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Pretty insightful!!
So, what brings this up. Shyanne has been going to "play therapy" for a few years now. Since she was about 3. She started with a wonderful woman in Maine who worked with her, as well as DW and me. Shy enjoyed going there. She got a chance to play with her. She had a lot of dolls and a doll house and some other age appropriate toys that she just loved to play with.
When we moved, one of our first priorities was to find a similar therapist here. We asked around a lot and finally got the name of a woman who had time to see her. She started seeing Shy, as well as DW and me, and we have been happy with her.
Shy has been happy with her too. She is no longer only wanting to play with dolls and doll houses though. She has advanced to some pretty interesting games. Some games of strategy as well that are billed for much older children, but none the less, she plays them. According to her therapist she not only plays them, but understands them, and understands the strategy involved in some pretty advanced games that she has. Usually games that she reserves for much older children.
That is not the insightful part though.
This past Tuesday Shyanne had an epiphany. She now has come to realize that she doesn't go there JUST "to play" as she previous thought. It is no longer a "play date" to her. It is someone she can talk to about all sorts of things. Someone who will understand and help her to understand issues and someone she can talk to.
Now that is pretty insightful for a 6 year old if you ask me!!
Of course I am happy that she is bright and insightful and "gets it" and all of that. It shows she is growing and maturing. All the things we hope for our children. On the other hand, I wish it wouldn't happen quite so fast.
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Showing posts with label play therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label play therapy. Show all posts
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Growing.....Two Ways!!
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And I don't mean height and width......
Today is a visit with Shy's play therapist. She has been making real good progress and we are very happy with the way she has been handling things. She is a bit of a drama queen at times, and she does still have problems controlling her temper at times, but for the most part, she is a much improved version every day. In the last two weeks since her last visit to the therapist, I think I can't even take up a full hand counting the number of outbursts she has had.
She also has been eating quite well lately. There has been less complaints about the food we have and much more eating of what we put in front of her. At least at dinner. Yesterday she had a pretty good amount of spaghetti and then an hour or so later she wanted a bowl of cereal. She actually made it for herself.........We were in the living room and she asked if she could have some cocoa puffs since she was still hungry. We said OK, thinking that she was going to do her usual of pouring a few into a small Tupperware container and eating them by hand.
After a little while, DW looked at me and said: "What do you think she is doing?"
I decided to go check it out. She had a bowl of cereal in front of her. It was a pretty good size bowl and there was an empty carton of milk next to her. I asked her if she finished the milk and she said she had. Then she said:
"Actually, I used a little more milk than I needed, so I used this (holding up a straw from a drink box) and sucked up the extra out of the bowl"..........How resourceful of her....anyway
She didn't finish the bowl of cereal, but she ate quite a bit. So we certainly think she is going through one of those growth spurts that kids go through on occasion. It seems like she gets taller by the minute. Now her biological mother was not REAL tall, but I think she was certainly taller than average. Her biological father on the other hand was not a tall man at all. I would put him at about 5'7" or so. In any event.....
Shyanne is certainly growing both physically and emotionally, and that is something worth writing about!!
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And I don't mean height and width......
Today is a visit with Shy's play therapist. She has been making real good progress and we are very happy with the way she has been handling things. She is a bit of a drama queen at times, and she does still have problems controlling her temper at times, but for the most part, she is a much improved version every day. In the last two weeks since her last visit to the therapist, I think I can't even take up a full hand counting the number of outbursts she has had.
She also has been eating quite well lately. There has been less complaints about the food we have and much more eating of what we put in front of her. At least at dinner. Yesterday she had a pretty good amount of spaghetti and then an hour or so later she wanted a bowl of cereal. She actually made it for herself.........We were in the living room and she asked if she could have some cocoa puffs since she was still hungry. We said OK, thinking that she was going to do her usual of pouring a few into a small Tupperware container and eating them by hand.
After a little while, DW looked at me and said: "What do you think she is doing?"
I decided to go check it out. She had a bowl of cereal in front of her. It was a pretty good size bowl and there was an empty carton of milk next to her. I asked her if she finished the milk and she said she had. Then she said:
"Actually, I used a little more milk than I needed, so I used this (holding up a straw from a drink box) and sucked up the extra out of the bowl"..........How resourceful of her....anyway
She didn't finish the bowl of cereal, but she ate quite a bit. So we certainly think she is going through one of those growth spurts that kids go through on occasion. It seems like she gets taller by the minute. Now her biological mother was not REAL tall, but I think she was certainly taller than average. Her biological father on the other hand was not a tall man at all. I would put him at about 5'7" or so. In any event.....
