Posted by Noa on March 1, 2001, at 12:37:05
In reply to Anxiety Disorder in Children????????, posted by willow on February 28, 2001, at 13:01:03
It sounds like he needs a good therapist who has experience with very anxious kids. Nevermind his reaction, because he is going to react this way whenever you bring up the idea of doing something that involves meeting someone new.
BUT, what you should do is get some names of good therapists, and you and your husband should go talk with them first, and don't even mention it to your son yet. If you like the therapist you meet with, ask him or her how he or she would start working with such a bashful child, how you should bring it up with your son, what you should say about the appointment, etc. ONLY THEN, do you need to tell your child about meeting the person.
I think you will be able to find someone you like who has a gentle approach and will help you through the process. At this age, your son needs a therapist who will work with the parents and with him. It might be that the amount of time he spends alone with the therapist starts out small and gets longer. Chances are it will be a therapist who uses a lot of play to interact with him and has fun stuff in the office that your son would look forward to playing with. Do the research first, interview a couple of therapists, and based on the advice of the one you choose, then you can bring your son in on the process.
As for the LD evaluation: it may well be that there is no LD, but keep in mind that some school systems don't do the best testing and often don't look as carefully at more subtle learning disabilities than some private psychologists who do a more thorough job. Not all private ones do a thorough job--again, you need to ask around (often a Children's Hospital will have a good testing program, or can give you names of people to call, or a special education school in your area, or call the Learning Disabilities Association, ask your pediatrician, ask parents who have had their kids tested, etc.) and ask potential testers how throrough they are, what tests they give, what kinds of variables they look at, do they ever go to meet with the school to advocate for the child, etc. Actually, since the school already tested him, you can go for a consult with a private psychologist, to look over the testing and tell you if it really looked at all the variables and what they would recommend.
There are probably some good books out there for parents of anxious children, and it might be worth your while to do some reading, too. If I can stumble across some titles, I'll let you know.
poster:Noa
thread:4848
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010209/msgs/4882.html