Therapy Schedules and Routine

It is hard hun. I get you xx

My son attends full time ABA in-center, and his speech therapist comes and sees him twice a week there.

It is🥲 I work part time, having 2 days out of the week free, but my child’s ABA clinic requires 30 hours, and my childs pediatrician recommended starting speech and OT as well. Im struggling to figure out how Im going to work all of this in to daily life.

My son's ABA therapist goes to his daycare for the daytime 5 days a week. Because I work full time, there is no way I would have been about to take him to sessions in the middle of the day or early morning for the amount of time he needs. So I basically pay for daycare so they can have a space to work then when she leave he is in the regular class for the afternoon. My other twin, who is not diagnosed but likely on the spectrum , also goes to a 2 year old pre-school program. They do speech, OT and PT but not ABA. I'm told some similar programs also have ABA.

@Jessica Can I ask you if your son responded well into a transition of ABA clinic full time? I know it seems much like a daycare, but my son has zero experience in a daycare environment and Im nervous that he will feel abandoned or lost/confused. On the days that I work, hes usually watched by family.

Hi, I’m a mom of a four-year-old boy who’s on the spectrum his name is Thomas. Thomas receives speech therapy, ABA therapy and occupational therapy. Currently our schedule is Saturday 10 to 2 ABA therapy and Sunday 10 to 2 ABA therapy. Monday thru Friday he receives speech therapy, occupational therapy, and ABA therapy at school from 8:30 to 2:30. On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings after school he has 2 1/2 to 3 hours of ABA therapy and it’s administered at home by me. When I was seeking out an ABA therapist for Thomas, I came across a company called Forta, if your insurance approves it, Forta will help you become a behavioral technician and employ you to administer the ABA therapy on your own schedule. On Tuesday nights from 5:30 to 6:15 Thomas goes to speech therapy. It’s really tough sometimes but, he has gotten used to the routine and looks forward to the therapy as well. And it has been absolutely life changing in our household and life.

Surprisingly yes the transition went so much better than I ever imagined, considering he had virtually 0 socialization and had been at home with me up until then. For the first week, drop offs were tough and he would cry, but by the second week I think it finally clicked that it’s a fun place, where he gets to play all day and now he loves it. Literally every day when my husband drops him off, he just runs straight to their gym and starts playing like a happy boy. It’s been such a relief for me knowing how well he’s doing there because I had a ton of anxiety about it.

@Jennica Thank you so much for this information! Can I ask you for your son’s speech OT and ABA at school, is it 3 different therapists that come to see him at the school or is there a specific program that his school offers?

@Jennica And I love that you mention the Forta Program because just two days ago I was just thinking about looking for a resource for me to become a certified BT. I think that would be helpful to us. Right now Im doing “parenting consultations” once a week with my child’s ABA clinic. We removed him from ABA for now and opted for this as an option just because we need to figure out a schedule and how to move forward with everything.

My daughter has OT once a week for 1 hour at their facility. She has in-home speech therapy once a week and ABA 5 days per week, 4 hours per day. Thankfully I work remotely, so I am able to juggle these appointments and any changes to the schedule. Most will go to a daycare and do ABA and speech there, it's more of a matter of finding a daycare that allows the therapist to come in the classroom

The school Thomas is in has adapted the ABA teaching format for their special education department. So it’s actually part of the curriculum that they are currently using, they have found that it’s working very well. The OT and Speech therapist at school come and get him out of his class two times a week and does therapy with him. He loves it and looks forward to it.

Check if there are speech and OT in home service available in your area. That way after your work day , while you are prepping dinner , tidying up or relaxing, your kid can get in home therapies

@Mahvish Yes! I should have looked at the age. It's called early intervention. But I think you age out at 3, then for us, Child Find takes over.

My daughter has in home ABA 4 days a week, OT once a week, and then speech therapy is done at her school. My son has in home therapy 2 days a week ans then OT twice a month. In my opinion the best way is to either get a designated planner that you write their therapy schedules in or an app (whichever works best for you) to keep track of it all. I personally use the FamilyWall app cuz I have like ADHD and it's the only app I've found that keeps me on track with everything

@Frances Thank you! Can I ask you how long the in home ABA sessions for your daughter?

3 hours a day for my daughter, shes 8 years old. For my son it's 2 days a week for 2 hours, he's 20 months old