Yesterday was Asher's very first appointment with a therapist. In case you're just tuning in to our journey, the pediatrician diagnosed him with the following: Social Anxiety, Excessive Shyness, and Selective Mutism (click the title for a link to more of an explanation).
I took him yesterday to a local therapy office and LOVED the therapist! Her name is Melissa and she was SUPER sweet ...
AND...
ASHER TALKED TO HER!!
The appointment was just an evaluation appointment- no "work" was done yet. She explained that they have to do an evaluation to show the insurance company that therapy really is necessary! Once they approve it, Asher will have an appointment once a week!
Melissa said that Asher is very smart and articulate. She really enjoyed talking to him because he uses such "big" words for a 5 year old... that he doesn't have any apparent speech delays, so she's confident that if we can address and deal with the anxiety/shyness/mute issues, then he'll excel in language! She did a language assessment and said that "average" kids will score 85-115, and Asher scored about 83, but she thinks, again, that after we get through the anxiety stuff, that he'll probably score well into the 100's range!
She said,
"I love working with Selective Mute kids because it's such a great transformation when they get beyond their anxiety and start really opening up. I am really excited to work with Asher!!"
So, she won me over! She got Asher to talk to her without me there... and she seems genuinely excited to work with him..... this makes me genuinely excited to LET her work with him!
So, here we go on this great journey of therapy! I am anxious to see how it all turns out!
OH... she also said, "I'm interested to see, but I wonder if because he's so smart and knows everything, if when he finds something he doesn't know he shuts down because he isn't used to NOT knowing something!" Huh...never looked at it that way!
That is wonderful news!!
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