Sure, sounds kind of weird, but I have a resume from a young woman who just graduated with a master's in this field and is applying for my 'play nanny' job. Not sure of it's value as a therapy, but it sounds perfect for my girls (not as a therapy, but just as a useful activity to have them engaged in during the day). Sounds like it could be good for their joint attention and their gross motor issues. She has apparently worked with lots of developmentally delayed and autistic kids, so sounds like a match made in heavan.
Anyone have any experience with "dance therapy"?
I also have an "art therapists" resume, which is again right up their alley with their drawing, but since I'm concerned more with gross motor skills, I'm leaning towards the dance therapist.
Sure lots of differnet kinds of hterapists out there!
Of course it is a WONDERFUL therapy!!!
Besides -- what ELSE do you do with a dance degree? -- one reason I did not pursue one waybackwhen.
Actually yes - the OT who works with my daughter once a week (and is btw quitting her job at the agency!!) told me about someone who does dance/movement therapy to engage autistic kids and help promote social interaction. She told me that this was a popular 'play therapy' technique.
I am currently into "stop that tantrum or u will be spanked" therapy!! :)
lol, rita! I was in that phase once, too. Still am to an extent, but now it's "we won't start the timeout timer until you stop that crying and yelling!". I'm excited about this prospect - hopefully it pans out.
I think dance therapy sounds awesome! Great for gross motor.
And also great for emotional expression. And emotion identifcation ...
And body language.
GRAB HER!I think that's considered harrassment.Not in a dance performance ...Responsible for leading movement therapy groups and individual sessions for autistic and other special needs students. These sessions included an emphasis on non-verbal communication, improved social skills, verbal processing, and play therapy. Collaborated in devising treatment plans, writing progress notes, and organizing mental health services for students. Responsible for communicating therapy progress, goals, and other student issues to parents via telephone communication, team meetings, and IEP meetings.
Sarah would love this! Just think of how much your girls will learn to be more coordinated and expressing themselves through dancing & music:)
Anything fun for them cant be bad:) GO for it!!
Wish I could share this therapist with you. I would give it a try. Dance is beneficical to girls anyway. So this can only be good. It could be a form of OT, they will have to follow directions, pay attention and have a skill they can use to entertain themselves later on in future. I am looking for a play therapist, I don't know what I will find. Please keep us posted.
Concernedpa.
I haven't read the previous posts but the only thing I would suggest is to make sure she actually enjoys children and playing with children. Sometimes people assume if one is a professional or working at all in the pediatric or a children's field, they must like children, they must enjoy children and the nature of children, or that they enjoy playing with children. I had a rude awakening learning that's not so! People enter pediatric fields SOMETIMES because of a love of children, but alot of times it may be simply because of the job market or money or they didn't get into another field. I hired a young woman who is majoring in drama in college next semester and she has the hardest time playing with my son. She can't keep it up for two hours a day, she tires easily, and she has limited imagination. I had assumed since she was a drama major she has creativity and imagination and would enjoy pretend play...obviously not so much with a child. I had assumed my neuropsych loved children simply because he was in the pediatric neuropsych field. Well, as good as he is, he doesn't really. He once said to me and my husband children should only be taken to restaurants like McDonalds otherwise we ought to get a babysitter for them when we go out to dinner. I have several family members in pediatric fields who tell us horror stories of people in these fields who never even like children, let alone autistic children who can be a tad harder to deal with at times. So I would suggest just to keep an eye on her and make sure she looks like she enjoys what she's doing. I highly recommend trying the dance therapy. I was an incredibly shy and socially inept child, and dance/gymnastics was probably the best thing for me. It builds self awareness and self confidence, not to mention physical strength and flexibility.Sunflowers - well, I think if you take a job working with kids you definitely should LIKE working with them! I wonder if she took it either not knowing what she was getting into and/or she just needed a job and thought she could figure it out.
I should say that not all theater majors think this way - but a lot are pretty self-centered. And, there are lots that are very creative in many ways too. I just wasn't surprised that your aide is not cutting it. Have you talked to her about it? I really wanted to pursue (and someday I may anyway!) doing children's theater. Maybe I'll get involved in the theater department when ds gets older...
Anyway, sorry for getting us "off-thread"! I think the dance therapy would be great fred!
Dance/ movement therapy is fantastic for our kids! Anything that gets themGood luck! - I take it you are definately going with a play nanny instead of a summer pre-school program?
Yes. The girls are enrolled in two summer camps (week long) and will be visiting relatives for another week so will have three weeks of socialization. I'm looking at this summer as a final push with their langauge and play skills, knowing they'll be fully immersed with typical kids in late August. Hard to believe. They'll still be four when they start kindergarten.
We'll have the nanny take them out amongst the civilians from time to time, too - but mainly we're focusing on just having them active and trying novel, new things and getting some well needed physical activity in the great outdoors.
Your girls are amazing! Good luck with the rest of your nanny interviews.Fred - Your girls will be 4 when they start a 5K program? I ask only because my 9 year-old is the 2nd youngest kid in his class. He's super smart with an advanced vocabulary, but he's socially awkward. I know his AS is a major factor in his social issues, but I'm sure being so young doesn't help either.
Hmm... Well... She came over today to meet the girls, and she seemed very bright and very nice (and very young!), but honestly, when it came time for her to interact with the girls, she almost seemed intimidated, lol. This is strange, because as she explained it, she had been working with older kids who were very affected - ages 7-20, mostly non-verbal, very withdrawn and non-compliant. I wonder if the girl's exuberance threw her for a loop and it just caught her off gaurd? Our last tutor (ABA/VB person) really took control of the girls during her interview and was extremely animated and had the girls attention right away. The girls kind of manhandled this girl a bit - they played with her, but it was more like, they were letting her participate rather than having her lead the way. Don't know...
