Anyone have luck with OT for meltdowns?

[Anonymous]

My 4.5 year old DD still has daily crying fits, usually due to extreme frustration/disappointment that she has no idea how to cope with. Ie: I opened the car door for her and she wanted to open it herself. I understand this behavior is typical at some developmental stages. I thought we'd be long past it at 4.5. Can OT help?

[Anonymous]

OTs will tell you they can help. My view is that this is mission creep and they really can't.

Bring this up with your pediatrician to make sure there isn't a medical cause. If it continues or gets worse, have her evaluated by a developmental pediatrician or child psych. My DD had these issues and it was a symptom of major anxiety issues. It could have other brain-based causes as well. I'm not saying run out and have her evaluated now, just keep that idea in the back of your mind.

[Anonymous]

I worked with an OT when my son was younger -- age 2 -- and he had severe meltdowns, sensory issues, and speech delays. We did The Wilbarger Protocol and Joint Compressions, both of which were taught to us (parents) so we could do multiple times per day, then as needed. My son, now 12, will still on occasion asked to be 'thunked' (joint compression) or brushed. He is not special needs now, but was ID'd as special needs through early intervention. The OT work and speech / language therapy seemed to do the trick. We lived out of the area at the time and I have heard that locally the Wilbarger Protocol is not available through Childfind.

[Anonymous]

I never found OT all that helpful (we did it for two years). OTs have good suggestions but you can get most of them from a good book (Out-of-Sync Child, Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun). I did find play therapy with a psychologist to be much more useful.

[Anonymous]

Our OT uses the metaphor for an engine--where's your engine running, high, low, etc.

It may not work for every kid, but it seems to help the ones who need to regulate more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never found OT all that helpful (we did it for two years). OTs have good suggestions but you can get most of them from a good book (Out-of-Sync Child, Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun). I did find play therapy with a psychologist to be much more useful.

OP here. Can you elaborate more on what your child did at play therapy and how old your child is? My DD is 4.5 and we did a few months of play therapy but stopped because I just didn't see where it was going. My child is not going to get upset or meltdown one-on-one with another adult who is giving her undivided attention.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. I am the poster of the "social fallout" thread. We quit OT and didn't see too much benefit there but we like play therapy. A lot of her aggression seems to come out there and although I, too, am not sure where it's "going" I feel like the therapist has given us as parents helpful tools. I am trying to trust that they will work over time although it is hard to implement all the suggestions and do so consistently. We try.

[Anonymous]

Nooo. Dietary changes were the solution for our child. OT was useless in that arena for us, but it has been somewhat helpful for motor issues. My child enjoys sensory play, but to be honest it hasn't done anything for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never found OT all that helpful (we did it for two years). OTs have good suggestions but you can get most of them from a good book (Out-of-Sync Child, Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun). I did find play therapy with a psychologist to be much more useful.

OP here. Can you elaborate more on what your child did at play therapy and how old your child is? My DD is 4.5 and we did a few months of play therapy but stopped because I just didn't see where it was going. My child is not going to get upset or meltdown one-on-one with another adult who is giving her undivided attention.

I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll try to answer succinctly. I'll start with the obvious, quick, very big impact: 1) by getting to know our child, the therapist was able to give us tools and concrete suggestions on how to work with our child. We are not inexperienced parents, but the stuff that works with our other kids just wasn't enough for one of them. The therapist was able to say when to to support and when to challenge, and HOW to do each of them. She helped us understand him better, predict his emotions better, prepare him better, and distinguish between typical kid misbehavior and genuine anxiety. This stuff takes time and is a work on progress but I don't know that we would have gotten where we are without the therapist's guidance. 2) she improved my child's emotional language. This is something we had been actively working on but somehow he wasn't getting it but really did quite quickly through play therapy. Having a child recognize and articulate emotions helps so much more than I anticipated. It generated empathy for my child's anxiety where previously, for example, adults had assumed simple defiance. That empathy was very reassuring and often lowered my child's defenses, which not only prevented emotions from escalating but also sometimes became a first step to working through a tough moment. As for the play therapy itself--other than the huge benefits of getting to know my child (which is no easy task!) and the results I mentioned--the impact is more nebulous and hard to define but I have seen improvement in my son's flexibility, for example. My son is very creative and assertive and likes to control the rules to his games. The therapist would engage him in a kind of play he enjoyed but then push his comfort level, change the rules or introduce new ideas. He'd be obviously challenged but also want to continue playing. I think the idea is to help the kids be as comfortable as possible but always push them a little. Play then becomes like an exercise in flexibility training. (Of course, lots of kids get this from normal play with kids but mine was so socially anxious that he didn't.) Hope this helps a little. We really had a great experience.