When to stop OT?

[Anonymous]

DS is 5 and has been in OT for mild sensory, low tone, and gross/fine motor skills issues since late last fall. He enjoys going and the therapist said she sees a lot of improvement overall. I was hoping that he will have improved enough to stop when he enters K. He'd fall short of a year, though by only a month or two, and I know they said they would reassess at the year mark.

In reading here, it seems many people believe that OT is something that could go on indefinitely unless parents put a hard stop to it. Would it be unwise to stop him when he starts school? He wouldn't qualify for OT through the school, so private OT is the only option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is 5 and has been in OT for mild sensory, low tone, and gross/fine motor skills issues since late last fall. He enjoys going and the therapist said she sees a lot of improvement overall. I was hoping that he will have improved enough to stop when he enters K. He'd fall short of a year, though by only a month or two, and I know they said they would reassess at the year mark.

In reading here, it seems many people believe that OT is something that could go on indefinitely unless parents put a hard stop to it. Would it be unwise to stop him when he starts school? He wouldn't qualify for OT through the school, so private OT is the only option.

HUH? You stop when they recommend to stop it.

[Anonymous]

I think you stop once he has met his goals - which should have been documented when you started.

Great that he's made progress but you need to do the reassessment to see how he compares now to typically developing peers.

No reason the reassessment couldn't be done a month or so early if you really want to know if you're going to be continuing into the school year.

[Anonymous]

When he is writing like his peers.

[Anonymous]

My son was 14

[Anonymous]

If it's covered by IEP or insurance, why not keep it up? Many insurers cover 50 sessions per year (once a week except for the holidays) with a copay, so shop around for the best plan, but keep it going if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is 5 and has been in OT for mild sensory, low tone, and gross/fine motor skills issues since late last fall. He enjoys going and the therapist said she sees a lot of improvement overall. I was hoping that he will have improved enough to stop when he enters K. He'd fall short of a year, though by only a month or two, and I know they said they would reassess at the year mark.

In reading here, it seems many people believe that OT is something that could go on indefinitely unless parents put a hard stop to it. Would it be unwise to stop him when he starts school? He wouldn't qualify for OT through the school, so private OT is the only option.

HUH? You stop when they recommend to stop it.

Untrue. They're running a business. My son is 4. He has been in OT for about 7 months due to sensory issues. Unclear if he'd have made as much progress as he has without OT (we did it largely at the preschool's recommendation), but he is infinitely better. During the last few sessions, the therapist had been working with him on tracing and holding a pencil, despite him having no issues in those areas. We are stopping.

[Anonymous]

When you run out of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is 5 and has been in OT for mild sensory, low tone, and gross/fine motor skills issues since late last fall. He enjoys going and the therapist said she sees a lot of improvement overall. I was hoping that he will have improved enough to stop when he enters K. He'd fall short of a year, though by only a month or two, and I know they said they would reassess at the year mark.

In reading here, it seems many people believe that OT is something that could go on indefinitely unless parents put a hard stop to it. Would it be unwise to stop him when he starts school? He wouldn't qualify for OT through the school, so private OT is the only option.

HUH? You stop when they recommend to stop it.

Untrue. They're running a business. My son is 4. He has been in OT for about 7 months due to sensory issues. Unclear if he'd have made as much progress as he has without OT (we did it largely at the preschool's recommendation), but he is infinitely better. During the last few sessions, the therapist had been working with him on tracing and holding a pencil, despite him having no issues in those areas. We are stopping.

Thanks doctor dumb

[Anonymous]

Stop when you feel he's made sufficient progress. See how kindergarten goes and start again if you need to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When he is writing like his peers.

Yup. My kid has been doing some form of OT since he was 3. He's now 10.

Definitely get him assessed by Child Find to see if he qualifies for services through the school. You may have to continue to supplement privately. It's just the way it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is 5 and has been in OT for mild sensory, low tone, and gross/fine motor skills issues since late last fall. He enjoys going and the therapist said she sees a lot of improvement overall. I was hoping that he will have improved enough to stop when he enters K. He'd fall short of a year, though by only a month or two, and I know they said they would reassess at the year mark.

In reading here, it seems many people believe that OT is something that could go on indefinitely unless parents put a hard stop to it. Would it be unwise to stop him when he starts school? He wouldn't qualify for OT through the school, so private OT is the only option.

HUH? You stop when they recommend to stop it.

Untrue. They're running a business. My son is 4. He has been in OT for about 7 months due to sensory issues. Unclear if he'd have made as much progress as he has without OT (we did it largely at the preschool's recommendation), but he is infinitely better. During the last few sessions, the therapist had been working with him on tracing and holding a pencil, despite him having no issues in those areas. We are stopping.

FWIW, I remember wondering why the OT became so focused on handwriting when my DC was 5 (this was started after significant progress had been made in other areas). However, I really trusted my OT and insurance covered it, so we continued the writing sessions. Now that DC is older, I am so thankful we did the writing sessions and in hindsight The focus on that area makes so much more sense to me now than it did then.

[Anonymous]

OP, the way to know whether your OT is scamming you for more business or being honest is this: Has s/he been providing goals (hopefully in writing), and then providing progress reports and doing evaluations every few months to see whether your child has made progress towards these goals?

It is one thing to keep going if you're working towards new goals, another if there are no stated goals and you are only getting vague reports as to your child's progress.

I would say waiting one year to reassess is BS.

(My sibling runs OT/PT departments in a hospital setting, and we've talked about these issues over the years as my DC has received therapy.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When he is writing like his peers.

My son stopped at 14. He did OT for years and he doesn't write like his peers, nor will he ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, the way to know whether your OT is scamming you for more business or being honest is this: Has s/he been providing goals (hopefully in writing), and then providing progress reports and doing evaluations every few months to see whether your child has made progress towards these goals?

It is one thing to keep going if you're working towards new goals, another if there are no stated goals and you are only getting vague reports as to your child's progress.

I would say waiting one year to reassess is BS.

(My sibling runs OT/PT departments in a hospital setting, and we've talked about these issues over the years as my DC has received therapy.)

OP here. I get verbal progress reports after each session; no idea about evals every so often as they're never mentioned and I didn't know to ask.

His handwriting is actually pretty darn good, but where he has problems is that he writes inefficiently- will go up when he should go down in making the stick for a p and will make the half circle counterclockwise, etc. I remember when my older child was in K, they spent a lot of time on writing and her handwriting improved drastically. I don't know if his writing issue is something that practice in K will fix or if it goes beyond that.

As for money...luckily we have good insurance so we won't run out of money but my employee may run out of patience first.