I've got two collegues of my last tutor coming over Fri. and Sat. - see what they have.
I think it depends on the child. We held our ds out this year against his ECSE teacher's insistence he needed to attend kindergarten. She said he would be incredibly bored. Well, we sent him to a different pre-school (Head Start) which is a bit more intense - 4 mornings a week for 3 1/2 hours a day. For the academic part, they were able to have him help some other students (which boosts self-esteem) and he is still behind on writing/drawing so they could work on that with him. And they do a LOT of social skills training for all of the kids and this is incorporated into class routines as well. I think if you send a child to the SAME pre-school program to repeat a year (same teacher, same program, different kids) they might get bored. But, if you are able to change it up and have them attend a more academic pre-K program that is more intense for that extra year - they are less likely to get bored.
In fact, in about April this year - ds said to me, "Mama I think I'm ready for kindergarten next year!" And I agree. Was he ready last year? Academically, yes. Socially, absolutely no way. He now initiates play sometimes, can continue conversations with kids for a period of time, plays much more imaginatively with toys and doesn't wander the classroom aimlessly during free time. These are HUGE improvements in the last year. I think the extra year helped tremendously.
However, there are some kids who might act out due to being bored - it's sometimes hard to predict. His ECSE teacher worried that ds would be bored and act out - but he didn't at all. He will be taller than most of the kids in his class as he is already tall for his age. For boys, that just doesn't matter so much, in my opinion. But for girls, that might be harder on them as around 6th grade girls end up being taller than boys anyway for a while and the whole puberty thing as well. I know that may be an issue for ds when he hits puberty - we shall see. In our old school district about 85% of boys with summer birthdays were held out a year as practice. Ds would not only have been one of the youngest kids in the class had we sent him last year - but he would have also been behind even further socially. I think last year would have been awful for him. The decision was made even easier when we found out my husband's job would be ending (was supposed to end June 30, 2007) and we would need to move. So now, ds is starting out in kindergarten with everyone else and not having to be the "new kid".
And I know fred, that your wife is pretty adamant on sending them. For me, I think that kids who are very young for their class age-wise and very socially immature is going to make life even more difficult. But considering how much progress your girls have made - they may thrive, who knows? You know your girls best and I'm sure you will get things right for them no matter what happens.
I did also want to say that some people send their kids to kindergarten thinking that they can always then hold them back a year if they don't do well. A LOT of schools won't let you do this now - once they are in they school system, you can't just choose to do that. There has to be an academic reason to hold them back/flunk them. And, the child will always know they "flunked kindergarten".
My mil held my dh out a year (his birthday is late August and the cut-off is Sept. 1st). It was EXTREMELY appropriate to do so. He and I graduated in the same year, but I'm two years younger than he is - I have a mid-August birthday and I skipped a grade (don't even GET me started on that subject). Although I will say, from personal experience, being the youngest in the class is no picnic when you have adequate social skills. So, I can't imagine what it would be like for kids whose social skills are impaired. That's probably one of the main reasons I held ds out.
My dd has a May birthday and I would be utterly shocked if I hold her out (I'm not sure that's even an option). She is extremely tall for her age (still not on the growth charts - never has come down to them) and converses at a 4 1/2 year level. She is shy and reserved initially, but once she warms up she does very well. And I think two years of pre-school will do her well to help her with those issues.
Wow, I will stop going on now and wish you luck, fred on getting a play nanny!
THat sounds like a great therapist, I would grab her. Dance therapy sounds very interesting, I wouldn't mind checking into that more. They have a gymnastics/swimming one for special needs kids at the Y but it is at a time my sister will be here. I'd like to see if they have another one at another time.
Sunflowers that is interesting about some professionals not really crazy about kids. That was exactly what I thought about the child psych. Maybe older kids, but not younger ones. He was too worried they were going to touch something on his desk or office, had candles burning, and had what looked like expensive furniture, didn't have much patience for my NT kid either. I think he was use to 10 and up and dealt more with kids whose daddy was overseas and they were having behavioral problems. He mainly saw military kids.
Snoopywoman, thanks for explaining. She's just 18 years old, I guess I shouldn't expect so much of her though. She just doesn't seem to know how to play with my son. But no matter the age, I think it's important someone actually LIKE children and someone who can be goofy or just act like a kid sometimes. When I play with my son I realized I had to remember back to what it was like being a kid. Let me tell you that a LONG time ago so it was hard to let go of my inhibitions and just act silly and goofy again. LOL! But all kidding aside, I do feel that someone who genuinely likes kids and can just be silly and goofy and not care who is watching is better for our kids. Thanks for explaining how theater/drama people tend to think....Sunflowers - I'm a former theater major. Yes, we tend to be creative - but definitely more in an adult sense. I turned to social work as a career for two reasons - one, it just isn't a very employable field in the Midwest (which is where I wanted to stay) and two, the people are often VERY self-centered and it's all about them. I am not surprised that your aide wasn't able to cut it. I have to admit that my imagination is limited as well, but has become more expanded with having ds! Remember, theater majors are given a SCRIPT to follow and they become creative as to how to interpret the script. They don't choose their own words most of the time (that's called ad-libbing and generally frowned on unless you're someone like Robin Williams).