School Refusal Hasn't Resolved

[michiganpandas]

Right now our whole family is driving home from the Florida 3week therapy....I sat it up by just calling...dr.storch called to ask some questions...wanting to make sure she was ready for therapy...after the appt. was made we then scheduled our stay at the Ronald McDonald house...it was beyond amazing and helpful....I am sad to leave...our basic overall lesson that we learned from our appointments was to not only expose her to her fears (which we were doing....but, they helped it be more intense)....but, when she does get OCD worries to basically just agree with her that if it does happen then she can handle it....for example my daughter's fear is throwing up....so now when she says she is scared of throwing up we now respond to her with "if you do we will help clean it up!".....prior to therapy we would always reassure her that she was not going to throw up...which totally made her OCD increase and ask us all day if she was safe from throwing up.....it seems so easy...but would have been horrible to do to her initially without therapy....she knows why we are responding that way.

 

Anyways...if you have any questions about the program or stay there let me know.....I took a ton of pics of the Ronald McDonald house and again just loved staying there (and I am high maintenance myself!)

 

 

2 hours and 45 minutes now left for our drive home to michigan

[philamom]

Thank you for responding michiganpandas. It sounds like an excellent therapy program! I will reach out to you in a few days with some question, as I'm sure you are exhausted. Have a safe trip home (what's left of it). Thanks again.

[mama2alex]

Thanks to everyone who replied! We are looking into the USF program and after some delays due to miscommunication as well as the IOCDF conference, are waiting for a call back from Dr. Storch. I was hoping that if we did this, we'd be able to get in before the end of summer, but school is now 3 weeks away, so I don't think that will happen. I don't like the idea of taking him out of school to work on school refusal, but we'll see what they say about that. Maybe we can wait and go over the holiday break in December, we'll see.

 

MichiganPandas, How are things going two weeks post therapy? Are you seeing good results?

 

Also, has anyone else found that communication is difficult with USF? I have been trying to set this up for almost 3 weeks now, and we seem to have had more than our share of delays and miscommunications. It certainly could be me, as I have brain fog at the moment, but I thought I was being pretty clear about what I needed.

[PowPow]

I think they are super busy in the summer. we made contact in early march and went three weeks later. dr storch contacted us very soon after our call.

had we not been able to go during the school year, it would have been a much longer wait. we also went for school refusal.

[mama2alex]

That makes sense, thanks. I will try to be patient. Getting nervous about the start of 6th grade.

 

I think they are super busy in the summer. we made contact in early march and went three weeks later. dr storch contacted us very soon after our call.

had we not been able to go during the school year, it would have been a much longer wait. we also went for school refusal.

[philamom]

That makes sense, thanks. I will try to be patient. Getting nervous about the start of 6th grade.

 

I think they are super busy in the summer. we made contact in early march and went three weeks later. dr storch contacted us very soon after our call.

had we not been able to go during the school year, it would have been a much longer wait. we also went for school refusal.

Have you heard back yet? I was wondering how many weeks out they are booking? thx

[mama2alex]

I spoke with Dr. Storch on Wednesday - he is amazing. To see a therapist who works with PANDAS/PANS kids and who is in network for us, we have to wait until late September. I don't have an exact date yet. We've decided to do it, even though it means pulling him out of school. I hope we're making the right decision. Its a big commitment!

[philamom]

I spoke with Dr. Storch on Wednesday - he is amazing. To see a therapist who works with PANDAS/PANS kids and who is in network for us, we have to wait until late September. I don't have an exact date yet. We've decided to do it, even though it means pulling him out of school. I hope we're making the right decision. Its a big commitment!

That is great news! Good luck!!

[michiganpandas]

I am always afraid to write anything positive...but, yes we are better....not perfect....but, in a better place.

[mama2alex]

Just a quick update, for anyone who's interested - after speaking with Dr. Lewin at USF today, we've decided to look further for a local CBT therapist and try that before taking Alex out of school for 3 weeks and venturing all the way to Florida. Dr. Lewin gave me a couple of names to start with, but if we can't find anyone who seems like a fit or the therapy isn't effective, we'll then schedule the intensive treatment at USF. The reason for this decision is that Dr. Lewin felt its ideal for the child to be in school while going through therapy for school refusal, so they can practice what they're working through the therapy (and the parents can practice too) on a daily basis. I don't think our previous therapist was the best at treating school refusal, so we're hoping someone with more experience (if we can find them) will be able to help. Obviously, the intensive treatment outside of school attendance can work, as it has worked so well for others, but we are going to give local therapy one more try before going this route.