CHANGING YOUR CHILD’S THERAPY TEAM WHEN THEY NO LONGER WORK FOR YOU
Making the switch is a tough decision. If you are like me, you are committed and loyal to your relationships and have a hard time switching and moving on. But, sometimes it is completely necessary. And the top reason to move on is Vision. When people on the team share the same vision and philosophy, the team moves forward and progress is made. I recently read a post in a professional facebook group where the therapist asked “How can I get mom to understand that her child who is autistic and nonverbal will have slow progress and will not reach the goals she has for him? How can I get mom to understand that he won’t…”. I responded quickly with, “Are you the right therapist for this family? If your belief about therapy and it’s influence don’t mesh with the mom’s vision for her child, you should refer”.
Belief is often entangled in three things:
1. KNOWLEDGE (Do I know how?)
2. STRENGTH (Do I want to put forth this great effort?)
3. MISSION (Is it my mission to truly see children who are nonverbal become literate and communicators?).
I have a doctor who no longer works for me. And to be completely honest we never did mesh. I didn’t choose her, she was mine by default…doctor of choice moved on, she was the replacement. I was initially excited because of credentials; fresh out of medical school for me translated into cutting edge. All the professional accolades out of the way, we simply didn’t mesh in philosophy or vision. I am an advocate of medicine last: food, diet, mental health status, exercise…lifestyle adjustments and vitamin supplements first. I need my physician to know who I am and treat. That is important to me. I am okay with hard truths, straight from the hip honest dialogue, but I like a personal understanding of my life and how it translates into my health. So today, when she gave a different target for me than I had for myself and was okay with me still reaching hypertensive blood pressure levels, I realized this level of low expectation vision could no longer be in my life, medically speaking. Time to switch.
Moving on is a bold admission that what worked, no longer does. And it may bring into the reality that the switch and move should have happened long ago.
There are many things we sweep away, in order to get the coveted time slot and therapy spot. I swept away, the language of familiarity (girlfriend posture and talk) that I don’t want in my professional visit to my physician. You may be sweeping away lack of progress or slow progress over the love you think the therapist has for your child. Just as a side note: You don’t need the therapist to love your child, you need them to love their profession. When the love for the profession is there, your therapists will be literature readers, answer seekers, and full of informative tips so that you can move forward in the vision.
This time we have is short. Spending it afraid to move on from the therapist or school or teacher that no longer serves you, should happen quickly. Why? Because surviving is no longer okay. Thriving in this one life is the goal.
So let’s THRIVE together.
Landria Green, MA., CCC-SLP
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