Advice in working with school therapists

[Paula S]

Hi Natasha – first time posting in the forum (been a member for 1.5 years!) We will be transitioning to a new school that offers solid academics, but also really great push-in therapeutic supports to deal with OCD “stuckness” in-the-moment. DS (16) contamination (root is disgust) but now OCD has largely attached itself to homework and never skipping anything (post-COVID he’s had increased issues with focus and reading that we never had before, so we’ve asked school to reduce homework load as it was causing massive anxiety and then avoidance). The new school purports to support OCD and I’d really like to start the relationship off with setting high (but reasonable) expectations re how they will handle reassurances, compulsions, accommodations, etc. I so want to get this right! DS’s current school has a social worker who treats OCD like anxiety no matter how much I’ve tried to work with her (via resources, gems from you, from Bradley (where he did a partial for OCD in upper elementary) she doesn’t seem to get it, but, more importantly, she seems resistant to learning (never a good sign). It’s been deflating and frustrating to not only have the worries of OCD with my son, but to feel like I’m constantly trying to educate her (instead of feeling supported by her).  My son says “she doesn’t listen to me” and I tend to agree with him. At the beginning of the year I tried to have a conversation with her about Polyvagal Theory (she was unfamiliar with it – sigh, really?) and doing work around calming the ANS, but she doesn’t seem to get that you can’t just dive into CBT with a kiddo who is showing so much anxiety without building good rapport and helping him feel safe. He was blowing off her 1:1 therapy and we didn’t even know it (no communication from her to us) until his IEP meeting in December (not okay). Our hope is that once our kiddo is in an environment where he feels understood and supported his anxiety will go down and he will begin to re-engage with learning and feel better socially, too (historically he’s had A+s in all subjects and been super engaged in his classes and he’s distressed to see his grades slip now and describes “brain fog” from COVID). Sorry, if this is rambling, just looking for guidance on creating a strong partnership with the new team. I will do the 1-pager template you have but also hoping to share a bunch of your links. Can you make specific suggestions re which videos or podcasts you think would be most helpful? Thanks. Paula

[Natasha]

Hi Paula,
I don’t know if they would be willing, but I do have a quick free on-demand OCD training video for therapists. Maybe that is one resource: https://www.atparentingsurvivalseries.com/ocd-therapist-workshop/

I also have a podcast that talks about how to handle anxiety and OCD in the school environment. Here is that one:
https://www.anxioustoddlers.com/psp-045-ocd-anxiety-in-school/

[Paula S]

Thank you so much, Natasha! I will certainly share these. Looking forward to a more supportive learning environment for him. You mentioned you did a school training on OCD, I would love to be able to share that as well. Thank you! Paula

[Natasha]

I don’t have a recording of that one. I’m eventually going to re-record it.

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