looking for a therapist for my 15 year old

[Anonymous]

I am in need of a good therapist.
My 15 year old has contacted grandfather overseas to go and continue education there. I am trying to avoid this for various reasons.
Two years in a row he got quite good grades all year long, but at the end of the year, for the finals, his grades went down free fall (from A's and B's to D's and F's. Always worked hard. Never got any memo/note from teachers.

He is convinced it is the school's doing this to ruin him and he cannot take the risk of the same thing happening again. The school won't return out phone calls/emails.
We talked about it when we got the report card. He seemed fine with changing from his HRCS to our neighborhood public.

Any recommentations will be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

OP--it would help if you posted your general area.

The thing that concerns me most about your post is that he thinks the school is out to ruin him. Perhaps he is just saying this to avoid saying what has really gone on, but if he really feels this way it is a big red flag for me--smacks of paranoia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP--it would help if you posted your general area.

The thing that concerns me most about your post is that he thinks the school is out to ruin him. Perhaps he is just saying this to avoid saying what has really gone on, but if he really feels this way it is a big red flag for me--smacks of paranoia.

What do you mean by general area? We live in DC if that is what you mean.
As for paranoia, hardly. The school has a communication journal between student and parent and not once was anything mentioned about things going south. It's shocking that while in school there is no mentioning of any problems. School ends, comes report card with 3 letter grades lower than all three trimesters.
In any case, a good therapist/psychologist will get to the root of things.

[Anonymous]

For providers, there are several listed on this recent thread. The subject in question was ADHD, but the places recommended aren't limited to that.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/490357.page

Sorry about the paranoia reference, but this sentence in your post by itself suggested it:

"He is convinced it is the school's doing this to ruin him."

If, however, this was short hand for he thinks the school was trying to ruin him because they did not give any notice, then he is just engaging in hyperbole. I am a little surprised, though, that a 15 year old had not noticed slipping grades.

That said, my 12 year old once brought home her portfolio of papers, which were all As. The report card three days later was a D. The teacher agreed that was indeed the portfolio sent home and that the required notice hadn't been sent, but all the As did not reflect her true grade, and any grade assigned could never be revoked. Never got to the bottom of that one but I suspect she was misgraded and the teacher didn't want to admit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP--it would help if you posted your general area.

The thing that concerns me most about your post is that he thinks the school is out to ruin him. Perhaps he is just saying this to avoid saying what has really gone on, but if he really feels this way it is a big red flag for me--smacks of paranoia.

What do you mean by general area? We live in DC if that is what you mean.
As for paranoia, hardly. The school has a communication journal between student and parent and not once was anything mentioned about things going south. It's shocking that while in school there is no mentioning of any problems. School ends, comes report card with 3 letter grades lower than all three trimesters.
In any case, a good therapist/psychologist will get to the root of things.

Have you talked to the teachers and counselors at school?