Recognizing PANS and PANDAS in the Playroom
Part of our Book Study+ Series
📕 Purchase the book Childhood Interrupted, by Beth Alison Maloney
🎓 Earn 14 NBCC/14 APT non-contact CE hours by completing this self-paced home study.
🤓 Participants purchase and read the entire book and complete self reflecting writing prompts in lieu of a long exam
☀️ Additional supplemental material helps bring the concepts to life through case studies, sand tray images, and teaching content from PANS/PANDAS specialist Gabrielle Anderson, LMFT, RPT-S™.
What is PANS/PANDAS? Do Any of My Clients Have This?
You may have heard of PANDAS, and perhaps even the broader term PANS.
But what do these conditions actually look like in the play therapy room and what can you, the play therapist do to help?
About the Child
Some play therapists work with children whose symptoms feel unusually intense or confusing. A child may develop severe OCD, separation anxiety, emotional dysregulation, rage episodes, or sudden regression that does not respond to typical therapeutic approaches.
In PANDAS, symptoms are often described as having an abrupt onset following infection.
PANS, while sometimes sudden, may present more broadly as extreme dysregulation and psychiatric symptoms that are difficult to explain.
For therapists, this raises important questions. Why did this child change so dramatically? Why are the symptoms so resistant to treatment? Could something medical be interacting with the child’s mental health?
For You, Therapist
📚 In the book, Childhood Interrupted, Beth Alison Maloney shares the story of her son’s experience with PANS/PANDAS, offering a window into how these conditions can affect children and families.
✏️ Throughout the electronic writing prompts (in lieu of lengthy exam) you will connect the concepts from the book to play therapy practice, exploring how these symptoms may present in the playroom and how play therapy can support children and their families.
👩🏻💻 Then in a pre-recorded class, listen to Gabrielle Anderson, LMFT, RPT-S™ explain how PANS and PANDAS can disguise themselves in other mental health diagnoses and receive tangible play therapy tools and tips (including sand tray case studies with images) on how to help both the child and the parent cope, heal and build resilience.
This training is not designed to teach therapists to diagnose PANS or PANDAS. Instead, it helps clinicians recognize patterns that may warrant curiosity, collaboration with medical providers, and thoughtful therapeutic support.
How Can This Training Help YOU?
This training helps therapists widen their clinical lens when working with children whose symptoms feel
unusually intense, confusing, or resistant to treatment.
Through reading Childhood Interrupted and participating in the guided discussion, you will:
☀️ Better understand what PANS and PANDAS are and why these conditions are often misunderstood or missed
☀️ Learn common symptom patterns therapists may notice in children experiencing extreme dysregulation, OCD,
separation anxiety, or sudden behavioral changes
☀️ Explore how these symptoms may appear inside the playroom and what therapists may observe through play
☀️ Consider how play therapy can support children and families navigating overwhelming behavioral and emotional changes
☀️ Develop greater clinical curiosity about when collaboration with pediatricians or medical specialists may be helpful
This training is designed to help therapists listen differently, ask better questions, and support families who may be searching for answers.
Learning Objectives
Narrative case material will be paired with current research to support evidence-informed play therapy practice with children and adolescents experiencing sudden-onset neuropsychiatric symptoms.
After completing this training, participants will be able to:
🍎 Differentiate between PANS/PANDAS symptom presentation and at least two commonly assigned mental health diagnoses, and analyze how misdiagnosis may occur within play therapy and broader clinical settings.
🍎 Assess a child’s readiness for cognitive and behavioral interventions by identifying neurological, developmental, and emotional indicators, and select appropriate play therapy or alternative interventions when CBT is not clinically indicated.
🍎 Apply play therapy principles to support parents of children with PANS/PANDAS by identifying strategies that reduce caregiver blame, increase validation, and strengthen parent–therapist collaboration.
🍎 Evaluate systemic and professional barriers that limit awareness of PANS/PANDAS within the mental health field and formulate strategies to improve interdisciplinary understanding and advocacy within play therapy practice.
🍎 Develop school-based support recommendations by identifying appropriate IEP and 504 accommodations for children with PANS/PANDAS, and integrate play therapy-informed collaboration strategies when working with educators.
🍎 Observe and interpret clinical case material presented through sandtray and expressive art demonstrations, and translate symbolic and behavioral themes into developmentally appropriate play therapy interventions for children with PANS/PANDAS.
Who Is This Course Designed For?
This training is designed for clinicians who work with children and adolescents and want to better understand how sudden or severe behavioral and emotional symptoms may intersect with medical conditions such as PANS and PANDAS.
This training may be especially helpful for:
☀️ Play therapists working with children experiencing extreme dysregulation, OCD, separation anxiety, or sudden behavioral changes
☀️ Child and adolescent therapists who want to better recognize patterns that may warrant collaboration with medical providers
☀️ Clinicians interested in expanding their clinical lens when symptoms appear confusing, intense, or resistant to treatment
☀️ Supervisors supporting therapists who work with complex child cases
This training is appropriate for licensed mental health professionals and graduate-level trainees interested in strengthening their understanding of how neuropsychiatric symptoms may influence children’s play, behavior, and emotional expression.