Shyanne is certainly growing both physically and emotionally, and that is something worth writing about!!
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Friday, April 3, 2009
Patience is a Virtue
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This week we saw the Social Worker, the Medical Doctor and the "Play Therapist".
The SW met with bio-mom and dad for the first time since visits stopped 3 months ago. They never once asked how their children were. It seems as though one of the lawyers is quite sick so the April TPR hearing date is now going to be in May. We should find out next week when that is. We explained that (S) was having night terrors and we needed to do something as we had not had more then five complete nights sleep in the last 7 months. She was the one who suggested we ask the Medical Doctor and also gave us the name of a play therapist to call.
We had to take (S) to the doctor anyway as her rash which was diagnosed previously as eczema was not getting any better. It turned out that it was a certain kind of eczema that was going to require different medication. He also said that the Melatonion we had been giving her to help her get to sleep could be exacerbating the problem. So, now we have to stop the one thing that gets us any sleep. He had nothing in particular to offer in regards to the sleep, but he knew we were going to see a therapist and he certainly thought that was a good idea.
We saw the Play therapist today. We are desperate for anything that will help for (S) and us to get a good night sleep. One interesting thing was that there were loads of toys in this woman's office and the first thing that (S) did was go to the dollhouse and put all the dolls into the beds. That's one of those things that make you go Hmmmmmm.
(S) stopped seeing her parents the beginning of January and a few weeks after is when things started to get real bad. She stopped trying to toilet train and she started talking "baby talk" whenever you discipline her. Her sleeping was still getting worse and there seemed to be no relief. Anyway, the therapist said that this is likely a thing called "regression in the service of the ego". I had never heard that term before, but after her explanation, it seemed to make sense. She said that when a child goes through something that is quite stressful and then the stress is relieved they will regress to some point either before the stress began or as far back as they can remember and then start moving forward again. She feels that when it became obvious that she was not seeing her parents anymore that relieved her of all the stress associated with the visits and fear of what might happen when she sees them. Since she was comfortable with us, this regression wnet back to where she was when she first took notice of what was happening in her household. I don't understand all the whys and wherefores, but what I do know is we are optimistivc that the therapist will be able to help. It won't be soon enough for us as we are desperate for sleep, but as I have always been told, "patience is a virtue"
This week we saw the Social Worker, the Medical Doctor and the "Play Therapist".
The SW met with bio-mom and dad for the first time since visits stopped 3 months ago. They never once asked how their children were. It seems as though one of the lawyers is quite sick so the April TPR hearing date is now going to be in May. We should find out next week when that is. We explained that (S) was having night terrors and we needed to do something as we had not had more then five complete nights sleep in the last 7 months. She was the one who suggested we ask the Medical Doctor and also gave us the name of a play therapist to call.
We had to take (S) to the doctor anyway as her rash which was diagnosed previously as eczema was not getting any better. It turned out that it was a certain kind of eczema that was going to require different medication. He also said that the Melatonion we had been giving her to help her get to sleep could be exacerbating the problem. So, now we have to stop the one thing that gets us any sleep. He had nothing in particular to offer in regards to the sleep, but he knew we were going to see a therapist and he certainly thought that was a good idea.
We saw the Play therapist today. We are desperate for anything that will help for (S) and us to get a good night sleep. One interesting thing was that there were loads of toys in this woman's office and the first thing that (S) did was go to the dollhouse and put all the dolls into the beds. That's one of those things that make you go Hmmmmmm.
(S) stopped seeing her parents the beginning of January and a few weeks after is when things started to get real bad. She stopped trying to toilet train and she started talking "baby talk" whenever you discipline her. Her sleeping was still getting worse and there seemed to be no relief. Anyway, the therapist said that this is likely a thing called "regression in the service of the ego". I had never heard that term before, but after her explanation, it seemed to make sense. She said that when a child goes through something that is quite stressful and then the stress is relieved they will regress to some point either before the stress began or as far back as they can remember and then start moving forward again. She feels that when it became obvious that she was not seeing her parents anymore that relieved her of all the stress associated with the visits and fear of what might happen when she sees them. Since she was comfortable with us, this regression wnet back to where she was when she first took notice of what was happening in her household. I don't understand all the whys and wherefores, but what I do know is we are optimistivc that the therapist will be able to help. It won't be soon enough for us as we are desperate for sleep, but as I have always been told, "patience is a virtue"
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