To Cancel or Not to Cancel, That is the Question
A few weeks ago, I was working with a little boy during a session when he started scratching his eyes, laying his head down, and covering his ears. I asked his mom if he was feeling okay, and she told me he had a fever earlier, but she had given him Tylenol and he seemed fine afterward. I said okay, but in the back of my mind I was hoping he didn’t have the flu that was going around. I finished the rest of the session and went on with my day.
Two days later, that awful feeling hit me. I started getting chills, felt exhausted, and by that evening I had the full-blown flu. When you work closely with children, you know getting sick sometimes comes with the territory. I wash my hands constantly and try to take precautions, but sometimes it still happens.
As I spent the next few days in bed recovering, I started thinking about how important it is to have clear guidelines for when a session should be canceled because of illness. Parents understandably don’t want their child to miss therapy, especially when they’re seeing progress and worry that time away could lead to regression. But a child who isn’t feeling well also needs time to rest and recover.
Missing a couple of sessions doesn’t mean all that progress will disappear. If a child needs a few days to get healthy, that’s okay. Once they’re feeling better, we can pick up where we left off and continue working toward their goals.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for a child is simply give them the time they need to rest, recover, and come back ready to learn. In the meantime, their therapy team can stay healthy and be ready to support them when they return.
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