Reply to What type of therapy do we need for our ADHD/Anxiety child?

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Reply to "What type of therapy do we need for our ADHD/Anxiety child?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm at a loss. Referrals from our doctor, our psychiatrist, or the school never work out. Either the office doesn't have appointments we can make, isn't taking new clients, or is just the wrong type of place overall. The last therapist's approach was to spend half an hour having me rehash everything my kid had done wrong in the past week, while my kid played with toys, and then they would play a fun game together. He'd shut down when all his shortcomings were brought up again, and I never saw any benefit in the games. He knows all the right answers for what he should have done in any given situation, but in the heat of the moment, he can't apply coping skills. He does really well one on one, so the therapist before that just thought he was a wonderful and amusing kid. Perhaps if I had a better idea of what to ask for in therapy, I'd be able to find a practice that was a better match.

Child is a 10 year old boy with combined ADHD and anxiety, whose latest issues involve putting hands on other kids at camp and running away. When he does something wrong and realizes he needs to face the consequences, that's when things get bad -- meltdown, more aggression, bad/hurtful language, running away, crying, destroying things. Then initially deny responsibility after the fact. Lots of fun. We have some issues at home with non-compliance, but most of his problems are at school and camp. We have an IEP, he's medicated (the meds he is on may not be perfect, but they help a lot, and the psychiatrist won't up the dosages), I've read all the books, we've been in various types of therapy for 7 years. Nothing seems to work for more than a few months.

We both work, jobs don't offer a lot of flexibility, and my kid needs to be in school (cannot keep missing school for appointments, causing him to fall further behind). We are FCPS, so things in Maryland are not going to happen, and we are not rich so cannot afford $1000 a week camps or a special needs nanny.

If you have had a kid like this, is there any sort of approach that has worked for you? What should I be asking for as I call around to try to find a new therapist? For most places I've talked to in the past, who have openings, the process seems to be to talk to someone who does scheduling, then have a series of 3-4 appointments with and without the kid, after which they may advise on a path forward. But that's a lot of time to spend just to find out that their approach isn't any different than what hasn't worked in the past. I need to be better asking for the right stuff up front, but aside from saying "help us" I don't know what to ask. [/quote]

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