inhome or clinic based therapy(speech mainly)

[ajberchielli]

Which do you prefer?

I am debating switching my son from inhome speech to a clinic speech center. He just seems to comfortable at home and our inhome speech therapist has so many clients she is not available to see him weekly. He needs more oral motor activities and she hasn't yet done any with him in the several months we have had her.

I did try inhome OT and didn't like it...so now we go to a Clinic based OT with the sensory gym we need.

We also go to the same facility for one on one Music Therapy too.

Tyler doesn't transition well so I don't think we will be able to do back to back sessions.....this would mean if I do all 3 in the clinic I'd be driving him there 3X a week, 20 min drive each way at about a 19 mile round trip each time!

[Kei_as_in_K]

Our services for William were through Early Intervention and were all home based so that's our only experience. I did try to do play group at the center but at the time Sarah was in preschool so by the time I got her to school, got William ready so we could be there in time, drove the ½ hr to get there, we only spent about 45 minutes or less before it was time to head home to pick her up. I ended up only making it to one playgroup.
One of the advantages of living kinda out in the boonies, I guess.. the therapists had their schedules set up to service everyone in home.

But... it was rare the weeks we had all the services in one week. He had Speech weekly for a short time, then every other week, same with PT/OT (his therapist did both); the developmental/educational therapist came weekly but doubled up with one of the others once a month.

Good luck! Whatever you decide will be the right decision for you guys. :)

[lovemy6sweeties]

home based with EI, and clinic based privately. We only got one 45 minute speech visit a month (and one 45 minute PT, and one 45 minute OT) and it just wasn't enough for Brady. I think it is EI here in Utah, because all my friends around the country were receiving each of these services 2x a week. So - we took the "free" EI services and did private speech in a clinic through our insurance.

We also started seeing a really great therapist that works out of her home, once a week for a 1/2 hour. Our insurance will not cover her, so we're paying that out of pocket.

I found that the private therapy worked better for Brady - but it could just have been the difference in therapists. Our EI therapist mostly just showed me things I could do to work with Brady, while our other therapists actually did the work with him themselves. Does that make sense? Brady was more interested and less distracted at the clinic because he knew that he was there to work, whereas at home he was more interested in playing. But - the EI therapist integrated her stuff into his regular play, which was also very helpful, since then it wasn't so much therapy, as play, and Brady does like to play :)

I think each type has its pros and cons. One of our ST's believes in Oral motor therapy, and one of them does not, so - I guess it all depends on what YOU want :) Good luck with your decision - I'm sure that you will know what is best for you little guy :)

[momgael]

Experiences with therapists is largely dependent on the therapist. We received all Natural Environment therapy for Alex, but none of it occurred in the home as an EI therapist was not available for 1year (by then he would have aged out.) Natural Environments is the buzz word in EI for coaching and consultation. Research has shown that teaching parents techniques for intervention and modifying daily routines has better long term results than one hour a week of traditional therapy.

However, I have found that a healthy combination of the two is what works best. Our therapists try to use a 15-30-15 approach to their therapy hour. (We get to go in weekly.) 15 minutes to review the past week, update on new activities, 30 minutes to demonstrate or do therapy with child, 15 minutes to explain activities for next week, answer more questions and write down anything that would be helpful in our parent notebook. It seems to work well (we are growing like crazy and getting new referrals every day.) Plus, our therapists are trained on this method, not just told to do it.

Just my personal experience...but every family and child is unique and special.

Nickie, nc

[theresa]

Another thing to think about is a "team" approach. My daughter receives services at a center that provides combined OT and ST simultaneously. The therapists work together! I thought this was a great idea as I have had the experience of driving myself crazy (literally!) going from one appt. to another. My daughter, Shea, who has Down Syndrome, happens to do better getting out of the house to go to therapy--she focuses more. I think she has too many distractions at home (including her 2 yr old sister!).

[amiller]

I liked the in-home better,because they had the chance to observe Anyka in her natural setting, with the people who surround her every day. There was too much pressure to "perform" in the center-based program.