DT

Outcome = Totally different than expected. Ok, so this week I made a phone call to our old DT (group) owner/therapist. I told her I was just lost on what I needed to expect. I told her that I didn't see any therapy going on and described a couple of scenarios. She agreed and helped me to understand what my expectations should be. I was completely prepared to call our coodinator and switch therapists. This morning I spent some time stressing over the fact that I WANTED to do the right thing and tell her what I saw that was bothering me (you know, so she can fix it and actually be given a chance to defend herself), but I felt like I would probably slink back into my little corner of 'niceness', smiling & nodding. As usual, we started by reading books. However, she did ask DS if he wanted to read books or play blocks. He chose to read books. As a creature of habit, he already KNEW that was what Mary comes to do, so it was no surprise to me when he chose to read. There was a distinct difference though, because she was actually interacting with me and showing me concrete evidence of what she was doing and why it was supposed to help. She was working on 'preliteracy skills' of opening the book (he already does that well), reading Left to Right (he does this 95% of the time) and realizing the story goes with the words (which he is picking up on recently). She also worked on drawing his attention to the storyline (which he doesn't usually do at all). Then, I redirected and asked her if there was anything else she wanted to work on (because he was bringing her book after book after book) and so we asked DS if there was another toy he wanted to play with. He said 'Blocks', and went towards some little counting blocks that he likes to play with. She helped him to get them down and then tried to find a game that could go along with the blocks. Then, she caught on & realized (or at least this is what I thought happened) that I wanted to pick up the pace a bit. If you just let HIM pick the pace, he'll do the same thing over and over and over. He needs the redirection. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and tried to SHOW her that. I think she got it because shortly after he lost intrest in learning anything from the block game, she asked me for crayons and paper and told me that he seemed ready to begin working on emotions. We drew happy & sad faces, showed him our happy & sad faces, and then showed him the happy & sad faces in the book we were reading. It went over his head...but THATS OK... because that means its something worth working on. :-) Ok. So, I watched intently today and began my conversation on what changes I see that need to be made by saying 'What Im seeing in our sessions overlapps a lot with Speech, but it also seems quite outdated for him. I was the one who chose the objectives, but it was during our 2 hour evaluation in June. I was not prepared, nor was I qualified to be the one to make his objectives that day.' She agreed that they seem outdated and explained to me a bit about how the EI program works; they have to do what the objectives are. They write up what they did in the session, and really can't go too far outside the plan. I told her that what would work best for Me would be for her to bring me some questions that would identify where his 'developmental' struggles are. I feel like I do ok seeing where he struggles in things he already participates in, but there have to be some holes where we aren't supporting development at all & I can't see something I don't know about. I told her that we already do the books, we already do the blocks. Speech is doing a great job of working on imaginary play, etc. And, while its fine to focus on those things part of the time OR even as a part of something else - that if we do that at both Speech and DT each week, then I have nothing new to work on. At that point, she said that she was very thankful that I said something. She said that I am not typical of most parents - that what she typically sees are parents who expect her to come in week after week and do her thing for an hour and then its done. They don't ask questions of what to work on throughout the week. I told her that I just wanted to make the best of the time we have. EI is a short program. It's over when he's 3, and then we move out of EI into something else. So, here's what we came up with. Next week, we'll spend more time talking about what we need to work on than doing actual therapy. That was my suggestion. I told her that while I know she is held to a certain standard of what she is supposed to say or not supposed to say - that I want her to tell ME what he needs to work on. I'm not his therapist. I might know DS best, but SHE knows DT best. She already suggested that we add 'Self Help Skills' into his plan & just leave it broad so she has more room to play with. If we put very specific things - like work on desire to undress and dress himself - then she can't do other things (isn't that sad). We discussed the benefits of going to a group and decided that it would be great to get out of the house and do every-other week somewhere else (chickfila, the mall, grocery store, etc..) Her explanation is that she is supposed to be a support to the parents - working on anything that we see makes life a struggle for DS. The best place to work on this is his 'natural environment'. Her idea of natural environment is not just our house or church - also anywhere else that we go. Something that concerned me a bit; she mentioned at one point doing DT on a bi-weekly basis. I felt almost as if she wanted to take advantage of my willingness to participate. She said that she could come every-other week and work on new skills and then I can carry it over for 2 weeks. I was quick to tell her that there were other DT's that were offered bi-weekly, but I specifically chose weekly & I was not interested in cutting his therapy down anymore. I'll just keep this in the back of my mind. It also disappointed me a bit that she never brings any toys/games with her. I asked her about that, and she said her company comes from the point of view that a child's natural environment in the home includes that child's own toys as well. I told her I was split on how I feel about that becuase DS tends to focus much better when there is something new to focus on. However, since I understand that now, I asked her if there is something I can set up for next week that would facilitate a NEW topic (since he will always relate Mary=reads books if we dont). I told her I can set out his kitchen set & she added that it would be great to use a book we have about cooking to talk about cooking eggs and why we're doing that. Great! Now, that's what Im talking about! To work on this week: +Think about where he needs to participate that he's not already (on/off clothes, picking out clothes, chores, cooking) +Think about what he needs help with that he's already participating in +Work on Preliteracy skills, point to each word as we read it & Ask questions about the story as we read +Work on Emotions - Happy-Sad-Angry. Use any situation we can to point out these emotions. Point it out in books. On the faces of his animals. Etc.. Off to call Tammy the Coordinator.