8.28.2008

DT

Why oh why does this have to be so difficult??!! Ugh..... tantrum over. Mary was late today. I had this sinking feeling that she wouldn't come this week for whatever reason, and so even though I had already pumped DS up of what Mary would do and where we would sit and what we would play etc.. when she wasn't here 13 min's after the appt, I figured she wasn't coming. I already planned it in my head that this was her 3rd strike and I would call and get a new DT. (Strikes 1 & 2 were just plain out not doing things that she promised she'd do for us on 2 previous occasions. I dont remember if I blogged about those or not) 920, she pulls up. Traffic is her excuse. Im in a bad mood, trying to make the best of the appointment and be gracious (as I KNOW should be my reaction since Ive also been late to many things and traffic is sometimes a good reason-but mostly because God gives ME grace - that I never deserve). But, my skepticism gets in the way and I am not doing a great job of making the most of the appointment at all. So, my judgement was clouded today. 20 minutes is a LONG time to be late when your session is only supposed to last between 45-60 min. She did decide she was staying longer today since she was late... but she spent about 35 min's reading one book to DS. Would that have bothered me if she wasn't late? I don't know. I asked her at the end of the appointment if she was still trying to let him get used to her and feel him out and she said not really. She said she was trying to work on 'WH' questions with him (with the book). He does get very focused on things (like this ABC book she picked). I guess I'm used to more fast paced therapy that moves from one activity to another quicker and is more demanding. I guess I already know that he is great at labeling things in books (which is what they were doing together) and I should have spoken up then. I guess I was waiting for some groundbreaking therapy to come out of it & it never did. Then, they played with a dumptruck and some blocks, made up a game where they clean up blocks by putting them on their heads and letting them fall back into the dumptruck. And we discussed his newest issues with his reactions to 'Uh-oh' and 'Oh-no' (as detailed in the post 'new this week'). We agreed that Uh-oh and Oh-no are reactions that he will experience in the world all the time & that he needs to be exposed to those reactions in a setting that will allow him to understand WHY someone is hurt or surprised and that its OK and its not the end of the world. She really didn't give me concrete examples of how to do this other than to go to the library and look for books on emotions. About mid-sentance discussing these issues, she jumped up and said - well, I'll see you next week. It's almost as if we are important as long as the clock is ticking and she's getting paid. Then, as soon as those minutes are over, it doesnt matter that we were in the MIDST of discussing an issue that she thought was important & needed to be addressed. My experience this week - EH. Bad mood - Yes. Clouded Judgement - Yes. Try again- Yes.

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