Throughout the blog, I have raved our Occupational Therapist. Ms. W truly is sent by God. She pushes Bubs to do better and be better. She comes along side us so we can work at home with him. I praise God for leading us to her. I also realize that it is through OT that we have regained our son.
I realize that not everyone has this wonderful experience. Some of you have had poor OT’s who haven’t helped you or your child. Some of you can’t afford the expensive one-on-one sessions. Others of you know this would help but don’t know where to start. Hopefully by sharing my story, you can gain some insight.
As I stated, I took my concerns to my pediatrician. I could go on and on about how much I love our ped. I know that God lead us to her. Her son had the same cardiologist as Bubs. Also, her son struggles with sensory issues. In a nut shell, she get our situation.
After noticing Bubs’ lack of fine motor skills and after listening to me explain his sensory issues, she gave me a prescription to see an OT. After working out all of the insurance details, Bubs went through the two hour evaluation and we learned about his delays as well as she confirmed the sensory issues. We were then set up for 2 1-hour sessions a week due to Bubs’ testing and the OT’s suggestion.
With Bubs’ long history of health issues, I have gone around and around with insurance. I have learned that you can not believe what one person tells you. Thus, I suggest calling and talking to more than one person when figuring out what is covered for OT. Also make sure that you check the maximum amount of visits that they will cover. This is VERY important. Once you have talked to a couple of people who have given you the same information, get the information in writing. Our OT has been wonderful about helping us with insurance “rules” as they work with them daily. If you have insurance through an employer, call the Human Resource dept to find out what is covered.
In our situation, Bubs did not have nor did he need an “official” diagnosis to get therapy. It was based on his test scores.
Depending on where you live, there may be several OT options – private, through a coop, or through a school system. Or, you may have very few. Start making phone calls. Talk to other parents, call your pediatrician, and call the school district to find out what is available. We have been very blessed to have a wonderful OT as well as speech pathologist.
On a side note – we saw two speech paths for a while – a private therapist and another one through the coop. We love Ms. W, our private therapist. The other sweet therapist was young and very inexperienced. Bubs literally ran all over her. More than once, I stepped in and pulled him back down because she couldn’t handle him. This wasn’t fair for her to have me jump in and it wasn’t fair to Bubs that I had to. Thus we stopped seeing her.
I say this because…it is your responsibility to make sure that the therapist that you choose is a correct fit for your child. Please don’t ever assume that the therapist is “good” just because you have heard good things or because they have a fish by their name. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time and money. But more importantly, when you allow an adult to work one-on-one with your child you need to make sure it is a good and safe situation.
Please understand that this has been our situation. Things may be different for you depending on state laws, insurance, and school districts. But, I hope that you can get a better idea through our story.
