If it doesn’t feel right, avoid it! If it makes sense, try it! While navigating through the maze of services, professionals, and therapeutic/educational strategies, make sure they (1) make sense to you, and (2) feel right for your child. So often I talk to parents that (1) do not thoroughly understand what is going on, or (2) do not feel comfortable with having it done. However, because the therapist, doctor, teacher, or administrator recommends it, they go along with it. They feel uncomfortable questioning what the “experts” say is needed. They do not question until it makes sense and feels comfortable. Please, for your sake and that of your child, do not accept anything that doesn’t make sense to you, and that you don’t feel comfortable with. This means (1) asking the professional to explain everything in easy to understand language, (2) asking for research references, (3) possibly doing so researching yourself, and (4) judging the appropriate “fit” for your child. If a professional truly understands what they are doing, and has effectively evaluated your child, then they should be capable of easy explaining it to you. When you question what they are saying, they should be comfortable (1) listening to your wishes, (2) validating your concerns, and (3) being flexible to accommodating the individual needs of the child. The ability to listen and collaborate with both the parents and the child is so vital to a long term therapeutic relationship. You should feel “good” with both the strategies and the professional providing the service. Characteristics to look for: 1. Does the professional listen to you, answer your questions, and speak in a language you understand? If they provide quick, pat answers, in complicated language, which do not answer your questions, be skeptical. If they brush off your concerns with the attitude that they are the professionals, and know what they are talking about, walk away! 2. Does the professional have the patience to “work with you” and your child, to increase your understanding, make the strategies comfortable and easy to implement, and model and coach you to learn them? 3. Are you able to “observe” the treatment sessions so you can (1) see what they are doing, (2) see how your child is reacting, and (3) learn how to implement them yourself? Be very skeptical of therapists who will not let you observe any of the sessions. If they do not want you physically present, then ask for them to video tape the session and sit down and review it with you. 4. For most all treatment strategies the therapists and teachers should be giving you recommendations for implementing these strategies at home, to expand the therapy throughout the day. For children on the spectrum, they need to have the strategies built into their daily routine, with frequent repetitions, to be truly effective. If you are taking your child to therapy once a week, with no real understanding of what the objectives are, and how to work on them at home, then the effectiveness of treatment will be minimized. The therapist, either at school or in the private clinic, should be encouraging and assisting the parents to use these strategies throughout the day at home. They should be training you, as well as working with your child. 5. Most importantly, does the professional seem to listen to, accept, respect, and validate your child? Is the person patient, understanding, and respectful of your child’s processing speed, sensory sensitivities, social and emotional vulnerabilities? They should be very flexible in “working with” your child (modifying and accommodating as needed), rather than molding your child to the technique. When observing, you should get a feel for how the therapist respects your child and how your child responds to the therapist. In conclusion, what the therapist is doing should make sense to you, and feel right. Do a little research, get references to talk to, and make sure that both you and the child feel very comfortable with the therapist. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Ask more questions, do more research, observe and investigate some more. If it still doesn’t “feel right”, don’t do it.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 01:57:59 +0000
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