Preschooler with anxiety disorder - what services are available in MoCo?
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Anonymous
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Our preschooler often breakdowns and tantrums when any little thing changes in her environment. This happens at least three or four times a day and when it happens life just stands still while she is screaming for 30-45 minutes until she calms down. Just last week a nametag on the wall that was crooked caused her to cry for a half hour.
She was recently diagnosed with anxiety disorder and is seeing a private therapist for this. She is also being treated by a private OT for SPD. We're wondering whether it is worth it to try to pursue services through Montgomery County. We did have her evaluated by ChildFind about a half year ago and they found some delays but they were not significant enough for her to qualify for anything due to delays and we didn't understand the anxiety and SPD issues at that time. Is it worth it to go back to ChildFind? We are still trying to understand what is going on with our little one and would appreciate any guidance you can give us. |
Anonymous
| I really am not trying to be mean, but you may want to look at your (intense) parenting style. Your child is too young for an "anxiety disorder". |
Anonymous
Not OP but what the hell!?! You are completely out of line. My niece was diagnosed with anxiety and trichotillamania when she was 8 but looking back now she probably had anxiety pretty much since birth. She was a crier, very easily emotionally upset, had to withdrawal from two different preschools, etc. Tantrums and crying and poor emotional regulation. She is also a very smart, witty, funny beautiful girl. No cognitive, developmental issues or ADHD - *just* anxiety in her case. OP, you should find a child psychologist. Anxiety issues are not well supported by school systems. My niece is in CA which generally has excellent supports for Sp Ed but my brother has had to provide private supports. |
Anonymous
| Dear 22:32, You must really be a terrible person. Your post was not only unhelpful, it was ignorant and designed to hurt OP. GO AWAY. |
Anonymous
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From the NYU Child Study Center:
A recent study (Egger and Angold 2006) showed that 2.5 percent of a sample of 5-year-olds had severe anxiety problems, which were relatively stable over a 4-month period. |
Anonymous
| Yes, I would go back to ChildFind. |
mabodie
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| My daughter is now 7 so she aged out of child find at 3 (rules have changed since then for preschool age eligibility). In general we haven't had much luck getting anxiety specific help from the county. However, anxiety is one form of processing problem and so (at least in our case) is tied in to sensory and language processing - both of which are areas the county has more experience with. Her anxiety challenges are less evident when the other processing demands (transition/language/sensory/social/etc) are lower. So - IMHO you should look to the county for help but it might not be labeled as anxiety specific therapy. I think you might be able to circumvent some of the child find qualification challenges by having your doctor talk to them to say what your child needs. |
Anonymous
I'm a new poster Why would you say something this hurt to person you have never met who is asking for help. Having child with SN is hard. Very very hard. Feeling judged and inadequate is something parents of special needs parents have to deal with daily. This a forum meant to support one another. I you have nothing nice to say, say nothing. |
Anonymous
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You could try ChildFind, but any delays have to show "educational impact." So if she tests well enough, you wouldn't qualify for OT or ST even though she may need both of those things.
Having BTDT with ChildFind, I was never all that impressed with the quality or amount of therapy. So if you don't get anything, I wouldn't be too upset by it. The other issue I would mention is that if your DD goes to public school, I saw many kids with things like ST delays or ADHD get labeled as having "behavioral problems," which seemed like an unfair characterization of what was really going on. For an issue like anxiety, my guess is they wouldn't be much help. Good luck. I wish your DD good things! |
Anonymous
| It all depends on how he issues impact the classroom. Unfort, it does not always come out in testing and like previous poster said it can be seen as more a behavioral problem. Sadly the county does not do anything until there is an impact in then classroom ESP in elem school. It's def worth a try but don't be surprised if you simply get best practices. IMO there needs to be more mental health support at an earllier age to help kids deal with problems so in high school maybe just maybe there would not be as many problems kids can't deal with. I really wish it was not all just about academics! |