Preschooler eligible for OT services but want to take an observe approach

[Anonymous]

Why can't the OT push in -- that is, help and teach with fine motor tasks as they naturally come up in the classroom. I would hope that a preschool class for 5 year olds does lots of pre writing tasks, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs the OT more than circle time. You can attend K without any preschool at all. Plus you can work on the preschool stuff with him. Do not decline the OT.

+10. Much easier to fix these issues now than when DC is older. Get the OT now, either in school or after school, but now.

I don't think OP is against OT. They are against the approach EE wants to take which isn't one on one services. If your child was supposed to receive speech therapy but wanted the therapist to sit next to the child in class and correct speech instead of working one on one most wouldn't be happy. OT needs to be done one on one to be effective at such a young age.

This isn't EE, the child is over 3 and has an IEP.

"Sitting next to child in class and correcting speech" isn't remotely what push in therapy looks like.

Op here. It is early intervention. My son is still in preschool. These services are county services and yes they just want to do observation approach but yet they also have very specific goals like zipping his coat, writing name etc. I pushed to do services outside of school and the therapist said that’s fine but we would get assigned to someone else who does home services. The other services he gets are also observational. It honestly just seems like a waste and distracting to his day.

So do that. Have the therapist come on one of his non-preschool days, or in the afternoons after preschool. Seems like that would be less disruptive and would help his primary caregiver (you?) learn techniques too.

[Anonymous]

Professionals know how to worki n these skills in the classroom by pushing in during classroom activities. If you want details ask the OT. I would not decline this IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs the OT more than circle time. You can attend K without any preschool at all. Plus you can work on the preschool stuff with him. Do not decline the OT.

Op here. Unless he’s getting pulled out it feels pointless to me. They specifically said they won’t pull him from preschool activities. Let’s say he needed speech therapy. Can you imagine if they said that? Doesn’t make sense to me to just observe unless it’s behavior therapy.

Plenty of SLPs and OTs "push into" classrooms. It's actually a required method of servicing children in some preschools such as headstart programs. They are professionals and know what they are doing. I have never heard of "observing"only. Is that the exact words they used?

[Anonymous]

If you’re son qualified, he is behind. If you don’t address these needs now, they will be addressed when he’s older and the pull-outs are more disruptive. My 8 year old misses about an hour and a half of 2nd grade instruction every week, plus mornings, which is so much more important than preschool.

Moreover, if your kid is behind, they probably learn OT tasks more slowly than his peers. That means new needs might crop up over the years. If you start now, you can stay on top of things. I’d you delay, he’ll get farther and father behind. I wish my dc had been offered OT in preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a public preschool he can go to instead? So that he gets more hours of preschool plus the OT? They don’t qualify a child for services unless the child really needs it, so I wouldn’t skip.

No. They don’t have public prek where we live. You need to have severe delays for that. Kinder is also only half day in our school district.

You mentioned your dc has other therapists-are you sure his delays aren't enough to qualify for special needs preK? He could get all his therapies there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a public preschool he can go to instead? So that he gets more hours of preschool plus the OT? They don’t qualify a child for services unless the child really needs it, so I wouldn’t skip.

No. They don’t have public prek where we live. You need to have severe delays for that. Kinder is also only half day in our school district.

You mentioned your dc has other therapists-are you sure his delays aren't enough to qualify for special needs preK? He could get all his therapies there.

id you not read the reply form OP. Her school district doesn’t have it unless the kid has severe disabilities.

[Anonymous]

So opt for the home services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So opt for the home services.

Op here. Before I posted I didn’t know if they would agree to this. He gets 30 mins a week of OT. It’s hardly anything. I asked several times but we isn’t doing a good job explaining how these services will be given at school. His case worker has changed a bunch of times in the 1 year we’ve been with EE. His behavior therapist had changed to and it too 6 months to get assigned to one. It’s been a big mess and is so disorganized.



His other services are now only once a month. He gets 1 hour of behavior therapy and 30 mins a month of special education as they say he asking so well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a public preschool he can go to instead? So that he gets more hours of preschool plus the OT? They don’t qualify a child for services unless the child really needs it, so I wouldn’t skip.

No. They don’t have public prek where we live. You need to have severe delays for that. Kinder is also only half day in our school district.

You mentioned your dc has other therapists-are you sure his delays aren't enough to qualify for special needs preK? He could get all his therapies there.

id you not read the reply form OP. Her school district doesn’t have it unless the kid has severe disabilities.

I did read it, thanks, they mentioned dc having mulitple therapists. So it's possible he has significant disabilities.

However, op has since clarified that dc only sees 1 therapist once a month, so op is not being really clear on the situation.

[Anonymous]

I’d push for home based services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't the OT push in -- that is, help and teach with fine motor tasks as they naturally come up in the classroom. I would hope that a preschool class for 5 year olds does lots of pre writing tasks, etc.

Op here. His preschool is only 2 hours a day and maybe 20 mins is craft and preparing skills. It’s a very small window. I opted for home services. I will also be more involved this way. His preschool isn’t very helpful. They don’t give feedback or have conferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a public preschool he can go to instead? So that he gets more hours of preschool plus the OT? They don’t qualify a child for services unless the child really needs it, so I wouldn’t skip.

No. They don’t have public prek where we live. You need to have severe delays for that. Kinder is also only half day in our school district.

You mentioned your dc has other therapists-are you sure his delays aren't enough to qualify for special needs preK? He could get all his therapies there.

id you not read the reply form OP. Her school district doesn’t have it unless the kid has severe disabilities.

I did read it, thanks, they mentioned dc having mulitple therapists. So it's possible he has significant disabilities.

However, op has since clarified that dc only sees 1 therapist once a month, so op is not being really clear on the situation.

Op here.


I said he receives OT, special education as well as behavior. He just became eligible for OT which is once a week for 30 mins. Behavior has changed to once a month for an hour and special education just changed from 30 mins a week to 30 mins a month. He has been evaluated multiple times and doesn’t qualify for public prek. I have said it a few times. Our school district doesn’t have a lot of resources for public prek. I only know one family and their daughter has Down syndrome. Our district also only does half day kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs the OT more than circle time. You can attend K without any preschool at all. Plus you can work on the preschool stuff with him. Do not decline the OT.

Op here. Unless he’s getting pulled out it feels pointless to me. They specifically said they won’t pull him from preschool activities. Let’s say he needed speech therapy. Can you imagine if they said that? Doesn’t make sense to me to just observe unless it’s behavior therapy.

Plenty of SLPs and OTs "push into" classrooms. It's actually a required method of servicing children in some preschools such as headstart programs. They are professionals and know what they are doing. I have never heard of "observing"only. Is that the exact words they used?

These “professionals” also seem to rotate through early intervention. It’s very common to have a change of therapist. Private services are usually almost always better.

[Anonymous]

OP, given your son is on the older side and has significant delays and behavior, you need to take all the help you can get. Most preschools don't do much. Can you find a junior K instead? Get some Kumon workbooks and work with him 20-30 minutes a day when you can.