Going Out with a Bang at Speech Therapy

Well yesterday was a rough day for Doodlebug and me. We had our last speech therapy session (that insurance would cover) and I was hoping to end on a high note since the last session went so well.

But that is not what happened. At all.

Doodlebug never really "took to" this therapist in the three sessions that we've had with her. She's very knowledgable and I respect her observations on Doodlebug's language development. But she has been kind of rigid in her therapy with him - insisting for 15-20 minutes that he play with one specific toy even when he has shown no interest in it, telling me not to look at him or comfort him unless he is interacting with us productively, or with the toy with which she's trying to encourage play, etc.

The therapist kept commenting on how long he was continuing to be upset. She has noted in the past that no other children have taken this long to warm up to her, spoken with an air of judgement, like there's something wrong with my kid because he doesn't like her. Sometimes kids have off days, we all do (I'm so tired of making excuses and reading into any behavior of my toddler that is not perfectly behaved. Sigh.). Doodlebug wasn't into it that day. He wanted mama and my ignoring him only made it worse. One touch or stroke of his head and he would have calmed down in seconds.

I get that he needs to learn self-soothing strategies for himself, but SERIOUSLY, he's two years old and we were in a barely familiar place with someone he didn't trust. I don't think his behavior was that odd. And I'm SO MAD at myself for listening to the therapist, ignoring my kid for 30 minutes and putting him through such an upsetting ordeal. She may be a speech expert, but I am an expert on my kid.