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S3E42 - Can My Child Do Play Therapy and Occupational Therapy at the Same Time? · Play Therapy Parenting: Real Parenting Questions Answered by a Child Therapist

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  You're listening to the Play Therapy Parenting Podcast
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  with Dr. Brenna Hicks.
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  Hi,
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  I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
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  The Kid Counselor.
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  This is the Play Therapy Parenting Podcast where I give you insight,
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  awareness,
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  and enlightenment about your parenting
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  and your relationship with your kids.
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  In today's episode,
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  I'm answering a question from Alison in Texas.
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  And this is about her seven year old
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  currently in play therapy.
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  I'm so thrilled to hear that,
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  Allison,
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  and
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  loves
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  going to therapy,
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  doing really well.
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  Therapist recommended the podcast,
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  so I'm also really thrilled to hear about that.
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  And it says he initially went in because
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  of issues with emotional regulation and anxiety.
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  He is really improving.
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  And the question is,
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  how do I feel about occupational therapy
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  and the combination of doing occupational therapy with play therapy,
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  if that's something that you recommend or if you think
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  they should be separated and done at different times.
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  What a helpful question.
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  I'm so thrilled to be able to tackle this
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  because it's a very common concern,
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  very common consideration,
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  and I don't think I've ever really
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  had a chance to share much about it.
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  So,
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  Alison,
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  thank you.
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  First and foremost,
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  we need to recognize how
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  draining
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  therapy is
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  of any kind.
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  So we have physical therapy,
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  we have occupational therapy,
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  we have speech therapy,
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  we have play therapy,
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  we have
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  all these different kinds of therapies.
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  Any therapy
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  is difficult
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  and it can be in different capacities.
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  So obviously
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  physical therapy is going to be more physically draining.
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  Play therapy is going to be more mentally draining.
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  So obviously it's going to affect
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  children and the body in different ways.
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  But therapy in and of itself,
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  it's tiring
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  and it's a lot to manage,
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  and it can be exhausting.
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  And that's one.
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  So the more we start to add on,
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  and the more therapy sessions a child goes to each week.
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  It compounds
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  because play therapy is draining,
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  and then occupational therapy is draining,
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  and then speech therapy is draining.
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  And especially when a child is struggling and
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  we have recommendations for different treatment options,
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  it can be easy to go,
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  OK,
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  well,
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  we're just gonna do all of them.
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  Like if I can get in and get appointments,
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  we're just gonna do all of them.
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  So we'll do 11 on Monday,
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  one on Tuesday,
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  one on Thursday,
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  one on Friday.
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  We call that over-therapy.
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  And we have to be really careful with that because
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  play therapy in and of itself
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  takes almost everything a child's got.
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  It is so much work.
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  It is so much to process,
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  so much to handle,
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  and it's going to be
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  exhausting for your child.
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  And so then to expect them to be able to
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  pour into a different type of therapy,
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  it's often overwhelming.
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  We don't want kids to be overscheduled.
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  We don't want them to be overwhelmed.
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  We don't want them to be over theapized.
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  And so one of the most helpful strategies that we have
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  is doing one at a time.
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  Here's another
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  factor and consideration that I think is helpful.
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  We also
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  only want to change one thing at a time.
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  Because
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  the second we add in a whole bunch of options
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  and we have multiple variables,
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  causality goes out the window.
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  So let's run a scenario here.
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  Child starts.
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  Play therapy
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  First of April
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  Then they get on ADHD meds,
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  the 10th of April.
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  Then they start
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  occupational therapy the 19th of April.
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  Then in May,
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  they start karate lessons.
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  You can see how by June.
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  If things are changing for better or worse.
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  How in the world do we know
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  what's causing the change?
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  Is it because
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  there's a physical activity outlet with karate?
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  Is it because the meds are helping?
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  Is it because play therapy is
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  helping the child to regulate
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  and self-actualize?
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  Is it that
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  we now have occupational therapy and that is in the mix?
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  We're trying to only change one thing at a time
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  because that gives us insight as to progress.
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  The more variables we have,
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  the more confounded the results.
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  In other words,
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  I can't tell you if it's
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  this or this or this.
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  It could be none.
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  It could be all.
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  It could be one or two.
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  So another consideration is if you're going to start one thing,
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  you need to see that
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  through to
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  The final
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  You need to see that through to completion
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  because
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  then you will know for sure,
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  OK,
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  this was effective or it wasn't,
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  or it helped a little bit or it helped a lot.
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  So not only do we not want a child to be overscheduled and over-therapized,
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  we also don't want to
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  confuse
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  the change process.
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  We're trying to always only change one thing at a time when
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  it comes to children so that we have accuracy in results.
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  I mean,
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  I know how much CCPT works.
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  So,
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  when a child improves,
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  when they become more regulated,
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  when they have a bigger emotional vocabulary,
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  when they self-control,
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  when they have more empathy,
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  I,
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  as a child-centered play therapist says
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  CCPT worked as it always does.
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  But when there are other factors,
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  parents will often say,
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  well,
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  I think it's because they started taekwondo.
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  Or,
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  well,
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  I'm pretty sure it's the meds because we've been on the meds
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  for 2 months now and I think the meds are helping.
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  And
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  I can't argue
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  that theory
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  because we changed more than one thing.
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  I know CCPT works,
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  so I would love to argue and say,
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  no,
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  none of that is relevant except the fact that
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  child-centered play therapy is effective.
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  But when you have different options,
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  it's very hard to determine.
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  So that would be my second consideration.
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  And then my third consideration is
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  often multiple therapies have very different.
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  Approaches and orientations.
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  What I mean by that is,
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  for example,
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  child-centered play therapy,
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  the child
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  is in charge,
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  the child does things in their way at their pace.
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  And when they come,
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  they get to decide what they want to tackle,
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  and we respond accordingly.
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  That would be very confusing for a child to have that kind of freedom with me,
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  for example,
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  on a Tuesday,
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  and then on a Wednesday
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  they go to a different type of therapy
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  that is completely controlled,
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  completely directive,
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  and completely regulated,
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  wherein the therapist says
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  do this
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  like this
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  right now,
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  follow the rules,
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  sit here,
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  listen,
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  and I'm not trying to say that that would be a negative experience.
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  I'm just saying it's so different.
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  Than child centerered play therapy.
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  And so that can be very confusing for a child and it can create friction.
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  Because
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  why do I get to be in charge over here and why do I just have to do what I'm told over here?
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  And if one
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  was tackled first and then the other one was tackled later,
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  it wouldn't seem such a stark contrast.
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  But when they're simultaneous,
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  it can be very difficult for a child to navigate the switch back and forth
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  from having the freedom to not having the freedom.
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  So those are my thoughts on multiple therapies at the same time.
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  Alison,
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  again,
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  thank you for the question.
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  I hope that's helpful for each of you.
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  Especially if a child is diagnosed
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  on the autism spectrum.
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  Many times the recommendations are
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  as many therapies as possible.
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  And just be very thoughtful and careful with that because
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  it's something that we have to tackle with
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  purpose,
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  and there are some reasons to try to limit it to one at a time if that's at all possible.
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  I appreciate y'all.
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  I love you.
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  Hope you have a great week.
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  We'll talk soon.
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  Bye.
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  Thank you for listening to
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  the Play Therapy Parenting Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks.
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  For more episodes and just subscribe to our newsletter,
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  please go to www.playtherapyparenting.com.