What interventions, recommended toys, etc have you found completely useless?

[Anonymous]

Listening program cost ~$350 on total ($150 for 12 used CDs, $120 for new headphones and $50 for the used CD player)
And worked great for my DC. Success might depend on the right diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had any experience with, specifically, the Vital Links program? I believe it is produced by the group that produces Therapeutic Listening? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had any experience with, specifically, the Vital Links program? I believe it is produced by the group that produces Therapeutic Listening? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

That is the program I was talking about that we spent about $2,000 on. I honestly am not familiar with other listening programs. We had succes with Vital Links.

[Anonymous]

Thank you pp

[Anonymous]

Oral sensitivity tools. DS hated them and I swear they don't work. Countless tear-filled sessions. OTs swore they worked but I don't think so deep down.

[Anonymous]

Haven't had this issue with ST, but did in the past have this issue with OT..

I get annoyed when they recommend really expensive items and imply you must get this rather than just suggesting something. If I spend a few dollars and something doesn't work-NBD, but if I spend 40-50-100-200- dollars I am pretty darn pissed off if it's useless.

Do you ever get the feeling OTs in particular assume we all have deep pockets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oral sensitivity tools. DS hated them and I swear they don't work. Countless tear-filled sessions. OTs swore they worked but I don't think so deep down.

FWIW, I thought oral motor conducted by county OTs (and their tools) was a crock. Then I met an ST who knew the Prompt method and how to really use the tools. Totally changed my opinion of oral motor therapy. Done by the right person it's really helped my kid not only with speech but also chewing and drooling.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP %100. Oral motor and other stuff by County's STs were all waste of time and energy.
PROMPT and listening program did the trick for my DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had any experience with, specifically, the Vital Links program? I believe it is produced by the group that produces Therapeutic Listening? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

My son has been doing Vital Links and I have seen a lot of progress in his comprehension of auditory information and in his articulation.

[Anonymous]

This is going to sound crazy, but for us, the one thing that I find the least useful is speech therapy even though my son needs a lot of help with his speech. We are also doing the Verbal Behavior Programming (a type of ABA) and that has been WAY more helpful that speech therapy. Out of everything we are doing, ABA is the most helpful.

[Anonymous]

Not completely useless but not worth the investment for us: OT, even though my kids have serious fine motor delays and some sensory issues. I just haven't seen much progress, especially relative to their peers. As for particulars, I would say the brushing protocol and the Listening Program seemed the most useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to sound crazy, but for us, the one thing that I find the least useful is speech therapy even though my son needs a lot of help with his speech. We are also doing the Verbal Behavior Programming (a type of ABA) and that has been WAY more helpful that speech therapy. Out of everything we are doing, ABA is the most helpful.

Have you tried more than one ST? What are the specific issues you want to address (oral motor/pronumciation/social communication/?) I ask for specific needs because maybe someone on here can recommend a ST who is good with the issues you child needs addressed.

We stayed with someone we thought was nice for too long even though in reality we saw little progress. When we finally switched it was like night and day-MUCH more progress. It's easy to forget we are the consumers and if something isn't working, you move on-it's not personal. I spent way too much time early on worrying about hurting someone's feelings or getting known as a pain in the rear. It's worth to the effort to find the right match and once you find that you can relax, because there is no need to be a pain in the rear parent.

That said, I know several people who felt Verbal Behavior Programming was the best intervention for their child.

[Anonymous]

Concur with PP. We had some nice, competent SLPs but then we found a gifted one. Night and day.

[Anonymous]

Visison therapy - complete waste of $!

[Anonymous]

No scientific evidence that vision therapy works. We did it for DD for 2 months twice per week at $120 per session - really expensive and not covered by insurance. Did not see improvement. Later went to opthalmologist to find out DD had no issues. The opthalmologist said he has seen many families waste thousands and it is bogus. The optometrist who recommended VT said if we did visit an opthalmologist we would prob be told she needed surgery so it deterred us from getting a 2nd opinion...esp after we spent $500 on the "assessment" of her vision.