Finding a Way to Schedule Services While Working
unm00red
member
Our son Gavin has been diagnosed with verbal apraxia and oral motor issues. Normally, with apraxia, they like to have the kids in speech therapy 2-4 times a week for a 30 minutes a session. Plus, he needs at least weekly OT for his oral motor and feeding issues. Gavin also has tracheomalacia which results in him being sick more often and longer than the typical kid his age.
He just missed qualifying for EI, so that's not currently an option for us.
Both his father and I work full-time in fairly demanding senior-management positions in IT. We are having a miserable time finding anywhere to get him in for services that has an openings that aren't smack in the middle of the work day.
I've already exhausted all of my sick-time at work and am currently using unpaid leave via intermittant FMLA when we can't find any other way to make appts work. I'm really at about my wits-end and seriously wondering if our only solution is for one of us to quit our job and be a stay-at-home parent.
I'm certain their are many other parents on the board with similar struggles. Can any of you share how you manage to make things work? I'm getting pretty desperate for ideas.
Re: Finding a Way to Schedule Services While Working
What is his daycare situation? It sounds like, if he's prone to sickness as well as needing therapies for speech/development, you should look into a nanny if having a SAHP is not an option. Specifically, a caregiver who has worked with kids with SN before and comes with a background check including driving record, one you can trust to drive him to appointments. My SIL did this on a temporary basis while her 2-YO was in chemo and couldn't be around other kids because his immune system was so vulnerable.
It would likely be expensive, but it may very well be that you could make the adjustments for the additional expense better than you could adjust to losing one income.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
I work in the financial services industry, in a pretty demanding job, and my dh is a general manager of a radio station. We tend to trade off, but I have been known to call my mom and ask her to take ds to an appointment, since she is retired.
When ds was two, I worked for a different company, and had to take fmla because he private therapy in addition to EI. That was tough on our budget, since I was basically working part-time, but we made it work.
I wish I had better advice, but I agree with Auntie. I would look into a nanny. We didn't do that, but I wish I would have, looking back.
Nanny. That's what we do. She takes her to Hippotherapy, PT, puts her on the bus for school and takes her off. Plus, she takes our typical kid to kindermusik and gymnastics.
But all the ABA therapy is home based which is awesome.
Anyway, we keep her pretty busy.
And for doctor's appointments, I use FMLA.
In your shoes, I'd hire a nanny. Sounds like it would help with the therapy situation as well as help keep your child healthier. It may cost more out of pocket, but in the long run, it will pay dividends as your child benefits from therapy and you don't miss as much work.
When DD was still in daycare, we had a handful of private therapists who would travel to her daycare for therapy and the rest we did after my work hours. Last year, DD started preschool so we hired a nanny to pick her up and watch her until I got home from work. She took her to one therapy that fell during that time frame.
This is why I decided to go down to 4 days/week. My DD has spina bifida,so between early intervention, physical therapy, chiropractor, neurosurgeon, pediatrician, etc, etc, etc, this was the only way we would be able to ensure we could get her everything she needed. If I still worked full-time, we would have to prioritize what services she gets, which means she'd probably do PT every other week instead of weekly; EI maybe every 2 months instead of monthly and would likely forego some other more elective things, like the chiropractor. We would be using up a lot of our PTO/vacation to take her. I suppose we also would have looked into a nanny who would take her to some of these appointments.
Is there any way you could alternate your hours? Could you drop to 4 days/week? I find that I still do a full-time job but just have to be really good at prioritizing my day. Or could you do 4 10-hour days? Maybe work from home 1 day? My employer was really open and supportive of me dropping to 4 days because of DD's condition and they knew that I would need to take a lot of time for her appointments. This is the best solution for everyone. I know that it's really tough, so hopefully you're able to find a way to make it work!
When Carson was getting services (3x's per week - all on different days) and having a lot of doctor's appointments, I spoke to my office's HR department. I ended up making a request for use of the donated leave bank and they granted it. I had to meet with the big boss and explain what was going on, and plead my case. They started out giving me 250 hours and added more when that ran out (I was all out of my own because of maternity leave). I was fortunate that Carson's therapies dropped off, so I don't know how long they would have let me do that, but I am very grateful they were willing to help me out.
Good luck. It is really hard trying to balance your career and the needs of your kid. I considered quitting for a while, but in the end, it worked out that I could keep working.
We have a nanny for DS2, and she sits in on his sessions.
When DS1 was in a daycare center, I used to see therapists using extra rooms to do sessions with kids. Is that an option at your place, or does a caregiver have to present at all times? DS2's ST told us that she sometimes goes to daycare centers, and she and the parents leave detailed notes for one another in a notebook that gets passed back and forth.
This exactly what we did with DD when she was in daycare. The therapists used the after school room (obviously not in use during the school day). They woule either write in a notebook or send me an email at the end of the session with what they worked on and our 'homework.' Sometimes they also sent me short videos if a demonstration was easier to understand. It worked great for us, but not all providers are willing/able to travel.