increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

We've been adding therapies every week to slowly adjust DS to the new schedule. It has started off rocky to say the least.

He is tantruming - all the time. The child who used to take naps without fuss is now crying for almost 2 hours in his crib. The child who could transition pretty easily has now totally lost control.

I know that going from self-directed play all the time to 6 therapists in your house a week telling you what to do is alot to adjust to but is there ANYTHING I can do to help ease him into this? He's not handling it well at all. He's not eating, his sleep is totally all over the place now, he cries about 60% of the day.. It's truly heartbreaking I know it all has to be done but every step makes me second guess if I've made all the right choices.

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

The beginning is really an adjustment for both him and you.

I stayed in his sessions at the beginning. He was 19 months old. Not used to strangers asking him to do anything. It was hard.

Over the past 2 years, I have stayed, not stayed, then stayed again in his sessions.

Are they going "hard core" with him? I know it's does not work with DS. He needs "love". Lots of it!!!! He likes anything that is done through play.

The "clinical" approach DOES NOT work for him at all.

Eventually you will get to know how your child reacts, what is working, what is not working, who is working and who is not working. Wait a bit and you might have to do some adjustments to the therapies, time of day and/or therapits themselves.

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

i would say totally normal.

AJ started his therapy at 16 months... by 18 months he had 10 therapists.

but for him i would say after about a week or two after each new session was added he adjusted

by the time he was 2 he was nap free and was fine when starting school that sept

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

Make sure the therapists are pairing themselves up with all his pleasurable activities. Whatever it is that he LOVES have them spend time doing it. The first week or two should be very little demands and just "PAIRING".

If he associates the therapists with something negative it can be a diasaster. A good therapist knows how to "use" what he loves as a reinforcer without making the reinforcer the main attraction. This takes time though. They have to know how to fade it out. So another thing to consider is to have them not use anything too reinforcing (for my dd that would be an IPAD lol, she goes nuts for it and nothing you can do after that will ever make her excited).

Does he love any gross motor activities ? Dancing, jumping etc ? These should all be part of the session.

Don't forget he is 2.5 and set in his "ways". The therapists can't just come in and "invade" the safe haven he has set up for himself. Find out if they are intending on using Discrete Tirals approach or more of a Verbal Behavior. My dd needs to feel like she is learning in as much as a natural setting as possible. She loves relationship based therapy. Discrete trials just bores her and on top of that frustrates her if she is unable to do the task at the moment. The therapist has to take into consideration establishing a relationship/rapport.

Remember...learning occurs when there is a strong motivation. They have to tap into his "motivators".

FM me anytime. I have had to change therapists along the way.

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

ITA with everything sapphire said.

Totally normal for him, the therapists should just be building a rapport with him and placing little/no demands on him.

Good luck with everything

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

Your son's transition into therapy sounds a bit too rocky....If its having that much of an impact on him i would definitely evaluate whats happening...As everyone stated previously the entire session should be about establishing a relationship between the therapist and child and if he doesn't know them and doesn't want to separate from you thats normal...stranger anxiety is typical in two to three year olds if he wants to be with mommy then you should be in the sessions.

At this stage in the therapeutic game and especially at this age everyone should be following his lead...Go with where his interests are and try to get in...YOu are not going to get a self directed child to become engaged by imposing your own will and desires on them. YOu get in by inserting yourself into what they are doing and wiggle your way in with heightened affect. First and foremost he has to trust the therapists and that could take some time. His tantrums and sleeplessness and food strikes whatever is his inadvertent way of telling you something...He's communicating in a non-conventional way that something is just not jiving with him...My advice is to become a fixture in as many sessions as possible and if the therapists have an agenda that day and he's not having it, be the voice for him that says maybe we could just work on getting a playful interaction going for the time being. The therapy at this age should look very much like play and not at all academic...HTH

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

What sapphire said is perfect!

Re: increase in tantrums when starting full therapy schedules...

ITA with everyone else. I feel building rapport is the most important thing to "work" on when first starting therapy with a child. Without a good rapport, trust between the child and therapist wont happen. You can "push" a child a little further out of his/her comfort zone and challenge him/her a lot more when you have trust and rapport. Sometimes teachers/therapists don't focus enough on building rapport and instead get right to working on helping the child master his/her goals. This strategy often back fires.

If you think this is the case with the team working with your son, maybe suggest to them that it takes him a little while to warm up to new people so maybe they can take a step back and focus on building a good relationship with him before they attempt to challenge him with therapy.