After 4 months in the house, the uncertainty of the new school year and ‘J’s’ overall anxiety, we decided to look into having him talk to a therapist.

Last year, the plan was to have him start working on his daily challenges with an Occupational Therapist and then in the summer add in an aspect of therapy to focus on his social and separation anxiety. We originally thought this would happen in a group setting with other kids and had found a great place that focused on play therapy. With Covid, plans were ever-changing.

I reached out to the school psychologist to see if she had any recommendations for an outside psychologist. After researching and making sure our insurance would be taken, we were able to make an appointment. ‘J’ was nervous at first, especially after the previous 4 months, but warmed up quickly.

‘J’ has been going to therapy weekly for about 6 months now. There’s a mix of talking, playing games and focusing on tools he can use in moments of frustration or anxiety. Most adults aren’t able to keep their emotions in tact and think before they act, so of course a 6 year old is going to struggle a bit too. Especially when big feelings come up out of no where. Some days or moments are tougher than others but he works hard, as do we, to mitigate the anxieties that arise.

I’ve said this before, but if you were to meet ‘J,’ chances are you would never see or know the challenges he has. He may go 3 weeks without a care in the world. He may have an entire week where he is on edge, fully of anxiety and just getting dressed in the morning or having lunch could seem incredibly overwhelming. Other times, it could just be a fleeting moment where he can breathe through it and move on.

He is easily overwhelmed and when he has a list of assignments to complete, something surprises him, or there’s too much noise and commotion, he can shut down quickly. Something that didn’t affect him yesterday, could affect him tomorrow.

We are so proud at how well he has done with school being virtual. The consistency of knowing what his day to day would be was a big selling factor for us decided to do 100% virtual. His teacher is great, he’s learning so much and is now acting like a CEO with all of his google meets. Those moments, days or weeks do happen, in the same way they would happen when he went to school and would come home to let it all out.

We all have to remember to keep breathing through the challenges, think before reacting and not take our day to day for granted. What may seem like something silly to us, could be major for someone with Sensory Processing difficulties.