So, the girls started all day kindergarten in a regular classroom and are doing ok (some small problems with behavior, moreso for Abigail, but nothing huge). It's a long day. By the time they get home, they are exhausted.
Their mother also went back to work. We're enrolling the girls in an after school program at the 'Y', M-W-F - so, on those days, the kids will be fully immersed in mainstream activities until about 5:00pm. On the other days, a babysitter is coming in.
Private therapies, obviously, have become quite inconvenient. They're getting a private OT and SLP session. We dropped PT recently. We also have a private tutor come in and work with them on social skills. Over the summer, the tutor was working on more, but with school, she's now reduced to one, three hour session on the weekend, where she takes the girl's out into the community to encourage socialization with other kids - this costs 20/hour.
Do you think it's time to drop the private therapies? I'm thinking it is. Mom has doubts, but I'm thinking that we should just have their private therapists write recommendations that we will take to our IEP meeting. I figure the school SLP and the resource teacher (as well as the regular teacher) can continue to work on social skills.
I have seen some nice social development since school started (Abigail, for example, seeking out a playmate to go 'look for bugs' with her, and using appropriate langauge to the extent that she was successful in gaining a partner in crime).
OTOH, it's kind of hard to move on and sort of take a step back and accept taht they are where they are, and now it's time to let them develop as a result of peer socialization rather than "therapy", as therapy is so emphasized for these kids. They've come a long way, but still have behavior and social issues, language issues, and motor coordination issues (Evie, for example, has dropped her lunch tray several times at school mainly from tripping over her own feet). But I'm not sure if therapy will help with these things any more than just effort and practice.
That's the million $ question. In our case, Ethan is doing well, for where he is at, but has at least 2 -1 hr sessions a day. ot pt st playgroup etc. It is a lot for him. He is tired and crabby and so am I. Is he doing well because of all these things, or because he just is.
To me, this is the toughest thing to come to grips with with autism. You never know. There are no rule books. We never know if we are doing too mcuh, not enough or which things are really making a difference.
I guess if I were you, I would keep the tutor on the weekends. Not only for the social aspects, but to maybe get in some activities that will help with the motor skills.
I think 8-5 is plenty for little kids. Great to hear how well they are doing.
Fred, I think the girls need time to be ... GIRLS! A wise OT told me this, and she is right.
I agree -- have the therapists write recommendations for their IEP, and leave it at that!
GO ABBIE AND EVIE, GO!!!! It is terrific to read how great they are doing!
By the time my oldest was in 1st grade, we had phased out any private therapies we were doing. I felt the school was able to provide him with the therapies he still needed, like speech for pragmatics, social skills group, and some OT for fine motor skills. Instead of taking him to private therapies, we got him involved in scouting. I don't regret our decision one bit.
Your daughters are doing very well. I would consider keeping the tutor on the weekend to work on social skills. It's idea I wish I had thought of when my oldest was younger.
That's a tough one. I tend to do a lot right now with my son because he is young and I'm home with him. Your girls are older now. I might try going without or reducing the extra therapies in your case. Or, even go to a once a month/consultation with them. I guess it depends how well the school is providing the services.
On another note, it's great they are doing so well.
We have found that gross motor skills are hard for our son as well. The school should be able to do a lot with social skills. Make sure it's in the IEP. The school doesn't seem to do a lot with Gross Motor though. Our PT gave us some fun exercises/ things to do at home, and it has helped. He has had PT on and off, but the continued work at home has been good.
The tutor once a week is probably a good idea. Hopefully you can keep track of behaviors, social situations that you hear about at school, and she can re-enforce propper responses, do social stories etc. Soooo many social issues come up in school. You really need to ask your kids what's happening as well. Teachers don't know everything that is occurring. With class sizes so big, they can't.
Play dates really help secure and enhance the budding friendships. It's a lot of work and planning...we really go out of our way to make sure any friends that come over have a great time, but it helps. You can be with them, and sort of coach the play. Also, in kindergarten some schools have the Daisy's (early form of girl scouts). I think it will help if they can get into a structured, fun group, like that. We have our son in cub scouts, and again it re-enforces the friendships and social skills. We attend the meeting with him, and sort of coach him on propper responses, behavior etc.
In kindergarten and first grade the other kids are very forgiving about any differences (for the most part), because they are so little. So it's a great time to really work on building those friendships and working hard on the social skills.
Fred,
I stop a few times and just really watched Sarah and when I felt she really needed intervention I started up again but at her new level...I done this at least 3x and stopping all therapies when she was almost 7 years old...now I got her in reg. gymnastics and feel pretty good with no therapies...so far!
Breaks were so important for both her and me...follow your heart:)
Fred, I'm in the same place you are.
We are down to 1 private ST appointment and 1 private OT appointment per week, both in the evening (5:30 - 6:30 pm). I was worried about the long day, but so far he's been a little rock star in the evenings so I guess my concerns were unfounded.
C has been seeing the same therapists for 4 years now. He loves them and goes to each session with a big smile on his face. He also comes out with a big smile. Dh and I have discussed whether to continue many times, and for now we've decided to keep this schedule for the time being. When we do C's IEP in the spring and discuss his goals, placement and services for 2nd grade, we'll decide at that time whether to cease or continue private therapy. We usually take a complete therapy break for 6 weeks each summer anyway (2 weeks vacation followed by 4 weeks of camp).
It would be easier to discontinue the private therapy if he didn't enjoy it so much and look forward to it each week. I have a feeling thought that this might be his last year. We'll see though. The school year is still young and even though C is doing great now, I'm still anxious to see how he does when they push/challenge him even more.