Sophie has started speech therapy this month as she's a bit delayed in her expressive language though her receptive language is great. She had a 2 hr assessment with an infant learning specialist, Amanda, who reported that it was the best assessment she's ever completed (very few children can tolerate 2 hr testing...of any age). Sophie was so eager to show what she knew and connected quickly with her new teacher. I've known Amanda for years and am so grateful that she'll be working with Sophie as she has a true gift with children.
It's a bit of a reversal for me being the parent of the patient as usually I am the therapist..albeit for physical therapy. So informative and eye-opening (i.e. a 2 hr assessment by a teacher was much more thorough than a 1 hr eval by a SLP, when you're paying for services co-treatment by professionals seems redundant and wasteful, silliness with children can be key in connecting with them, parents should be given precise instructions to help their child rather than the professional assuming their expertise is solely needed in meeting long long long term goals, etc.). Pediatric therapy is traditionally 1:1 with therapists for very long periods of time. Therapists can work with certain children for years and years, often with little connect and/ or contact with parents. And yet what does 1-3 hrs/ wk out of 70 to 112 waking hrs/ wk really amount to. Quite a bit of profit ($) for the therapies but I know there must be a better model that benefits the children more. Early Infant Learning in Anchorage is progressing to more parent instruction with one professional rather than 3 to 4 disciplines (SLP, OT, PT, and education/ infant learning) all converging onto already stressed families. The discipline that is 'most' needed will determine which professional sees the child and family OR which professional the child responds best to. And while this can be a bit of a sting for some therapists (as we all want to save the world), it really is in the best interest of the child and their family to prevent appointment overload and exhaustion while helping parents learn specific tactics or exercises or activities to help their children on a daily basis. And while there are certain children that truly need the 1:1 contact with multiple professionals, that is probably the exception rather than the rule. Food for thought.
Pics are of sleeping beauties, Sophie trying to use the potty on her doll's house, a few pics of the dishes I made for Mike and I (3 day raw food diet...nearly killed us but we did it; lasagna, apple pie and burgers) and an example of good ol' Kodiak driving this winter. -R
