Re: Therapies

August 26, 2004

In a message dated 8/26/2004 3:49:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,

kbamenabar@... writes:

feel like I'm letting go of some lifeline or not being a good enough

mother by stopping therapies

just because you stop private therapy for awhile doesn't mean that you

can't continue to work at home on the techniques you have learned. Practice

never hurts anyone and you can make it into more of fun time together than a

sceduled therapy session. Try it for awhile and then if you feel you need to

start back then do so. The one thing you don't want to start doing is laying a

guilt trip at your feet. None of us are perfect and we all learn by trial

and error. We are parents, we are not fortune tellers, do what you think is

best in this time of your lives and then be willing to make changes if

necessary.

I think the Serenity Prayer especially the first stanza says it all:

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Carol

She isn't Typical, She's Trisha!

August 26, 2004

Kim,

We dropped our extra ST because the therapist was going to have a baby

and quit for a while. We were upset (I sympathize with the lifeline

analogy!) because she had worked with our daughter, Ellen, for several

years. However, I don't think she was progressing as much there, and

definitely not at school, at the time. Ellen did start to progress

with her school teachers and therapists once they found the autism

piece of the puzzle AND found techniques that work for her. We're not

pursuing extra ST now because we're probably moving in a year or two,

and that's about how long it takes Ellen to develop a relationship - I

don't think it would do any good. Maybe I'm wrong, but Ellen is doing

well at school and I think she's getting enough there for the time being.

We also have Ellen in dance/motion therapy once a week for 45 min.

It's supposed to help her with body awareness and control (and be fun

- Ellen has a good time there). We have continued to see progress

there, to a degree, but are continuing that more because it is fun for

Ellen, and it's something I don't think she could get in any other

kids dance class or sport.

You shouldn't feel like a bad mother - if it's not working, and things

aren't working at school either, it may be time to focus efforts at

school to find techniques that DO work. Once that's done, then you'll

be well armed with ideas for extra therapy. I am alarmed that they

were both so ready to quit for a while - do you think maybe both are

suffering from a little (but completely understandable) burnout and

are trying to reduce their client base? Or did they give another

reason why?

Hope this helps! But please take it with a grain of salt - I know

that each of our kids is quite individual.

(Mom to Ellen, 7, DS/autism)

> I have a question about therapies (mostly speech and OT). My son is 7

> and we have been doing private speech and sensory integration based OT

> for a little over 2 years. He gets each of them weekly in addition to

> his school based OT, PT, and speech. We have been seeing little or no

> progress during the last 2 years and were thinking about cutting

back to

> every other week. When I told the OT she concurred. Then the speech

> therapist said she thought he could do without speech for awhile. I

> don't know why but it was so upsetting to besically hear that there is

> nothing these people can do for us anymore. I know I can go out and

> find other therapists but in reality, both of them are truly caring

> professionals who have painstakingly built a relationship with my son.

> The speech therapist is well recognized in the area and has been

> fantastic with us. She is incredibly respectful of and has

> travelled over 30 minutes to visit his school and consult with his

> teachers. She works with me on his IEP (all of this at no charge).

Iit

> wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that BOTH of them (they

> are not affiliated) are basically saying the same thing. So my

question

> is: have any of you had any success with therapies? How long did you

> continue? How often?

>

> I should be relieved that I don't have to do so much driving around but

> I feel like I'm letting go of some lifeline or not being a good enough

> mother by stopping therapies. Is it worth it?

>

> Kim Amenabar

> mom to (7-DS & ASD) and Klaudia (10)

August 26, 2004

Hi Kim -

For what it's worth, we are in exactly the same place. We're just

starting private speech back up after a 6-month break, but I'm mostly

doing it because I feel like I should rather than because I saw any

progress or breakthroughs in our years of therapy.

On the other hand, this summer we hired 2 " tutors " instead of doing

private therapies. Both are preschool teachers during the school year.

One is Max's regular-year teacher and was paid for by the school

district under " bridge services " on Max's IEP. The other is a friend of

hers who I am paying out-of-pocket. They have been a life-saver this

summer--especially after I pulled Max out of summer school after a week

because it was academically worthless and downright unsafe. After Max

got used to the routine, he has been willing to work with the tutors on

Speech, OT, and PT activities--done at home and in a playful way. They

each came twice a week for 1 hour--so Max had someone visit 4 out of 5

days a week at a total cost much less than 1 hour of private therapy.

Good luck.

Sharon

(Mom to Max, 5 and Zoe, 2)

On Aug 26, 2004, at 3:46 PM, Kim & Bernardo Amenabar wrote:

> I have a question about therapies (mostly speech and OT). My son is 7

> and we have been doing private speech and sensory integration based OT

> for a little over 2 years. He gets each of them weekly in addition to

> his school based OT, PT, and speech. We have been seeing little or no

> progress during the last 2 years and were thinking about cutting back

> to