Therapy
In general, I like therapy.
I remember when Sawyer was first born
someone from DSAA called me just to talk.
One thing that she said that resonated in my mind
If your typical child needed help in math, you'd get them tutor.
So if your child with Down Syndrome needs help,
you get him a 'tutor' (of sorts).
That made sense to me,
If my child is lagging behind,
I would seek help for him/her.
In fact, I have for more than one of my children.
On the flip side of that, I've known families
who had their child in therapies 8-10 times a week.
I don't do that.
I try to balance out all my families needs.
8-10x/week is way too much for my family.
When Sawyer was just a few months old,
we started him in Occupational Therapy (OT).
Not so much for fine motor skills but for help with eating.
OT? you ask. Not speech therapy?
Well, in this city there are very few Speech Pathologist.
Most either work for hospitals or the school system.
Very VERY few work in private practice.
So Sawyer has worked with an OT since he was maybe
6 months old. The OT helps him work on fine motor skills.
(at first it was how to move food around in his mouth, then we progressed to:
eating with fork, dressing, cutting with scissors, etc)
For about 2 years we had him working with a
Physical Therapist (PT)
He worked on walking, climbing stairs, core muscle strengthening, etc.
Once we started school, we stopped private OT and PT.
(Accept in the summers when we still do OT)
He gets OT, PT and Speech in the school now.
As of the latest IEP, he gets 2 hours of speech
a week (group setting) and I'm not even sure
about PT. It's changed since last IEP but
I know he gets additional adaptive PE plus other
PT type help.
OT? Not sure on that.
What the schools do, is the OT and PT come to the class
and coach the teacher on what to do for the child.
So it's really a work in progress.
To tell the truth, the main reason we do not
home school Sawyer is the fact he gets
2 hours of Speech every week. That is huge.
That is something I cannot do at home.
Yes, we could have the school do it and still home school
but this works for us.
In general, I like therapy.
I remember when Sawyer was first born
someone from DSAA called me just to talk.
One thing that she said that resonated in my mind
If your typical child needed help in math, you'd get them tutor.
So if your child with Down Syndrome needs help,
you get him a 'tutor' (of sorts).
That made sense to me,
If my child is lagging behind,
I would seek help for him/her.
In fact, I have for more than one of my children.
On the flip side of that, I've known families
who had their child in therapies 8-10 times a week.
I don't do that.
I try to balance out all my families needs.
8-10x/week is way too much for my family.
When Sawyer was just a few months old,
we started him in Occupational Therapy (OT).
Not so much for fine motor skills but for help with eating.
OT? you ask. Not speech therapy?
Well, in this city there are very few Speech Pathologist.
Most either work for hospitals or the school system.
Very VERY few work in private practice.
So Sawyer has worked with an OT since he was maybe
6 months old. The OT helps him work on fine motor skills.
(at first it was how to move food around in his mouth, then we progressed to:
eating with fork, dressing, cutting with scissors, etc)
For about 2 years we had him working with a
Physical Therapist (PT)
He worked on walking, climbing stairs, core muscle strengthening, etc.
Once we started school, we stopped private OT and PT.
(Accept in the summers when we still do OT)
He gets OT, PT and Speech in the school now.
As of the latest IEP, he gets 2 hours of speech
a week (group setting) and I'm not even sure
about PT. It's changed since last IEP but
I know he gets additional adaptive PE plus other
PT type help.
OT? Not sure on that.
What the schools do, is the OT and PT come to the class
and coach the teacher on what to do for the child.
So it's really a work in progress.
To tell the truth, the main reason we do not
home school Sawyer is the fact he gets
2 hours of Speech every week. That is huge.
That is something I cannot do at home.
Yes, we could have the school do it and still home school
but this works for us.
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