How long to give therapist?

JenGK

DS has received 4 sessions of OT through EI right now, and I love our therapist.  I think she really "gets" DS -- she can explain and predict his behavior and reactions to things in a way that is uncanny, and she has really good suggestions on how to deal with his behavior and sensory issues.  She has a step-by-step approach so that we don't get overwhelmed at the start.  We also see two speech therapists -- one through EI and one privately.  I really like the private therapist.  She, too, is in tune with Zach's sensory issues and addresses them in her therapy. 

I'm not feeling so good about the EI SLP.  I feel like she doesn't understand Zach in the way the others do.  For example, she gave me some hand-outs on eye contact and sharing gaze, which said to point at something saying "look" and then the child should look at you and then the object.  I know that is how it is supposed to work, but Zach only looks at the object -- not me.  She seemed really surprised at that, and said that maybe he's just not ready for it yet.  And she wants us to work on two-word phrases -- Zach can barely say portions of one word ("mu" for "more", "me" for "please", etc.).  And she asked us if we had been working on M and N words like she suggested -- but she had never in fact made that suggetion.  Granted, we have only had 3 sessions and Zach is still warming up to her.  I think I'm going to give it another couple of sessions, but my mommy gut says this isn't right.  I'm also going to ask her to start summarizing her suggestions and recommendations in the notebook like the OT does (OT did that on her own).  Am I being unreasonable?

AB&TB

Sounds like a good plan to me.

ILoveBoys

I've found in life that rarely do we ever regret trusting our judgement. At least not when it comes to the mommy gut. good luck!

breezy0629

Ok. Based on what you are saying he NEEDS and what she is working on.... since I have been in your shoes - at least similarly. She sounds WAAAAAAAY of base. Does she know much about your son's issues? Even if she doesn't and she knows what he's NOT doing.... those suggestions dont even remotely parallel what my SLP would have done.  

4 weeks was enough for me to know that I had a bad fit DT (even though I gave her 6) and a bad fit OT (even though I gave the first one 8 months b/c I didn't know what I was doing - and I gave the second one 4 weeks before letting her go). 

One of my first thoughts are how much does she know you are willing to work on at home? In our area, the majority of professionals we have worked with were gobsmacked to hear that we were actually going to work on what they told us to. I always just said - it's my job to carry over. And they were more willing to give me more/better homework. Maybe that's part of it????

Follow your gut. I don't mean to sound overly negative. If you feel like it's just not knowing him well enough.... then maybe she needs to do a followup eval. to get his issues under her belt.   

OSULori

If you haven't yet, I would suggest talking to your SLP about your concerns and see what she's willing to do about them.  I know that personally I make an effort to thoroughly discuss parent/caregiver concerns, their goals, what I'm thinking for the goals I want to write, etc before I write the initial goals or make any changes to those goals as well as get feedback on how things are going throughout the sessions...but not all SLPs are like that.  Talk to her and see how she reacts and what changes she is willing/able to make-I think that will be a good indicator of if the fit between you, your DS, and your SLP is a good one or if you may need to request a different therapist.  GL!