What's New

How to Know When You or Your Child Needs a Therapist

For children, the key is when they are out of synch with their developmental stage. "No, I won't" tantrums may be developmentally appropriate for a child of 2 or 3 but not for a 5 or 6 year old. Usually by age 4 or 5, a child is able to tell a parent what she/he wants and to accept that wants are not always instantly satisfied. They are able to separate from parents or caregivers without undue crying or clinging. So if your child cannot separate without experiencing an emotional meltdown, you might want to schedule some family and/or parenting sessions to talk about or play out the feelings and situations. It's important for your child not to feel there's something wrong with him/her (or in fact with a parent). Unless there's a serious mental illness in play, you can explain it as a "communication issue" or "there's too much anger and/or tension when our family interacts with each other."

Other signs for children are lack of interaction with peers such as a child who never wants to go on play dates or go to birthday parties. School behaviors can be a sign that some early intervention is needed. Some children are overly anxious, hyper vigilant, or believe they can't succeed. At school, they may continually say "I can't do this" or bang or slap their heads in frustration. All of these can be raised and talked about and/or played out with puppets or small figures with a child-oriented therapist.   Read full article

posted by Nancy Henningsen @ 10:17 AM