What therapist for 4 year old?

yiddishmom

Sun, Feb 04 2024, 5:35 pm

Hi all.

My 4 year old son, my oldest, is very bright BH.

He has some anxiety/ intensity issues that I'd like to address. Not sure what type of therapist would help. Suggestions would be appreciated.

- every few weeks we go through a cycle where he has difficulty falling asleep and awakens multiple times a night. He wakes up in a PANIC and all sweaty. Even when I let him sleep on a mattress in my room, he'll wake up and crawl in to my bed at some point.

- our fire alarm went off a few weeks ago because I left a pot on the flame for too long. Since then, anytime he hears any kind of beeping sound, his eyes open wide in fear and he looks around. By now he already learnt that not every sound is a fire alarm, so he'll try to be brave and tell my 2 year old "it's not a fire, don't worry", but still in a very distressed tone.
Today my husband said he'll press the fire alarm to test it, my son broke down in tears begging him not to press it.

-He is always carrying responsibility for my 2 year old. Even if I'm around. He'll frantically warn her not to stand too close to stairs, because maybe she'll fall... plenty other examples not coming to mind right this minute.

- He'll sometimes even worry for me and my husband "did you remember to lock the door?" "Did you shut the oven before leaving the house?", etc.

- He is also very sensory. Refuses certain clothing. Smells things from miles away. Hears very soft noises that I barely hear.

Socially, he is BH doing very well. He is a leader type. It can take him a few weeks to warm up to a new person, but then he'll take charge.

All these issues only present themselves at home. Whenever I discussed with his morahs in the past, and this year with his rebbe, they had no idea what I was referring to.

Anyhow, thank you for reading my long post. What type of therapy do you think would help? Feel free to ask questions, I'll try to answer.

I'm located in Lakewood, any specific recommendations would also be helpful.

Thank you very much!

amother

Daisy

Sun, Feb 04 2024, 6:07 pm

If anything I’d suggest for *you* and your husband speak to a therapist and get support and ideas to deal with him and support him.
Relief told me they recommend that for a few reason one being that the child gets used to turning to his parent for support

amother

Royalblue

Sun, Feb 04 2024, 6:34 pm

I would have him tested for pandas

amother

Lightgreen

Sun, Feb 04 2024, 7:28 pm

I would do an educational Psychologist for an assessment of your child. Maybe it is anxiety, maybe it is super high intelligence that his maturity hasn't caught up to yet. Maybe it is a sensory issue.
From there- take the suggestions and recommendations as a starting point.

I would also see an LMFT for you and your husband to consult. Help you learn how to help your child. At that age, therapy can help if there is a specific trauma or incident but they really need you to help them cope.

amother

Dill

Sun, Feb 04 2024, 10:28 pm

Non directive play therapy. To let him get in touch with unconscious. Let him play it out and put language to it so his system can come down.

amother

Carnation

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 3:04 pm

PCIT or SPACE

https://www.pcit.org/

https://www.spacetreatment.net/

These are evidenced based treatments for young children. Both have parental involvement.

amother

Pear

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 3:16 pm

amother Carnation wrote:

PCIT or SPACE

https://www.pcit.org/

https://www.spacetreatment.net/

These are evidenced based treatments for young children. Both have parental involvement.

As a therapist who treats this type of anxiety, I stand behind these recommendations. Both involve a lot of support for the parents.

amother

Slategray

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 3:24 pm

I would recommend mom in therapy to learn how to deal with child

yiddishmom

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 5:39 pm

Sorry for not getting back earlier.

Thank you for the replies. I will iyH be speaking to a psychologist to hear his thoughts/ recommendations.

I appreciat the different modalities mentioned above, as I am completely clueless in this area.

Thank you!

amother

Firethorn

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 5:52 pm

amother Carnation wrote:

PCIT or SPACE

https://www.pcit.org/

https://www.spacetreatment.net/

These are evidenced based treatments for young children. Both have parental involvement.

Following same situation here.
I have done OT helped in the short term not in the long term.
I am interested in the above do you have names of therapists that you can recommend that do it?

amother

Currant

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 6:01 pm

You can look into mnri ot. There a few practitioners in Lakewood

amother

Firebrick

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 6:55 pm

I have a child with a fear of smoke detectors too.

Is your son a Covid baby? I had Covid when I was pregnant with this one.

We are doing conventional therapy OT, speech and special education

I am also doing cranial sacral therapy, I found that it did lower his anxiety levels. Very important to go to an experienced high quality provider. Perhaps someone can recommend a Lakewood cranial specialist

amother

Firebrick

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 9:27 am

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=.....3aXR6