Teacher thinks she needs "play therapy"

amother

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 10:32 am

I got a call from DD's teacher. She says sometimes in school when the class is doing an activity, DD would rather sit on the side and not participate. I understand that the teacher wants to have all the kids involved. So she wants her to learn participation.
DD is perfectly fine. She gets along with siblings, neighbors and cousins without any problems. (siblings:the usual fighting, not uncommon in other families) She's playful and fun. She loves to laugh and have a good time. I can't see why she wouldn't want to cooperate in class activities.

Do you think I should go along with what the teacher is suggesting? Or do I know my daughter and we can handle this without her having to leave class during school time?

FranticFrummie

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 12:10 pm

Playing is never a bad thing, and social stories playing can be helpful.

If your DD is shy, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I wish people would quit thinking that shy people need to be fixed! Being quiet or introverted is not a disability, last time I checked.

/pet peeve

Barbara

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 12:33 pm

amother wrote:

How old is your daughter? You seem concerned about leaving the classroom during school time, which leads me to believe she is in elementary school, but the lack of concern about not participating in activities (which may well be academic in nature) makes me think she's in nursery school.

What does she say about why she is not participating in class activities?

Is there a particular type of activity that she refrains from (eg, doesn't paint), or is it more universal? Is she willing to participate in educational activities?

You say she "gets along" with other children. What does that mean? Does she initiate play? Is she asked to participate in other children's play? Does she participate?

Why does the teacher think she needs play therapy? Is it simply that she sometimes doesn't participate, or does the teacher see something more? When would the therapy take place?

imasinger

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 12:37 pm

Any time a teacher mentions a concern, I think it is worth taking seriously.

But that doesn't mean you jump straight to taking her out of class for therapy.

The logical next step is expert evaluation. Try a school counselor, or maybe ask a pediatrician for a referral to a developmental pediatrician.

You have to get a clearer picture on if there is a problem, and if so, how much of a problem.

SingALong

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 11:29 pm

If an eval indicates a need for play therapy, maybe try to find a play therapist that will work with your dd in the classroom? Benefit #1 she won't miss class time. Benefit 2: dd doesn't need to carryover what she learns in therapy to her classroom since she's learning things in her natural setting. 3. Teacher is on board with therapists techniques to be able to "continue" through your the day what she saw the play therapist do with your dd

michal817

Tue, Nov 18 2014, 12:09 am

Before having her evaluated, you should find out what, if anything, the teacher has done to encourage your daughter to participate. Often, consultation and collaboration with the teacher, a school psychologist, behavior specialist, etc, can lead to effective classroom interventions, with no testing necessary. Of course, though, if the teacher has tried different strategies (consistently and for a long enough period of time) without any results, then an evaluation might be the next step.

seeker

Tue, Nov 18 2014, 12:15 am

I think it's out of place for a teacher to say "she needs play therapy." What the teacher should say is that she's concerned about the child's lack of participation in class activities, and then you can arrange to evaluate possible causes of this to determine how to address it.

I would be concerned enough to look into this further. Has DD been in school before? If so ask her teacher from the previous year how her participation was. What has the teacher tried so far to encourage her participation - how did DD respond to these? Are there certain types of activities that she participates in more? If the class has free play time, does she interact appropriately with others (and by appropriately I mean playing and initiating play in similar ways to the other kids her age)?

I have a DD who's somewhat like this, playful and interactive at home and with guests/relatives but doesn't participate well in school. It could come from various different reasons (processing/overwhelmed, anxiety, social learning difficulty, etc) but even a shy, introverted kid generally participates in normal, everyday class activities unless something else is stopping them. So I wouldn't give any blanket recommendation since we can't know the cause at this point, but I wouldn't ignore it either. At this point in the school year most kids should have already gotten over their shyness.