Is it ok to do both therapy

amother

Sun, Jun 13 2021, 10:30 pm

My forth grade dd years old started seeing the school therapist after being diagnosed as adhd mid year. She's been fighting going all these months but therapist insisted she continue. Saying she needs to see someone for all her "issues". Her principals along with the therapist want her to continue next year saying she just needs more time to get used to it. And that she can only come back next year on the condition she continues. I asked to take her to a clinic and they said only if next year doesn't work out. They will make me responsible for taking her to the clinic-to stay in school and social worker would have to be in touch with the clinic? What do you think.

snowflake1

Sun, Jun 13 2021, 10:41 pm

I think kids should like a therapist. Therapy is based on the relationship of the client and therapist if they do not get along I don’t see how much help can be accomplished
Why don’t you find her a therapist over the summer and then Tell the school that she is in a good relationship with his therapist
Making sure that your therapist will work with the school

There are many modalities of therapy that may not be available to school therapist e.g. sand therapy play therapy or therapy it does not just have to be talking or playing games

seeker

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 12:04 am

I'm disturbed that the school is so insistent that she continue meeting with this therapist that failed to develop a rapport after several months, even with you committing to take her to a different therapist. This sounds like torture for the kid. Is the school especially supportive in any other way? Because unless there is very good reason to stay attached, this would be a huge turnoff for me.

amother

Diamond

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 12:29 am

Oh your situation breaks my heart. I had a similar situation with dd, I ended up getting her privately evaluated and got support from that evaluator for dealing with the school's pushiness

smss

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 1:39 am

What everyone else said.
Mishpacha recently did an article interviewing many different therapists, and one running theme was that way more important than the modality of therapy is the therapist-client relationship.

amother

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 6:11 am

The said the reason for not clicking is my daughters issue that she won't be happy with anyone its part of what needs to be worked out. I'm wondering if I would take her on my own if I need the school involved. Is it better if the school therapist is working behind the scenes

amother

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 6:21 am

Should the school be working with the therapist. Should the school therapist be giving over info to a new therapist. Or should a new therapist be working on the growth of the child. Without being fed information

amother

Mauve

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 6:37 am

We've had several school issues too and the school wanted us to see a specific outside therapist. What worked for us was finding our own therapist. We set our own goals based on global issues, not necessarily school specific. I then brought her in for a meeting with the school administration and she gave various techniques regarding how to help my child in school. The therapist made such a good impression, that the school later contacted me for her info so they can refer her to others.
I agree with the posters above that you need to find someone who works for you and the child, not the school.

amother

Rose

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 6:53 am

Hi! I never do this but I think I may be able to help you. I am an educational play therapist-meaning I work on educational and social emotional goals through play. I am an educator not a social worker so I take a different approach which may be helpful for your daughter. Going anon because it is very obvious who I am as this is a new approach in therapy and education. I also act as a go between for the school and help set things up to make them more manageable for your child. If you are interested I can put contact info up. Eirher way I wish you hatzlach with all my heart! School can be so long and hard for so many children.

amother

Azure

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 7:15 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Alarm bells are going off for me. She sees your daughter as broken, and its her job to fix her. No wonder your daughter is fighting going.
Also the insistence on a specific therapist who has not proven helpful for your daughter seems fishy to me...is your daughter's success their priority? Or something else driving?

imasinger

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 7:43 am

amother [OP] wrote:

Snowflake1 has a good idea, to find a good therapist for her over the summer, and see if that works better.

You can ask an outside therapist to communicate with the school, advise them on a good path forward in the fall.

It's usual for a parent to sign forms at a clinic permitting free exchange of information between the school and the therapist.

Any good therapist isn't going to take the school's report as their primary source of information. Their own evaluation of the child comes first, and your report as parent comes second.

But it's still helpful to the therapist to have the information from the school. And it may help the therapist to know what to explain to the school if she is successful in understanding and helping DD over the summer.

amother

SandyBrown

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 8:12 am

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

Been wanting to do this. What kind of training do you need for this?

amother

Rose

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 8:34 am

amother [ SandyBrown ] wrote:

Been wanting to do this. What kind of training do you need for this?

I have special and regular ed training as well as aba and floortime. The training and experience as a therapist and intergrated co teacher are what help me qualify. The best thing to do is work as support staff like a seit or ict teacher which helps you understand the challenges of helping students with learning differences in a mainstream classroom. You learn to advocate for students and how to modify in a way that does not disrupt the flow of the class or single out the student being helped. The educational play therapy piece is a whole different story and too complex to explain in this forum now and im worried well end up distracting from op.

oneofakind

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 9:05 am

Find an outside therapist outside of school and make sure they will communicate and advocate with the school. What often happens is the outside therapist is too busy or not being paid to talk to the school so the school's issues with the child aren't being addressed and they get very frustrated.

seeker

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 10:31 am

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

How are you going to help OP if you're both anonymous?

And just curious, what is new about the idea of working on educational and social-emotional goals through play? Some schools/teachers/therapists do it more than others, but the idea is at least as old as I am. For SEITs, almost their whole career centers around working on educational and social-emotional goals through play. I applaud what you're doing but wondering what the chiddush is.

amother

Rose

Mon, Jun 14 2021, 12:17 pm

seeker wrote:

If she is interested I will give an email or go under my screen name but dont want to unless there is a reason to as I post on here under my screen name sometimes and dont want to be recognized. 100 percent working through play is not a new concept and is continuing to be more recognized BH. I do not want to derail this thread further by going into details about my professional methods.