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Child mental health

DC's therapy for anxiety

2 replies

Goingonab33hunt · 23/09/2022 18:31

DS (13) has ASD and struggling with anxiety and school avoidance on and off. After a huge wait and being sent to from pillar to post numerous times, he has had a few sessions of therapy from an organisation recommended by Camhs (after the latter declined his referral).

During his initial ASD assessment last year he gave either one word answers or a very short response which he thought is what they probably want to hear. He struggles to express himself and this was flagged up as a concern at the time. Luckily his practitioner figured him out very early on and I was able to interject and explain things in detail where necessary.

Now to the current counselling. The therapist insists on talking to DS alone which I have no issue with but I know its all very one sided. He hates it and the weekly sessions are giving him anxiety. He told me he finds it draining talking to her for a whole hour, it's boring but tells her he is fine and everything is fine. She questioned why he's having counselling then if he is fine. He responded that he doesn't know. The issue is his anxiety comes and goes. At times it snowballs to the point he can't eat or function and it's mostly around school. He is okay at school AT THE MOMENT due to the senco making some changes but that can change suddenly, where one small incident can be a trigger and he falls apart. He also suffers from burnout due to masking. But he won't tell her all those things because he can't verbalise it. I feel like the sessions which I fought so hard for him are going to waste. I really believed he would get some CBT and be taught coping techniques but all she wants to do is chat to him alone in the hope he opens up about his issues when he doesn't really want to talk or understand them himself. I fear if I say anything I will come across as the overbearing parent. What can I do to make sure he is getting the right help?

Sorry it's so long!

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Goingonab33hunt · 23/09/2022 23:21

Thank you for the reply @OzricTentacles yes he was like a different child over the summer holidays and it was a relief seeing him happy and himself again. The problem is his anxiety was through the roof last academic year and school was next to useless. There wasn't any specific cause and I had nobody to turn to. I asked the GP for support and he made a referral to Camhs, who took ages to respond only to then say they couldn't cater for his needs and recommended a different organisation. All this took about 6 months. Meanwhile I kicked up a fuss with SENCO who took his finger out and put some provision in place which has helped somewhat. But its a band aid effect. As a last resort I am willing to home educate as I feel it's only a matter of time before he crashes again, as like you said its a natural reaction to being in a mainstream school. He just can't cope longterm.

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OzricTentacles · 23/09/2022 18:40

This is really common with autistic children, especially if the counselling model they're using is CBT.

The issue is your DS doesn't need counselling as such, his school related anxiety is probably a normal autistic reaction to a mainstream school environment, and what he needs is more support or adjustments to help him cope with the school day. Once he is well supported, or in an environment he can cope with, you might find his anxiety reduces or he will be in place to work on it.

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