Resilient Playgrounds

In "Resilient Playgrounds", Beth Doll and Katherine Brehm apply a data-based evaluation and problem-solving method to the playground environment, allowing school-based mental health professionals to work with teachers and administrators to provide and promote safer, more engaging, and more nurturing recess environments. The authors argue that a child's experience during the recess period, while only a relatively short time out of the day, can have a real and drastic impact on learning, behavior, and development in other areas. The aim of the book is to provide the tools to evaluate recess experiences, and strategies to implement more nurturing environments, without negating the positive value of the unstructured playtime. Written for school-based mental health professionals of all backgrounds and levels of training, the book will provide a vehicle for broader team building within the schools, working with teachers, administrators, parents, and school grounds staff to provide the best possible recess experience.

University of Nebraska at Lincoln, USA school psychologist with the Ysleta School District, El Paso, Texas, USA