For advertising information visit www.samplerpublications.com or call 859.225.4466 | August 2015
Does Your
Child Need
Therapy?
Look for some
common signs
By Dr. Tom Miller,
Staff Writer
Trying to decide when a
child needs professional
help can be a difficult,
agonizing task for parents.
Often the first thought is the
behavior might just be a “phase” the
child is going through. Parents tend
to search for reasons or excuses, such
as the child is “just lazy” or “stubborn” and they’re “running with the
wrong group of kids.” When parents
move beyond the denial phase, they
begin to recognize that as good parents, they need to seek professional
help rather than continue denying
problems they have become aware of
in their child’s thinking and behavior.
What are some circumstances
that may indicate you should search
for professional help for your child?
Perhaps it would be best to approach
this question from an age and developmental perspective. There are
some common signs your child may
show that indicate a need for counseling or psychotherapy at different
developmental stages.
Your preschool child shows some
adjustment difficulties in social situations. This usually begins at around
age 2. Important changes occur in a
good parental efforts and has persistchild’s life between the ages of 2 and
ed over time, it may well be beneficial
3. The child is learning to talk, walk
to seek a licensed professional’s help.
and use the potty. Mastery of these
Preschool and elementary school
skills makes the child feel more free
next become stages for change. Some
to be herself
parents learn
and do things
first from
she wants to
teachers about
do. During
conduct in
these years,
the classThe important thing
children
room. There
express their
may also be
to remember is that
urge to be
academic
autonomous
issues, such as
the sooner a parent
by rebelling )