New Therapy School

Let’s see. What has been going on? Mitchell started his new therapy school last week. I hesitated posting about it because I have conflicting thoughts. The center is located at Children’s Hospital. Previously run by the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation, it’s been integrated into the hospital. Mitchie will attend the Early Intervention class one morning a week through the summer. In the Fall, if all goes well, he’ll transition to a drop-off toddler program 2 mornings a week.

The therapists are really good. I can tell the PT really understands how to engage Mitchell. They do a wonderful job addressing equipment concerns and finding ways to plug your family into funding sources. So what’s the problem?

The “cost” for the session is:
· 1 physical therapy
· 1 speech therapy
· 1 occupational therapy
· 1 early intervention visit from the county
· and an out of pocket expense that has not been determined because it’s based on income/ability to pay. (Ballpark $35 - $65 a day.)

Through insurance Mitchell can get 20 of each type of therapy a year. After the limit is reached, we pay the full amount out of pocket. So my concern is to optimize those sessions. If Mitchell went to individual one on one sessions, he’d get almost 3.5 hours of concentrated time. In this class setting, he shares 2 hours of time and may only work directly with someone for 15-20 minutes. There were people who left early from the first session and we got out 20 minutes early that only added to my frustration.

I was getting kind of spun up about the inequity of this. Somewhere along the way I decided to submit to the authority of those running the program and just see how it goes. We can opt out of Pearlman in the Fall if desired.

And so it goes I was not at session 2. Mitchell spent time in a stander in front of a computer and everyone got excited about how he seemed to see the screen and initiate pressing a big button to restart music and animation. That sounds like good stuff.

I hope I don't sound negative. Just being the proverbial mama bear for my sweet angel.