Do you do the recommended therapies?

irishbaby0708 · May 2013

My Son is 3.5 and he was dx with ASD,ADHD and SPD at the end of February and he began full day Autistic preschool through the school system at the end of March and we have already seen a huge improvement. Today we took him for an OT evaluation and they recommended twice a week. I would love to be able to take him twice a week but, the cost along with time I just don't see how it will work. I work full time and commute 40 minutes each way and Lo goes to school from 8:40-1:40. He does get OT and ST through the school the St is private 3 days a week but, the OT is group. I know we can fit 1 day a week in but, really don't see how we can do it twice. I feel like a bad mom even asking this but, has any one not done the recommened therapy and what have you done in place of it?

irishbaby0708 · May 2013

I agree with you but, I know he needs it. Dh took him today but, from what he told me it's sensory. He is so high energy and literally bouncing off the wall a lot of the time. he does have calm time too but, I have seen how it helps just by a few of the things we do at home. We have been doing a lot on our own since he was Dx.

I was thinking of doing once a week and seeing if I can talk the school into adding a private Ot to his schedule there.

I have an apt with the Children specialized hospital at the end of the month so I guess I'll see what they recommend too although that's who the therapist is through too.

lite-bright · May 2013

Nope. The initial recommendation to us was to start ABA. At that point, it would've been 100% OOP for us and we could never have paid for anywhere near the recommended number of hours that have been proven to make a difference. (We have some coverage for therapies now, but still struggle to find in-network providers that are workable in terms of schedule and distance.)

I did a ton of research and we chose RDI as our initial core therapy. I do feel like there are "alternative" approaches that are generally accepted as professional and good options (not wacky like some others), but I also feel like clinicians are reluctant to recommend them b/c ABA is the one thing that has some studies backing it up and it's usually the treatment that is covered by insurance, if anything is. The child psych who did our eval didn't seem particularly familiar with anything other than ABA. OTOH, we chose her to do the eval partly because we knew she would not be providing services (to avoid the possibility of a conflict in that area); just dx and recommended areas of treatment (the what, not the how).

So, we did RDI for a year+ along with group play therapy when we could, and now it's a mix of Floortime, music therapy, social skills, etc. plus regular activities like swimming and soccer. Plus 10 hours a week of preschool, where she gets support services.

The exact mix of activities at any given time depends on what's available and what works for time/distance. We do the formal therapies that we can, but I think we're also cognizant of the fact that we can work a lot in during regular everyday activities and try to do that as often as we can. RDI was really great for teaching us that.

Unknown · May 2013

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mommytoconnor · May 2013

I am a single mom and my son has SPD and speech delay. I know how hard it is to fit into your schedule. I work as a RN and so my days are about 13 hours long. I too find it difficult to sometimes fit everything in. You need to do what you can do and don't sweat it if you don't get two therapies in a week. A recommendation would be to do the one that you know you can get in and do a bunch of home stuff. That's what I did, for the SPD, I did a ton of home therapies that are super simple to incorporate and do thru the day. Your OT can also give you ideas or you can PM me for things I did if you need creative ideas.

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