cries after therapy Ok,STRESS.....Ineed advice on this one!! My DS has new therapies and I know it takes time to get acclamated and know the therapists,etc. He is actually doing pretty good and seems fine during session ( We have been 3 times so far-today will be number 4) THe problem is, when we walk OUT of the building he screams a tantrum scream for alooong time, and then added a cry yesterday that turned into a sob He never cried like that. It made me sad. Has anyone ever had this happen??? Not crying, but stress and exhaustion. We had a VERY intense SLP who would do an hour at time with dd when she was about 3.5.   Sometimes during therapy she would go into fetal position.  The therapies worked ... Be sure and let the therapists know -- they might need to back down a little?  Or maybe some stress-relief breaks like mini-tramp jumping would be helpful? I agree talk to the therapist. They may have info about it. I do know when Nicky was first starting his over two years now he had a similar reaction, but after a few they went away. Good luck  and Boy the sobbing is the worst. It breaks my heart  . You almost wish it would be a tantrum instead. Hang in there   I hated the crying, My son cried too when he first started. it is the worst feeling in the world. It goes against every parental instinct to let a child cry like that.   It does get less and less. I am glad to hear that your little one is making progress though. Stay strong but also communicate any concerns that you may have to your therapists.JulieA, someone asked me that same question.He seems to like MOST of it,and he definatley works better with the speech therapist than the OT. I dont think he LOVES it though,enough to cry about it ending...but its so hard to know for sure!!! He has 5 words and about 15 signs right now, but 90% of the time, he does not initiate and form of communication. I did not originally include this info, because I am not sure how to know if their is a connection, but he started ritalin 12 days ago. The DR. said we should know if he would have a negative reaction in aboout 48 hrs of 1st dose. He did not have one. But he has seemed more anxious in the last several days, and more clingy to me. The med is helping him not run around in school, he is sitting in circle and participating. He still has a good appetite and is actually sleeping better. So I am totally confused-is it ritalin, a phase, stress, transitioning.....???????????????Alot of children have problems transitioning, period.  Whether it's from a favored activity or not.  See if his therapists can work with you on preparing him for the transition, and pair it with some kind of cheap reward if he handles it well.  Also, my son typically transitions very well, but on the rare occasions when problems have popped us for us, a visual schedule in addition to the help of his therapists or making sure myself to prepare him for the upcoming change has pretty much taken care of the problem.  Have you ever used a visual schedule before?I think everyone has given great advice already. I just wanted to add- How about a reward or treat at the end of therapy? Liz With all new things Sarah would go through this..over time it got better:)  It helps if the therapist uses reinforcers throughout and brief breaks as needed:) Hang in there! thanks for all the suggestions- today was a little bit better. He did not cry, just screamed for a few minutes. Maybe he is letting off steam/frustration, like foxl said. I told the therapists about it, and they said try a reward of some sort afterwards. I gave him a new little plane(under 2 bucks but that will add up quick!!) and that seemed to help some. Hopefully it is an adjustment period. I have found that it is is usually a combination of letting off some steam, and having problems with the transistion out of therapy. Sometimes all you need is to have the last few minutes of therapy be a calming an re-centering time to make it easier. The therapists should definitely have some ideas. Good luck!Could he be crying because he doesn't want to leave?  Or could it be that he has problems with transitioning?  Are his therapists prepping him verbally that it's time to leave?  My little one has soooo much fun at OT that he never wants to leave and pitches a fit when it's time to go. He will cry all the way home.  His therapist finally started counting down to the end of his appt about ten minutes prior so that he was ready and it has helped ease the stress of transitioning tremendously.  Thanks Julie. We are just starting to use pecs and he has a "real picture" book of photos that can be used like pecs& visual schedule. We are starting it slowly-using the pictures to show what he is doing-computer, t.v, going to bed.. and that will work up to a visual schedule. You are right, that will help. A few months ago, I didnt think he would be ready for one for a long time. Now, he is showing us that he is ready!
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