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I have no experience as a parent but I’m familiar with community organizations as a teacher and also several children close to me have benefitted from working with a therapist. I’m not sure what’s available in your area (probably more than in mine!) but these kids had/have a therapist who comes to the home and that has been extra helpful. I’m happy to answer questions or anything! You’re doing an awesome job, mama.

Our ped referred us for psychological evaluation after she was making suicidal threats at age 4. The evaluation didn't turn up anything except a potential propensity for depression later in life. They recommended play therapy. We saw a play therapist which LO absolutely LOVED and I feel like it definitely helped. It seems like the threats were more "I want to see how people react to this statement" vs. "I genuinely want to hurt myself".

It was right before kindergarten that the play therapist wanted to finish treatment and I remember being worried that the big transition to kindergarten would be difficult without her support. It has been fine and LO has thrived this year in kindergarten.

Happy to answer any additional questions if you have them!

My daughter is a little younger (she's 4.5). But for her age when we started looking into this last year, our pediatrician recommended we work with a play therapist as a starting point and then explore other options as needed. We ended up seeing an LCSW through a family therapy and counseling practice. She met with me one-on-one a few times, which was very helpful for support and problem-solving, but the bulk of the time she works just with my daughter. It seems to be helping. We still have times where we backslide, but I'm seeing more progress than not in the big picture. I felt at the end of my rope before we got started, and I feel like our family is in a much better place at this stage. I'm not sure I could pinpoint any one thing that has made a difference, but I'm grateful we sought some outside help and would do it again in a heartbeat.

We also recently started working with an OT for some sensory issues that our therapist thought are underlying with some of the behavior and emotional issues we've been seeing. When I thought of sensory issues beforehand, I didn't really think it fit my daughter - but I was surprised by some of the strategies they've been working on to help with some vestibular and proprioception issues. There are things that I'd always noticed (and if I'm being honest, thought were a little quirky!) in my daughter, that our OT has connected in a bigger picture and has great strategies to support her.

Good luck! As we started looking into options for some help, I realized there were many more avenues than I'd expected for getting some help and it took some time to find the right fit.

@Foodnerd81: Kudos to you for being proactive. I'm sure it's a hard step to take. My mom is a psychologist and does play therapy as other ppl have mentioned. She works with a lot of young kids and she also coaches the parents on how to deal with certain behaviors. I may not agree with all her opinions on my child, but that's another story

I work for a social services agency and we offer services in the local schools. My son goes to our agency daycare/preschool and they provide individual support as well as work with the students on social/emotional topics in small groups. They actually taught him to take a deep breath when he's upset and he does it all on his own sometimes. It's something I wouldn't have thought of at his age (4), but it helps!

Has she been evaluated through the school for any special services?

Are son was when he started pre-k and we thought he might qualify for some extra assistance in the state sponsored pre-k offered here. But it turned (and we were incredibly concerned and worried) that they wanted him to go to the special education pre-k which offered class size of 8-10 vs 20. He has speech and behavioral delays. He’s a sweet kid and just a delight in so many ways, but a lot of things were happening that meant the general education pre-k wasn’t working. I cried so much the month he was in that class. When he moved to the smaller class with more attention available to teach him self soothing skills and give him the help he needed to manage his emotions, he just blossomed! He still is growing, but he started sharing about school, loving going (he had cried at almost every daycare and PreK drop for 4 years before).

I am so happy they have decided to keep him out of general education kindergarten as well meaning a class size of 15 vs. 25. He will be in a similar class as pre-k, but go to all the extra classes with general population (music, recess, special programs).