Not Just Spirited by Chynna T. Laird

Author:Chynna T. Laird
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Loving Healing Press Inc.

9

HELP!

“Play Therapy is based upon the fact that play is the child's natural medium of self-expression. It is an opportunity which is given to the child to ‘play out’ his feelings and problems just as, in certain types of adult therapy, an individual ‘talks out’ his difficulties.”

—Virginia Axline

Jaimie was just over three when she began her sessions with Brian. I prayed night and day that it ended up being our breakthrough therapy to reach into Jaimie's world. It was our last step before having to consent to more aggressive therapy through the Glenrose because everything else we'd tried until then had failed. And Steve was getting anxious.

Steve and I loved our children, and each other, very much. But when it came to Jaimie, we saw things completely differently. I felt, and what had usually worked with me, that the slow and steady approach was the best approach in dealing with Jaimie. I found if you went too quickly with her or didn't take the time to work something new into her existing routine, things backfired. Steve wasn't completely sold on my view.

He accepted the slow and steady view but thought we that needed to take a much stronger stand with her. “If we coddle her for too long, she'll never be brave enough to move forward,” he kept saying. “We need to take a stand now, while she's young, because it's only going to get harder the older she gets.”

I knew he had a point. But with all the failures we'd had up to that point, I didn't want to put her through any more assessments, reviews, new people or places. I just couldn't do it. Each time she'd fallen down, it took her even longer to get back up again and it hurt to go through it with her. So, we agreed that if play therapy didn't work, I'd agree to give consent to the preschool program at the Glenrose. And, at first, I thought it was going to go Steve's way.

Jaimie hated going to therapy at first. I had to prepare her for three days in advance before her therapy day. It was always a catch-22, preparing her for everything. We did it so she wouldn't worry as much but she did anyway. But if we didn't prepare her, the aftermath would be twice as bad. I learned from the experiences with Donna: always prepare Jaimie as much as humanly possible in advance of upcoming events.

Brian was very helpful by making Jaimie's appointments on the same days. But the entire process started on Friday. At naptime, I'd say something like, “We're going to the school to see Brian on Monday, Jaimie. Won't that be fun?”

“Tomorrow?” she asked. She didn't know the days of the week. But each day had a specific thing we routinely did so she'd remember.

“No,” I said. “Tomorrow we go to the drug store, the meat store and McDonald's for lunch, remember?”

Then there'd be much discussion about how Daddy would drive us to CASA, that we'd take the cab home, have a picnic snack while we waited for it, etc.

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