Here's an experience I had in my practice with a darling 5-year-old boy.
I have never seen a child more active! He bounced all over my waiting room and inner
office, seemingly incapable of keeping his busy, curious little hands off just about anything
he happened to see. He had questions
about everything, and made astonishing connections from the answers. Obviously very, very bright!
His mom said that at school, the teacher was frustrated with him and there was talk of exploring medication.
I managed to get him to try the Child's TAT
Pose and say, "I am calm." He didn't
comply with any of my repeated requests to "look at things with your eyes instead
of your hands," and it took
threatening to unplug the little floor fountain I have in my waiting room to
get him to stop splashing the water all over; but each time I asked him (about
4 times over a 45-minute period) to go into "The Pose," he complied
immediately.
Still, by the time he and
his exhausted, frazzled mom left, I wondered if they had gotten any value from
their time with me.
This is an excerpt from the email I received from his mom
the day after our session:
The calming
strategy has been very helpful and I have had E. use it already! I
have started doing it myself! :) We flew [out of state] to visit family last
night, but when we were on the shuttle to the airport E. started to get very
hyper. I had him do the pose and he was actually calm the rest of the
way! When we left your office, E. fell asleep right away! I
came home and ended up taking a 3 hour nap that felt more relaxed that any
sleep I have had for awhile. So thank you for that!
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