Black Play Therapy Foundation

02/08/2026

Hey Good People! Your Help Is Needed to Complete This Important Research!

Teachers Needed for Important Autism Education Research

Are you a middle school teacher with experience working with Black parents of Autistic students?

Maria Davis-Pierre, LMHC (Nova Southeastern University), needs four Middle School teachers for her doctoral research study: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: A Qualitative Exploration of Teacher Perception of Black Children Autism Education

What the study explores: How culturally responsive teaching approaches impact relationships, communication, and trust-building between teachers and Black families of Autistic children.

Why it matters: Your insights will help improve educational practices and professional development to better support Black Autistic students and their families.

Learn more and participate:
www.autisminblack.org/research

This independent research study is not affiliated with Autism in Black.



Help fill a critical gap in autism education research.

02/06/2026

The school-to-prison pipeline starts earlier than you think.

Black children are suspended from PRESCHOOL at rates 3.6x higher than white children. By elementary school, they’re labeled “aggressive,” “defiant,” “troublemakers.” By middle school, they’re arrested in school hallways. By high school, many are in the juvenile justice system.

This is the school-to-prison pipeline.

And it’s powered by cognitive biases, unconscious patterns that steal Black childhoods and limit futures.

We’re gathering to disrupt it.

2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium
July 10-11, 2026 | Springfield, VA
Reclaiming Black Childhood

This symposium moves beyond awareness to action. Through an interactive panel, expressive arts, and case-based learning, you’ll gain the tools to:

Recognize the cognitive biases driving the school-to-prison pipeline.
Interrupt criminalization in your classroom, therapy room, or agency.
Protect Black childhood at every stage of the pipeline.

Who Should Attend: Mental Health Professionals | Educators | Parents | Advocates | Community Leaders

Up to 12 CE hours available

Break the pipeline. Reclaim childhood. Join us.

Register: www.blackplaytherapy.com

02/01/2026

02/01/2026

01/12/2026

All 2026 Speakers Confirmed…

Will you join us in July for the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium in Springfield VA?

This year’s focus is on Cognitive Biases that criminalize and institutionalize Black Children.

01/12/2026

Will you join us in July for the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium in Springfield VA?

This year’s focus is on Cognitive Biases that criminalize and institutionalize Black Children.



Unicorn Life Play Therapy

01/11/2026

All 2026 Speakers Confirmed…

Will you join us in July for the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium in Springfield VA?

This year’s focus is on Cognitive Biases that criminalize and institutionalize Black Children.



Unicorn Life Play Therapy

01/08/2026

Name it. Recognize it. Interrupt it.

Picture two 6-year-old girls having meltdowns in a store.

Girl A (white):
“Oh honey, are you tired? Let’s get you a snack.”
Seen as needing comfort and care

Girl B (Black):
“You know better than this! Stop right now!”
Seen as needing discipline and control.

Same age. Same behavior. But the White child gets empathy, the Black child gets anger.

01/08/2026

Name it. Recognize it. Interrupt it.

Picture two 6-year-old girls having meltdowns in a store.

Girl A (white):
"Oh honey, are you tired? Let's get you a snack."
Seen as needing comfort and care

Girl B (Black):
"You know better than this! Stop right now!"
Seen as needing discipline and control.

Same age. Same behavior. But the White child gets empathy, the Black child gets anger.


Unicorn Life Play Therapy

01/05/2026

Name the Bias…

Same behavior.
Different child.
Different consequence.

Unconscious bias leads to the criminalization of Black children

Two 7-year-old boys running in the hallway.

White child: “Boys will be boys! Slow down, buddy."
Black child: Stop right now! You know better. Office. Now."

This happens every day in schools across America.

Name it. Recognize it. Interrupt it.


Unicorn Life Play Therapy

09/28/2025

Sometimes I can get on a one track mind. I’ve spent the last six or so years using LEGO (before LEGO it was sand tray) as a 3D healing medium that I forgot how much I enjoyed using art-based mediums for healing. I’ve been working through grief and loss over the past few months. A therapist recommended an art therapy retreat, so this week I participated in a 5-day online expressive healing retreat that ended on Friday. Here are some of my pieces. Man when I tell you how I had to survive in this visualization to get to safety in a cave🤔😳😩. I got in the cave doing a military crawl to not encounter the monsters 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣🤣🤣. I LOVED all of hearing the stories behind the art. Healing is definitely necessary for the healer too💜🖤