Comments on: The Baby Cries During Every Intervention Visit…What Do You Do?

By: Shantala

Shantala — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 09:46:31 +0000

My eight year old autistic daughter’s behavior interventionist has made it a routine to make my daughter look like a troublemaker and send her home from school regularly saying she was disrupting the class.

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:13:53 +0000

In reply to Davia Mase (Mother).

Thanks so much for adding your wonderful insights and experience to this post, Davia! Reading about what worked for you and your son will enrich the advice EI providers get here on this blog. I love your suggestions to get creative – I completely agree that we can and should find ways to accomplish therapy without stressing the child out. I’m so glad that you and your son had a good experience!

By: Davia Mase (Mother)

Davia Mase (Mother) — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 17:32:58 +0000

I have personally been through this with my son. Trying to get creative on how to do the therapy can help. My son ended up having sensory issues and was later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and still to this day doesn’t really like to be touched, is very emotionally sensitive, and is very selective on the people he interacts with. When I mentioned his heightened anxiety levels to his multiple therapists, we got creative on ways to help him complete the therapy exercises in less traditional ways. The therapist taught me different ways to practice the skills with my son at home outside of therapy, and it worked wonders, since I was more in tune with his energy and emotional cues. If he started showing signs of anxiety, I simply stopped the exercise, and tried it at a different time, and/or tried a different way to get the same exercise accomplished. The therapist did less direct hands on with him, and instead coached me with handouts with pictures and showing me what type of exercise we were trying to do (on a baby doll). Once we did this, my son’s anxiety and pressure immediately lessoned, and we still did all of the exercises that was suggested. We had to get creative and fun with the exercises. The end result—my son sat up, walked, ran, jump, climbed, and walked balance beams—-all without anxiety, pressure, and had a blast doing the exercises. Get creative, think like a comedian (Jim Carey or Robin Williams). There are plenty of creative ways to do certain exercises. Listen to your gut—find a therapist the listens to you and your child, and who will pay attention to your child’s emotional sensitivity and cues.

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 12:08:47 +0000

In reply to Lisa.

I completely agree that stepping back and reducing the challenges for a session can “reset” things. Changing the location or activity is another effective idea. In the end, we want children to enjoy intervention and not realize they are “working.” These are great practical suggestions for making that happen! Thanks Lisa!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 18:46:46 +0000

As an interventionist, this has happened to me many times. Sometimes I feel that it is a stage that the child goes through paired with what may be too challenging of a therapy session. I am very open with the parents and discussing the crying and try to problem solve it with them and take recommendations from the parent on how to make the sessions more positive. I find that sometimes having a session where the child is minimally challenged by therapist and parent, the next session tends to be more positive. I also found that changing the location of the session (either a different place in the home or out in the community) can break the ‘crying cycle’ and make it a more positive therapy session for everyone.