Daycare and Therapy?

Amy and Jay · September 2012

I'm a SAHM right now but my DH might be changing jobs which would mean moving and possibly me going back to work due to a salary cut for him.

Right now my DD1 (3.5 yrs) has speech 1x/week (through the county at the elementary school) but we're having her evaluated for ASD and have been told by an OT that she appears to have SPD as well. I'm trying to envision what things will be like if I have to go back to work and I wasn't sure how therapy is handled with kids in daycare especially if she gets a diagnoses and ends up needing more than speech.

Can any of you share your experiences?

Princess_Lily · September 2012

I don't understand your question, do you mean will the daycare take her to speech when needed?

Amy and Jay · September 2012

Sorry I didn't clarify. I meant how does therapy work for those of you who work full time and have a child in daycare? Do they come to daycare and conduct therapy there or do you have to take off of work to take them? Because she gets it through the county schools right now I take her to the school 1x a week. I don't know if that means that I'll need to hire a private therapist to visit daycare or what. I'm just not sure how it's typically handled with a child who is in daycare full time.

[Deleted User] · September 2012

We have physical therapy through the state and the therapist comes to daycare for the sessions.

She either takes him out to the playground or they go outside or to the big common playroom.

You'll just talk to your daycare center administration and teachers to let them know about any therapists and the days they will come. Ours had us write a letter with the information for our files.

When the therapist(s) show up, the daycare teachers let them in and the therapist takes it from there.

GL

Justinlove · September 2012

Like Auntie said, it is different in every state (often county specific). In our county, up until age 3, the therapists will go to the daycare to service the child. After age three, services are either provided at an elementary school or in a community based preschool setting. If in an elementary school, if the child qualifies for special needs preschool (having multiple delays or a very significant singular delay), the therapy is done in the classroom. Transportation is provided, but limited to a specific service area. We ran into issues with this since preschool is only 1/2 day for 3 year olds and there were not any daycares in our area willing/able to accommodate our child's feeding needs. We opted to hire a private nanny to care for DD--she picks her up from preschool at 12 and transports her to our home until I get off of work at 3.

If the child does not qualify for the SNP, then the parents can bring the child to therapy sessions (transportation is not provided).

If done in a community based setting, the child is enrolled into an approved private preschool (all of ours are 1/2 day and parents are responsible for tuition/transportation) and the therapist goes to the school for therapy. Transportation is not provided.

bumpuser511563 · September 2012

0-3 years of age was with Early Intervention and the therapists would go to the daycare to provide services.

I think you may have to check out the school district and see if they have a school that will provide services for speech, ot, etc. Those services are done during school hours. And you can request they evaluate your DD to get into school if she qualifies.

Daycare will need to know about ongoing therapies to care for your child but you would have to see if any private therapists are willing to go to daycare to provide service.

Some of those therapists will probably not go to the daycare because it has to be at their facility for insurance to cover the services. Otherwise, you may have to use time off to go and take your DD to services.

I speak from experience when we had to take DS to OT. I would schedule as much services on Fridays and Saturdays because on Friday I would get out at 12:00. The OT had a schedule change from Friday at 2:00 pm. to Thursday afternoons at 4:00 pm. I had to work till 5:30 so DH had to take DS for awhile because he is unemployed and is going to school.

DH is undergoing looking for a job all over and we may come to us moving like you will be with your family at some point. I think I may have to stay home for me to continue therapies for DS to make it to all of his appointments. I don't know if there will be a job that can balance as much as I need for my family.

bumpuser511563 · September 2012

-auntie-:
Justinlove:

If the child does not qualify for the SNP, then the parents can bring the child to therapy sessions (transportation is not provided).

When DS was dually enrolled in private school and the district for SLT, we could have gotten transportation written into his IEP from home or a day care within the 10 miles busing radius to and from speech services.

bumpuser511563 · September 2012

Crazy Bump!

I was going to say DS was and is bussed to and from his daycare.

DS attends both the special needs preschool and daycare. I pay full tuition for daycare.

ridesbuttons · September 2012

I took time off work to take the kids to speech therapy. I think it was the best decision I could have made as I learned so much during those sessions and applied it to our everyday life.

Amy and Jay · September 2012

Thanks for all of the replies. Right now everything is so up in the air and I don't know exactly where we would move to yet. Once I have a better idea of what's going to happen I will start looking into various state/county policies for the area we move to. I will also talk to DD's current IEP team and find out what happens to the IEP if we move out of state.

MirandaHobbes · September 2012

Sailor Saturn:

Crazy Bump!

I was going to say DS was and is bussed to and from his daycare.

DS attends both the special needs preschool and daycare. I pay full tuition for daycare.

This- DS is 4 yo. I hate paying FT daycare tuition when he's only there 4 hours a day! But it's a necessary evil. It's a large SN inclusive daycare and it's not like they can fill the spot DS leave unoccupied when he's at his public school in the middle of the day. Plus this way I don't have to worry about finding a place for him when public school is on break.

In my city, EI was 0-3 and was first done only in our home. It was very hard scheduling. DH and I both have demanding jobs. The only time that worked was after work, and then DS was overtired from his day. We did private therapy additionally in the very early morning. When he was 2 the EI program added 2 hours of group therapy twice a week- they bussed him from his daycare to the public school. This was a bitter pill for me to swallow. It's a long bus ride (40 min each way). When he was 3 it turned into 5 days a week for 3.5 hours a day. We switched daycares to a SN inclusive setting so that he could receive his private therapies at the daycare. This was a huge burdon off of DH and I- we no longer had to worry about juggling our schedules to accomodate therapists.

light52 · September 2012

As others have said, it all depends on your state. In my state they will come to your house or daycare until age 3. At age 3 then you go to the school for therapy. Some children will qualify for SN preschool and can receive therapy too. Both my kids are in therapy (for very different reasons) and we were less than impressed with the help the school was giving us. We know go to therapy outside of school 3 days a week. At this point in time, we've opted to live a leaner lifestyle rather than me work because therapy takes up so much of our time. I am gone three afternoons a week and do not get back until dinnertime. Once the kids are older and do not require as much therapy, I will probably look in to part time or work from home options.

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