play therapy- typically not supervised by parent?
groovygrl
member
our son has a lot of transition/anxiety kinds of issues w/ some other quirkiness... many behaviors of perhaps ADD down the road, a few things that could fit in a high functioning ASD diagnosis though none of the big criteria at this time...he will be 4 this summer... we are struggling w/ some parenting things with him but not at a point where we feel he should be re-evaluated (he was evaluated by a child psychiatrist in october who referred us to get some parenting type counseling for tips on how to effectively deal with his transition problems and when he gets upset...
we saw a family therapist recently who would like to try some sessions of play therapy with him to get to know him & what makes him tick & what might work with him...but the parent is not allowed/supposed to be present in the play therapy room... is this typical? I get from the standpoint of the parents' presence potentially interfering with the purpose (and to be honest if my husband went he would be that parent that interfered b/c in past evaluations for speech & also w/ the psych he would try to prod & cue my son when they would ask him things, which annoyed me so I'm sure it really annoyed the people doing the evals LOL... but it would be me who would probably be there for the visits anyway) but at the same time with him being pretty young, I feel a little weird not being able to see what she is doing/asking and how he is responding, etc.
Re: play therapy- typically not supervised by parent?
My DS is about to start a speech therapy/ social skills program that is 2.5 hours a day. Parents are not allowed in the therapy room at all. Luckily they have an observation room where parents can watch therapy.
I don't sit in on my son's speech therapy (also play based) and I don't sit in with him when he is with his psychologist (although I did for the first 2 sessions for both of our comfort levels).
I agree that parents can be a distraction. I also think you have to be comfortable with your providers so you feel at ease when your child is alone with any adult one-on-one.
I use to sit in DS's OT therapy sessions for awhile until I was comfortable and our OT switched days and DH had to go instead of me.
Other than that DS goes in by himself for Speech, OT and ABA. Sometimes the ABA needs me to be in there for some activities.
I do need to talk to the ABA and behavioral therapist more because DS can't communicate. I do go into all DS's behavioral therapy sessions.
Hmmm. That's pretty much the opposite of our experience. We've done Floortime with two different professionals and it has definitely involved participation from me and sometimes, DD2. Part of the therapy was teaching me how to guide interactions outside the professional's office, which was invaluable. I was never treated as a distraction.
Those were one-on-one situations; for group play therapy, I drop off and leave. I'd be fine with a couple of one-on-one sessions sans-parents so the professional can get a sense of DD1, and I expect as she gets older she'll do more and more on her own; but I'm limited in learning what supports her if I'm not there.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
My impression of the play therapy is that it is a specialty that you can become certified in and it is used to help kids with emotional self regulation and coping? I am going to ask a few more questions but I think they try to help identify coping strategies that work for individual kids and maybe triggers?
this was my experience with floor time as well- the instructor speaks with me prior to the session to give me an idea of what she's working on then we separate. I watch from a double sided mirror but don't physically stay with dd. when I'm there dd naturally clings to me more but when we separate they get much more out of her.
Also off topic a little but anyone have tips for getting insurance to cover anything like this without a true diagnosis the psychiatrists dx was anxiety related to adjustment disorder I believe... Would I have better luck going with a psychologist vs a lcsw or family therapist, etc or does it not matter really, it will just depend on what type of diagnoses they cover?