scaling allows clinicians to elicit details of
clients preferred futures and progress toward that future state in a playful
way. Clinicians may use materials or toys they have on hand or invite clients
to create their own representations. Children are naturally drawn to play
items and will typically be more engaged in the therapeutic conversation
when play is used. Creating a concrete representation of the childs preferred future is a developmentally appropriate way to accomplish the task of
scaling.
Clinicians are cautioned to not interpret or infer meanings; rather, elicit
details about the clients choices. This keeps the client in charge of their own
metaphor and the clinician respectfully following their lead. The therapist
focuses on the clients past accomplishments, coping skills, and predictions
of future positive behavior rather than pathology or problematic dynamics.
Occasionally, clients will say they do not want to participate in such an
activity. In family therapy, some members of the system may prefer to watch
while others participate. In keeping with SFBTs respectful stance and the
assumption that clients know what is best for them, the clinician gracefully
withdraws the offer of using play materials. Finally, Play Scaling may be
contraindicated for conjoint therapy with children and a parent or parents
who are abusive. Clinicians must assess for dangers such as having parents
later use the childs scaling information against them in some way. Most
children and families are willing to participate with Play Scaling to some
degree when introduced as a playful experiment.

REFERENCES
Berg, I. K., & Steiner, T. (2003). Childrens solution work. New York, NY: Norton.
De Shazer, S., Dolan, Y., Korman, H., Trepper, T., McCollum, E., & Berg, I. K. (2007).
More than miracles: The state of the art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. New
York, NY: Haworth.
Gil, E. (1994). Play in family therapy. New York, NY: Guilford.
Kalff, D. (2004). Sandplay: A psychotherapeutic approach to the psyche. Cloverdale,
CA: Temenos Press.
Lowenfeld, M. (2005). Understanding childrens sandplay: Lowenfelds world technique. Portland, OR: International Specialized Book Services.
Selekman, M. (1997). Solution-focused therapy with children: Harnessing family
strengths for systemic change. New York, NY: Guilford.
Zalter, B., & Fiske, H. (2005). Scaling in action. In T. S. Nelson (Ed.), Education
and training in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (pp. 107109). New York, NY:
Haworth.