Thursday, June 21, 2007

is this the way to go?

A more sombre entry after the two fun ones…

Kai had his very first Weekly Speech Therapy on Wednesday (which I nearly forgot all about but remembered the night before, phew!) I was aprehensive on how it would turn out since as the months have gone on, he has responded to Linda more and more negatively. If you recall, last month he turned his back to her at our house and didn't respond but pouted. This month we are at the Surrey Early Speech & Language (SESLP…I just can't remember what the P stands for, lol) building.

Kai did fine. He was ready to go, was happy to get there, played well with the toys, but immediately shied when Linda arrived to take us to our room. He warmed up a bit and sat at the table with her and said, "yeah" that he wanted to play a game, so all was going well. Or so I thought. But then she asked him to do something. And that's when the ST went downhill.

He refused. Absolutely. Refused. Would NOT do it. Not attempt it. Didn't even want to.

All she asked him to do was POINT. She knows he can do that and so she wants him to feel less pressure and more confident doing the things that he CAN do instead of focusing on speech. (meanwhile I'm biting my tongue b/c I KNOW he can SAY the word "UP") The task was that he HAD to point "UP" with his finger if he wanted the penguin to climb the stairs. (do you remember the toy where the penguins climb this moving stairs to the top and then slide down and climb back up with the battery-operated button?) She did manage to catch him sneakily…he was rubbing his nose, and she claimed it as him pointing! So she turned on the toy and up climbed the penguin, and then down he slid and made it to the bottom again. Kai liked that. Then she turned it off, added another penguin so there were two, and asked him to POINT again.

He refused. But instead of just slouching in his chair and pouting, he started up with the crocodile tears! He did a bit of a whine and turned in his chair and refused to even look at her! When she asked him to just point again, he started to cry again and it went on and one. He literally cried for half an hour!!!!!!

He's sniffling, rubbing his eyes, crying… and I'm trying to pretend I'm not there!!! I just didn't know what to do or think. Is this what we're supposed to do? Are we really supposed to frustrate him so much that he is forced into this? Is this just "crocodile tears" of frustration, a sort of temper tantrum, or is this really him being upset and feeling cornered? I'm not too sure how I feel about it. A part of me wonders if I'm too "soft" on him and let him get away with a lot by not forcing him like she tried. Should I be doing that at home? Not giving in, even if it makes him throw a fit and cry? I don't know. I suppose in some ways I should… but I've also tried that several times at her suggestion and I haven't noticed it work at all yet!!! But, is that MY fault b/c I haven't tried hard enough and stuck with it or is it just something that's not going to work for him?

*sigh* Sorry, that's a lot of questions, isn't it? I'm just not too sure what to do for my little guy. Our ST is supposed to last an hour, but at 10:40, she let us go home. Kai cried and sniffed and clung to me in my arms all the way to the car, and then settled down as we prepared to leave. Of course he "chatted" on the way home too!!! I even got him to SAY "up"!!!! AND point it!!!!! (roll eyes) I asked him why he wouldn't do it for Linda, but he just looked down and didn't have an answer. *sigh* Neither do I.

I felt sooo disheartened by it. So I've decided that we'll try this weekly thing out for her plan. She wants to meet for 6 weeks, then break for summer and then start up again in Septemeber. I think that if we don't see any change in him by 6 weeks, I'm going to look into a new therapist. I mean, sheesh! Kai is getting WORSE with her, not better!!! He's Refusing to work with her!!! Is that due to his stubborness or because she's just not fitting him well? He'll be Four in November, and although he has grown Immensely the past few months, I want to see him closer to his peers with speech and he's only nearly a 2 year old's, and that is not acceptable.

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