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

[Anonymous]

In my experience, the therapist follows around your kidat preK and acts as a "personal assistant" b/c preschool teachers don't have the time or training to do that.
The therapist will repeatedly help with OT things that cone up throughout the day, friendly reminders, tips & tricks, etc.

So your kid won't miss recess time bc said therapist will be out there with him/hovering too, for example.

Are there social issues issues too (not very verbal so not many friends, can't control body so nobody wants to sit near him at circle time)?

[Anonymous]

Also, work with him at home on muscle strength- playgough, legos,dry erase board for drawing, etc for the fine motor skills.

Gross motor skills like holding and opening the doors, arrying grocerirs, pushing a basket of books diwn the hallway, climbing up slides (if the playground is empty!). There are a ton of ideas .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, the therapist follows around your kidat preK and acts as a "personal assistant" b/c preschool teachers don't have the time or training to do that.
The therapist will repeatedly help with OT things that cone up throughout the day, friendly reminders, tips & tricks, etc.

So your kid won't miss recess time bc said therapist will be out there with him/hovering too, for example.

Are there social issues issues too (not very verbal so not many friends, can't control body so nobody wants to sit near him at circle time)?

Op here. No but he does have other therapists. I also feel like it’s going to be more of a follow around approach and for 30 mins a week doesn’t seem worth it. I opted to have the services at home or the library and they said that was fine.

For kumon I do think it will hold me accountable as he gets homework every day. We have a newborn expected any day now. We may start kumon in the spring or summer. The program was great for my older child. He’s always the best in his class for math.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you just put your child in kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just put your child in kindergarten?

Op said he has a late bday. In other words, he’s has a fall or winter bday that missed her district’s cutoff and isn’t eligible for kindergarten until next school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best OT I did was having my kid do Kumon where you go once ir twice a week and do some pre writing and reading activities then he had “homework” we worked in together the other 5-6 days.

I tried just buying workbooks but having someone actually be checking his work took the pressure off me. It was good that one on one everyday he learned to firm his letters correctly, learned letter sounds, then learned to read and write words.

He went to a play based preschool so he never chose to do the fine motor activities. We started in the fall before kindergarten when he turned 5. I thought it was well worth the $125 a month (it might be more now).

https://kumon.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Table-of-Learning-ENGLISH.pdf

Kumon is not OT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just put your child in kindergarten?

Op said he has a late bday. In other words, he’s has a fall or winter bday that missed her district’s cutoff and isn’t eligible for kindergarten until next school year.

Op here yes this and kindergarten is also only half day in our district.

[Anonymous]

I would look into private therapy, if you can afford that. School and county provided services cannot compare to private.

[Anonymous]

I would accept the services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, the therapist follows around your kidat preK and acts as a "personal assistant" b/c preschool teachers don't have the time or training to do that.
The therapist will repeatedly help with OT things that cone up throughout the day, friendly reminders, tips & tricks, etc.

So your kid won't miss recess time bc said therapist will be out there with him/hovering too, for example.

Are there social issues issues too (not very verbal so not many friends, can't control body so nobody wants to sit near him at circle time)?

Op here. No but he does have other therapists. I also feel like it’s going to be more of a follow around approach and for 30 mins a week doesn’t seem worth it. I opted to have the services at home or the library and they said that was fine.

For kumon I do think it will hold me accountable as he gets homework every day. We have a newborn expected any day now. We may start kumon in the spring or summer. The program was great for my older child. He’s always the best in his class for math.

As a former preschool special educator, “personal assistant” isn’t a model I have experienced but it’s more likely than “just observe” which is not a model that even exists. Have you actually asked what push in intervention looks like? In my experience a good OT is going to look for activities the kid is ready to engage in with some skill development, and work on those. So, the kid is seeking out the sand table but is just running their hands through the sand, OT spends half of a few sessions on scooping and pouring and other bilateral skills in a fun way. and then the kid continues to practice those skills through spontaneous play. Plus the teachers get ideas on how to encourage that sort of play. So the kid gets the benefit of the 1;1 attention to their motor skills that they would in a pull out session, plus they get better carry over and better teacher support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, the therapist follows around your kidat preK and acts as a "personal assistant" b/c preschool teachers don't have the time or training to do that.
The therapist will repeatedly help with OT things that cone up throughout the day, friendly reminders, tips & tricks, etc.

So your kid won't miss recess time bc said therapist will be out there with him/hovering too, for example.

Are there social issues issues too (not very verbal so not many friends, can't control body so nobody wants to sit near him at circle time)?

Op here. No but he does have other therapists. I also feel like it’s going to be more of a follow around approach and for 30 mins a week doesn’t seem worth it. I opted to have the services at home or the library and they said that was fine.

For kumon I do think it will hold me accountable as he gets homework every day. We have a newborn expected any day now. We may start kumon in the spring or summer. The program was great for my older child. He’s always the best in his class for math.

As a former preschool special educator, “personal assistant” isn’t a model I have experienced but it’s more likely than “just observe” which is not a model that even exists. Have you actually asked what push in intervention looks like? In my experience a good OT is going to look for activities the kid is ready to engage in with some skill development, and work on those. So, the kid is seeking out the sand table but is just running their hands through the sand, OT spends half of a few sessions on scooping and pouring and other bilateral skills in a fun way. and then the kid continues to practice those skills through spontaneous play. Plus the teachers get ideas on how to encourage that sort of play. So the kid gets the benefit of the 1;1 attention to their motor skills that they would in a pull out session, plus they get better carry over and better teacher support.

She shouldn’t need to ask all these questions. If they paired her with a good OT then she wouldn’t be here asking any of these questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i'm not following-- if you can't afford private services (totally fair) and someone is offering you free services that will soon expire and your only option will then be private services, why not take them?

Because it’s 30 mins a week and not one on one. If the kid really needs it the IEP will transfer to kindergarten.

How is it not 1:1? If the therapist is traveling to the school it seems like quite a coincidence that there would be multiple kids in the class who qualify.

As far as it being only 30 minutes, that’s a pretty common session length. He probably won’t get more in Kindergarten. If you feel like he really needs 60 minutes then getting 30 and advocating for more time based on his progress seems like an obvious choice.

Because he’s not being pulled from school. He’s doing the same stuff he would be doing without a therapist. Op mentioned it’s more observational. Early intervention can be watered down.

Op isn't a therapist, and doesn't really know if it's just observational. Op has also given conflicting accounts of the therapies her son is receiving, in one part she says he has multiple therapists and then other places she says he sees a therapist once a month. So I don't think we really know the full picture of her son's needs, and I'm guessing that they are more significant that she is willing to admit to herself. And literally Kumon is the last thing he needs right now.