Everyday Occupational/Speech Therapy

Now that I’m looking at my Title–I’m overwhelmed by the topic!  But to be honest–I’m overwhelmed a lot!  I have a child with speech and language delays and motor coordination issues–both fine and gross motor!

I manage my child’s speech and occupational therapy.  I’m not a speech pathologist but I’m guessing that spending the last 3 years in therapy 3-4 times a week . . . 45 weeks times 3 = 135 sessions a year x 3 years=405 speech therapy sessions!  How many credit hours is that?  I have been involved in making sure that all of the speech therapist are on the same page and they are working on the same sounds.  I’m a barracuda when it comes to my kids and making sure they are getting the care/help they need.  I’m not in it to make friends–I’m in it for my kid!  Yes, I have stopped therapy.  Yes, I have told fancy doctors I thought they were wrong and walked out of the office.  No, I’m not really afraid of anyone or what they might think . . .

My son has had private therapist, hospital therapist, school therapist, early intervention therapist–8 different speech therapist in all–I have found almost all of them to be wonderful, assisting me with keeping everyone working together–for the benefit of my son.

My son has also had music therapy!  He loves Music Mike!  Since we moved he can no longer have weekly sessions BUT when travel back to Ann Arbor, MI–we try to stop in!  My other kids Skype their piano and guitar lessons with Mike–totally cool, but music therapy is more hands on so we are exploring some new ideas in this area.  We are always open to seeking new options and opportunities.

Occupational Therapy has been a challenge for me–I did not agree with his original diagnosis nor the treatment plan.  My son had been in the system for 2 years already and although was still basically non verbal, he made his point that OT was not something that he was going to cooperate with.  So the therapist to her credit–gave me the homework and I began working with him daily and she would check on our progress monthly.  Did I mention that I’m not an OT?  But still we worked and worked and worked.  Now he has OT once a week through the local school district and we love our therapist!  My son challenges her to make if fun and interesting.

During the last 3 years we have had speech, occupational, and music.  These services are provided privately, by insurance and the school district.  The first two years we had 5 scheduled therapies a week!  Just therapy time–not travel time  . . . or the waiting time if someone was running late or when the therapies did not dove tail with the other kids schedules and we wait 15, 20, 30 minutes here and there.  It made for some very long days.   We still have long days and will continue to have long days–I get tired, my son gets tired the other kids in our family need to be reminded that they have activities as well . . . therapy has defined how we live.

My other kids had soccer, music lessons, away school to shuttled to and from.  Life has been crazy busy.  I try to keep it a simple, yet enriching environment.

By being my child’s best advocate I also discovered that I had a knack for teaching him in a way that only his Mom could.  I began developing my own curriculum.   I based my lesson plans on:

1. What my son’s current “thing” is.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Legos, eating muffins, “iPad time”–and work within those perimeters.  I will drive to Toys R Us and look at toys for a couple of hours–if I know I can get some great speech happening.
2. How can I incorporate movement–we have an exercise ball and I often sit with him on my lap (or big brother) and we bounce to a sound or some cross lateral movements.  We do a rhyming game–I cross his arms when he makes a rhyme–it gets more and more exaggerated as he rhymes more and more times.
3. I incorporate food–we cook, we decorate cookies, we watch the food network together and talk about what we see.  I can get a ton of fine motor skill work done while he picks up mini morsels!
4. I work on a sound 100 times a day–I’ve been doing this since we met Carol–a phenomenal speech therapist–it was her suggestion and at first it was hard but now I break it down to a word or set of sounds–it is still hard and some days I admit I give up . . . thank God for tomorrows!
5. We do lots of Art.  We paint, we have those dot paints, we water-color, I put putty on the wall and he needs to sand it off . . . then we paint the wall.  I go to great lengths to keep it interesting and fun.
6. My son loves music–singing and dancing are everyday activities in our home.

I love my kid–that is what motivates me.  I love his laugh.  I love how he sees the world.  I want to share with you how I embrace his challenges.

I would love to hear how you embrace your children who are might see the world differently.   Wouldn’t it be great if we could support each other?  I so need that.

Be blessed.  My hope is that all mothers and fathers will see their children as a true gift from God–sent to us to make us whole, to make us who we need to be, to give our lives a purpose greater than what we could have ever imagined.