| Course | MSW 525 Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents |
|---|---|
| Week | 5 |
| Paper type | Play session write-up |
| Length | About 570 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 525 Week 5
Play Session Write-Up for N., 9, Session 3: What Was on the Shelf, the Forty Minutes in Order With Times, the Therapist's Lines as Said, Description Kept Apart From Reading and the Ten Minutes With the Parent
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 525: Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Play Session Write-Up for N., 9, Session 3: What Was on the Shelf, the Forty Minutes in Order With Times, the Therapist's Lines as Said, Description Kept Apart From Reading and the Ten Minutes With the Parent
What Was on the Shelf
Before N. arrived: a sand tray with figures, a box of toy cars and a toy ambulance, a dollhouse with four family figures, crayons and paper, a set of animal puppets, a tower block game and a board game. The cars were on the lowest shelf, at N.'s eye level.
In Order, With Times
4:30. N. entered, looked at the shelf and picked the tower game. Built and knocked down the tower three times, laughing.
4:38. N. walked past the cars twice, then took the ambulance and one red car.
4:41. N. drove the red car into the side of the dollhouse, said "boom" and turned the car over.
4:42. N. put the grandmother figure in the ambulance and drove it to the far corner of the rug.
4:44. N. returned to the tower game.
4:50. N. drew a picture of the sun and the clinic building.
4:58. N. asked if the ambulance could stay on the table for next time.
5:00. Session ended.
The Therapist's Lines, as Said
4:41: "The car went boom." N.: "Boom. Upside." 4:42: "The ambulance is taking her somewhere." N. nodded. 4:44: "You went back to the tower." N.: "Tower is fun." 4:58: "Yes, the ambulance can wait here for you."
Description
N. used the cars for about three minutes out of thirty, after passing them twice. The crash play was brief and N. moved away from it without prompting. N. returned to a game N. had already enjoyed. N. asked for the ambulance to be kept.
The crash sequence came after eight minutes of tower play, and N. chose it without any suggestion from me. N.'s words during it were two: "boom" and "upside." N.'s body stayed loose, and N. was smiling again within a minute of returning to the tower.
Reading, Kept Apart
A possible reading is that N. approached the crash in play, showed it briefly and then regulated by returning to a safe activity, and that keeping the ambulance shows readiness to come back to it. Another reading is that N. was simply curious about the toys. One sequence cannot settle this. The pattern across the next sessions will. In this approach, play can carry early skills and psychoeducation before the narrative begins (Cohen et al., 2017), so the session is recorded for the plan, not interpreted as therapy in itself.
The Ten Minutes With the Parent
The parent reported two nights with N. asleep in N.'s own bed after the breathing routine, at 14 and 11 minutes. The parent asked whether the crash play meant N. was getting worse. I said that showing the crash briefly and then moving on is common and is not a sign of harm, and that we will watch the pattern.
For Next Session
Keep the ambulance on the table. Introduce the feelings thermometer.
References
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., & Deblinger, E. (2017). Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
What the MSW 525 Week 5 assignment asks for
The play session write-up is mostly description, and the description has an order. List what was available before the child arrived, because a choice means little unless a reader knows the alternatives. Then run the session forward with times, recording what the child did and said. Write the worker's lines as they were said, so a reader can judge whether the worker led or followed. Keep description and reading in separate sections. Offer a reading if you have one, but do not turn a single sequence into a symbol that nothing else in the record could support or contradict. Include the time with the caregiver, recorded separately. Close with what changes for the next session.
How this MSW 525 Week 5 example is built
The shelf section lists the sand tray, cars and ambulance, dollhouse, crayons, puppets, tower game and board game, noting that the cars sat at eye level. A timed sequence runs from tower building at 4:30 to the crash play at 4:41 and 4:42, a return to the tower at 4:44, a drawing and a request at 4:58 to keep the ambulance. The therapist's four lines and N.'s replies are quoted. A description section counts three minutes of car play out of thirty and notes N.'s loose body. The reading section offers approach followed by regulation, or simple curiosity, and declines to settle it, citing Cohen et al. (2017) on play before the narrative. The parent's bedtime minutes are recorded, and the ambulance stays on the table.
Reading the MSW 525 Week 5 grading rubric
The write-up that turns one sequence into a symbol is what this week is built to catch, and it loses heavily. An account written as themes, where a reader cannot tell what happened in what order, comes next. Faculty credit a list of available materials, a timed sequence, the worker's lines verbatim and a clear separation between description and reading. Offering more than one reading and saying what would decide between them shows judgment. The caregiver portion should be kept apart from the child's session. A note on the next session links the record to the plan. Sources should be cited in APA where a model is named.
MSW 525 Week 5 help from the desk
Write-ups most often lose points by reading a single moment of play as proof of a buried memory. Another common gap is leaving out what was on the shelf, so the child's choices cannot be judged. Some records paraphrase the worker's lines, hiding whether the worker steered the play. Others mix the parent's report into the session account. If your session is different, perhaps an adolescent drawing or a young child with puppets, the same order applies: materials, timed sequence, exact lines, description, reading kept apart and the caregiver's minutes. A write-up drafted for your session would let a supervisor reconstruct the hour without having been there.
Get a MSW-525 Week 5 example written to your instructions
Send the recording instructions, the rubric and whatever your classroom supplied about the room and the materials, and a custom MSW-525 Week 5 write-up is written to them and returned within 24 to 48 hours, free the first time. Read the interpreting part against your own draft first, since that is where most of the grade moves.
More MSW 525 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 525 Week 1: Component Mismatch Post
- MSW 525 Week 2: TF-CBT Versus Bounce Back
- MSW 525 Week 3: Caregiver Handout After a Crash
- MSW 525 Week 4: Trauma Narrative Plan for N.
- MSW 525 Week 6: School Coordination Memo
- MSW 525 Week 7: Session Progress Review
- MSW 525 Week 8: Termination Session Plan
- MSW 524 Week 5: Presenting Problem Analysis for P.
- MSW 521 Week 5: Displaced Household Needs Survey
- MSW 520 Week 5: PM+ Adaptation for Camp Women
- MSW 517 Week 5: Young Caregivers Group Plan
MSW 525 Week 5 questions, answered
How much detail belongs in the play account?
Enough that another worker could picture the sequence and disagree with your reading of it. That usually means what was picked up, what happened to it, and roughly when, rather than every movement in the hour. Records running long are almost always long in ordinary handling, and the length gets taken from the part where the marks actually sit.
Does the write-up have to name a play approach?
Most sections ask for it and then mark whether the record matches. A non-directive approach and a structured one produce different documents: one shows a worker following, the other shows a worker introducing material, and a write-up claiming one while showing the other is caught at once. Name it early and let the quoted lines demonstrate it.
What if very little happened?
Then that is the meeting and the record says so without padding. A child who spent most of an hour arranging objects and saying nothing has produced real material, and an honest account of it reads better than an invented run of events. What sections mark down is a thin description inflated with interpretation to fill the space.
Where can I find a free MSW 525 Week 5 sample paper?
A complete MSW 525 Week 5 play session write-up with N., forty minutes in a clinic playroom, is printed here whole, with margin notes on keeping description and reading apart.
Does the MSW 525 Week 5 sample say the crash play means the child is processing the trauma?
No. It offers that reading and a simpler one, curiosity about the toys, and says only the pattern across later sessions can decide between them.