Therapy during school hours

[srs]

Do you do it? We may need to do OT and PT during school hours due to the therapists' schedules (they are full with b&m school kids after school hours), and I am trying to decide if it is better to go first thing in the morning, and then have the day for schoolwork, or try for after school work and lunch, which unfortunately puts the toddler short napping in the car. 

[beaners]

How much does the therapy tire your child out?  Will you be able to get meaningful work done after therapy? For example, speech wears my son out because he is working so hard even though it seems like it wouldn't be physically taxing.  

[PrincessAriel]

We have done both first thing in the morning and early afternoon.  I much preferred the slower pace of the waiting room (it was packed after school hours) and felt it was much calmer that way.  I found it more productive for myself as well as I could read, relax,  or work with another child during that time where I don't think that would have worked in a packed, loud  waiting room. I actually preferred early afternoon as we could get more accomplished at that time than if they came home worn out.

[srs]

She will be tired out. It is probably better to try for after schoolwork, which realistically means after lunch, although by that time of day she will have less energy for therapy. I suppose since she is so young we could just skip school on therapy days, and focus on having energy for therapy. I hate that one hour appt for therapy basically kills any other productivity for the day, but I guess that is part of the point of doing therapy, to improve her strength and stamina.

[GoVanGogh]

I have a sixth grader in OT, PT and speech.

I prefer around the 2 p.m. slot.

Have done noon, but it is rushed to get lunch in before or late for lunch after, hard to school around. Office is so quiet at 2 p.m. slot.

We are currently doing one therapy in the evening and I hate it. But it was the only time this therapist had available and we like her and wanted the consistency of staying with the same therapist when her schedule changed.

We are currently doing speech at 11. It is just minutes from the house, which is sweet. We are able to school before and a bit after, but I hate for school to be broken up.

OT and PT wear my child out. I had to split them apart so they weren't on back to back days, which really messed up my schedule but it has been worth it to not have therapy sessions so close together.

 

 

I just saw your child has mild CP. So does mine.

We do school year-round so I don't mind dropping days (pushing out lesson plans a day) as needed. Some days are just better for school than others, I have found.

 

 

 

[Megbo]

We do speech therapy at 1:00 on Fridays, and it's by far the most convenient time we've tried so far. We do a little less school work on Fridays and finish by noon. 

 

Napping does throw a wrench into things, and I don't think napping in the car is a great long-term solution. In your situation, I would probably aim to do 1-2 hours of school work in the morning on therapy days, then squeeze therapy in before nap time. You could then do some reading and other less strenuous schoolwork during nap time if she's not too tired. 

[sbgrace]

I prefer afternoons. Our meaningful school is going to get done before we leave the house. My son is (generally) mentally spent and/or totally distracted after. The nap thing, though, might make me decide for mornings and just call it a wash for school if needed. You could always set the after therapy time for something like a science experiment or similar. We school year round, and it helps me feel ok about this sort of thing.

[albeto.]

We did this for years. I considered therapy to be as hard as school, it takes concentration, effort, patience, and determination. I never once felt guilty about it. 

[Lizzie in Ma]

You do what works for your family.  We tried to schedule pt and ot in the mornings so we could be home the rest of the day.

[pantone]

Oh, I did, and we called it PE credits. (PT) 

[Barbara H]

Just another idea.... with trying to balance therapies and appointments, we found it just worked better for us to do lighter school more days year round. I'd rather do a bit of school on a Saturday morning or in July than I would to try to send a tired child to therapy or do school with a tired child after therapy. It just made all of our lives easier get away from the idea of the public school schedule and do our own thing instead.

[srs]

Thanks for the replies, and all the different strategies! We are going to try early afternoon. I like the idea to count it as PE. Considering how tiring it is for DD, and how important it is for life skills, it definitely counts as much as any academic subject.

[Tap]

For dd7 we do BT (behavior therapy) and then OT on the same day.  She goes to a BM school for the Am, then does BT, 2 hour break, then OT.   By having her do a small amount of school in the morning it keeps her before school routine the same, which helps to reduce AM hiccups. 

 

DD is sensory seeking so the more movement, the better. (If she was sensory avoidant, I imagine that this would not work). For her, the OT helps her smooth out the frustrations caused by BT.   We don't worry about anything she misses at school on those days and her teacher accommodates that with zero makeup.

 

 

If we were homeschooling, I would do the same.   Plan an easy/fun morning, do therapies and scratch the rest of the day.

 

DD loves swimming so there was a while that we did swimming lessons on therapy day as well.  We took the classes the evening, as late as possible.  It gave her something to look forward to and was useful to get out any remaining frustrations.