Today is certainly a cheating day, but I believe that Kelly at My Little "Son-Shine" did an amazing job of describing the various therapies that her son, Landon, participates in and I wanted to share. Kelly has been writing some great posts during the 31 for 21 challenge about the various types of therapies that many children with Down syndrome receive. Sweet Pea is about 6 weeks younger than her son and receives many of the same services as he does.
Physical Therapy - Landon's sessions look amazing! Sweet Pea gets some of what you see during the PT at her center based therapy program, but not the treadmill and no tricycles yet although I know that they do have some there. Her private PT sessions have been something that we have struggled with for a very long time. Her original PT was horrendous and her current one is much better, but we still aren't satisfied. We are currently investigating our options on this front and hope to be in a better situation soon.
Occupational Therapy - Sweet Pea's sessions are very similar to what you see in the photos of Landon.
Speech Therapy - Sweet Pea's speech therapy sessions that we have been receiving through our insurance have been primarily focused on her aspiration issue. Only recently have they started to do more with the signs during therapy. They really don't work at all on her vocalizations. The speech therapy that she just started receiving at the center based therapy program is working on her vocalizations and on signing so I'm very excited to see what progress she makes in this arena.
Water Therapy - I wish this was an option for Sweet Pea as I think she would thrive in this type of therapy session, but there aren't any places that offer it around us.
With Sweet Pea's recent addition of center based therapy three times a week we are trying to figure out what to do with her other therapies. We don't want her to be in therapy 24/7, but what is the right mixture? I know many parents struggle with this same situation. However, we are in a VERY lucky situation where we are probably being offered too much therapy. Currently in California and maybe other states, many parents are having to fight for some very basic therapy due to budget issues and so I feel guilty that we are complaining about maybe having too many services. Having too much and too little are both bad situations!
Now, I think if we felt that the traditional therapy Sweet Pea was receiving was of better quality then we would be much happier with less, but with a lower quality we feel like we need more of it to make up for the lack of quality. However, we also look at it as a waste of time because it isn't high quality. Quite the conundrum! Her center based therapy seems to be right on track, but since it isn't all therapy, it doesn't give her enough of the various types. We need to augment it a little...but need to find better therapists. Fun times huh?!?
Hey there!! This is so not a cheat, that's why we are all here, to SHARE this journey (and all that comes with it). Landon has been involved with EI since he was 2 1/2 months old and had been receiving most therapy sessions at home (except for Water therapy and 1 of his 2 OT sessions at "school"/daycare). This past September when Landon started "school" full time, ALL of his therapists began seeing him at school (again, with the exception of WT). In September, Landon started having Center based therapy 2 times a week. One is a 1 on 1 session and the other is small group (I will be posting about this soon).
ReplyDeleteWe just couldn't compete with the equipment!! And Landon has been so tolerant!! I often struggle with your thoughts about too much/little therapy. Scott & I, honestly feel like, Landon will lead the way. We give him as much as possible, but if at any time we feel that it is too much for him, we can always drop some. Right now he has 7 sessions per week, each for 1 hour. As much as I feel bad that he has to work so hard, he is such a trooper!! He REALLY does tackle each session like it is a play date (we LOVE our EI team, they are great)!! He does have his moments, (much earned), but for the most part he is 100% tolerant.
It looks like Sweet Pea has some pretty good services too!! And it sounds like your center based therapy has a lot of the same equipment. We are so fortunate to have these services available to us, when others are struggling. Something we DO NOT take for granted. I cannot wait to see Sweet Pea in action too!! As far as WT goes, if it is available, grab it!! They work so much harder, but it is so much less stress on their little bodies!
Thanks so much for the reference to our blog! You can share whatever you would like.......ANYTIME=)