How to prepare 5 year old to meet therapist

amother

Seashell

Wed, Aug 12 2015, 11:11 am

My 5 year old DS is very bright and generally pretty communicative, but he's been having intense anger and low self esteem for a while, in addition to some sensory issues.

I made an appointment at a local family-services agency for DH and I to talk to a therapist about our concerns, and after speaking to a social worker for a few sessions of just DH and me, the social worker would like to meet DS.

How do I introduce the idea of a therapist to DS? Any advice?

(Some background: I have been seeing a therapist for a few years, but DS isn't particularly away of that. Would that be a helpful thing to mention to him?)

amother

Amber

Wed, Aug 12 2015, 11:30 am

It's a tough call. My parents dragged me to a therapist when I was about 8. I was mortified and completely humiliated even though they did their best to make me not realize what it was. They refused to acknowlege his title and then only told me he affirmed that I'm completely normal. I felt very bad about the whole situation.

seeker

Wed, Aug 12 2015, 11:37 am

I would keep explanation to a minimum. Often a kid is satisfied with less so why complicate things?
I'd say something like "after school today we're going to visit a special kind of morah. Your regular morah teaches and helps the whole class. So this morah is a teacher and helper too but just for one kid at a time." You make it sound like they're lucky they get to have a turn with the special morah. In all likelihood your child is probably familiar with the idea of a special morah because lots of preschoolers get various therapies in school. All the other kids get jealous and wish they could have a turn to go out with a "special morah." If you don't make it into something to be anxious about, they won't either. Anxious types of kids at this age just want to know what to expect, they don't need any big why answers, just things like where and what will happen. So if your kid is the anxious type and has questions about what will happen, you just reassure them that it's going to be nice, maybe some talking, maybe some playing, you'll see.