Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Two more Pieces of Therapist Advice

Kari did an excellent followup to my post about therapists and her last paragraph reminded me to include further advice:

1) Realize that YOU could be wrong -- it might actually be that your approach is not working.

Kari says it better:

Families are told that therapists, pediatricians, and other professionals are the ones with the answers. We are told to respect them as experts and to stop talking long enough to listen to them with an open mind. We are reminded that we might not be dealing with situations in the best way and that we might actually be wrong in our approach. I often wish someone would give the professionals the same advice.

2) Be honest with yourself and try not to take advantage of your win-win situation. As Kari quotes a therapist who was also a parent of a kid with FASD:

therapists have had a win-win situation going for a long time. They try something and it works well...bravo, they win. They try something that doesn't go well and the reason is that the family or the individual is non-compliant and unwilling to properly work the program. They never have to be wrong.

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