I have yet to call DS's insurance to ask about his outside therapies and other such questions on how much they will cover.
DS attends a special needs preschool and has an IEP.
Does anyone do both special needs schooling and outside therapies all the time?
Is outside therapies only a summer time thing while LO is in school?
What do you do and what has worked best for your child?
I am weighing it all.
TIA
Re: School And Outside Therapy
We do private therapy year-round, but try not to duplicate that DD1 (ASD) is receiving in preschool. We have an SLP who does Floortime with us, meet every other week with our RDI consultant. We throw in additional therapy hours as time and money permit; like, for the last five months or so have been working with a child psych who is getting her Floortime certification.
DD1 was in a classroom last year that was a mix of typical and SN kids, but with a higher level of services/support than a regular classroom. This fall she starts in a regular mainstream preschool class.
Our insurance covers nothing, so we have to stretch our dollars as far as they'll go. I've tried to concentrate on therapies that I can work on with DD1 myself, as opposed to needing a therapist there to do the work.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
We just started private OT 1x a week and we're on a waitlist for private Speech. I'm lucky in that our insurance will cover 30 visits a calendar year with each. I'm also on the look out for a social skills group (that insurance will not cover).
I'm waiting for the full report from the Psychologist to see if he any thing else is recommended. If it is we'll have to evaluate need and finances.
DS 09/2008
Just wanted to let you know that ESY can NOT be used to gain ground. ESY is for regression or recoupment only. So it is very possible that all these kids do not qualify. You don't automatically qualify because you have significant delays....
DS actually made progress at least in speech over the Winter break. That was their determining factor. I get the impression from my district that at least at the preschool level very few qualify for ESY. He really has made amazing progress in less then a year in pretty much all areas. Still maybe I need to bring it up again at his next IEP meeting. Although, I wonder if it would benefit him as much without typical peers modeling appropriate social behavior and self regulation (where he seems to struggle the most).
I've tried to bridge the gap this summer by keeping him engaged. He took several classes early in the summer at our rec center and next week will be the last week of a Summer Camp at the rec center ( 4 days a week, 3 hour days for 4 weeks). Still I know I haven't kept up the more academic things like drawing, name and letter recognition etc.
DS 09/2008
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