Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

If DC has therapy sessions at home, what do you do? Do you stay in the same room and observe the session?

I do but sometimes I wish I could just take a break and take care of the house.

We are increasing the ABA sessions to 10 per week. On top of the speech and OT. This is turning into a FT job.

I would love to let them do the sessions with DS and "disappear" but I feel guilty and I also like to see what they do so I make sure I am on the page with what they do with him.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

We have 10 sessions a week also and soon will be increasing that and I sit in on all the sessions. I like to see first hand how my DD is progressing and I take alot of what they teach her and use it after they leave. I like knowing all the terms they use for her and her reactions so when I'm showing her stuff around the house or teaching her something new that we are all using the same techniques (the teachers and I) so not to confuse DD.

But on the rare occasion that say the cable guy is here or I'm waiting for a delivery, I will step out of the room for a bit but I leave the monitor on so I can hear.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

we also have 10 ABA sessions and I have to tell you....my DS is SO much more productive when I am NOT in the room. Sometimes I stay, but I feel like he's looking to me for praise or for joint attention, which are good things but he also tests his limits more with me in there. I am sitting within earshot of the room so I can hear everything that's happening. (you could use a monitor also). I often use his session time to fold laundry or clean our place. On a rare occasion, I may even hop in for a quick shower with a particular therapist that I trust. We've been getting therapy for the past 8 months so I know and trust his therapists at this point.

I've also asked the therapists how they felt about it and most of them said they also found him more compliant when I wasn't there.

I think its important for DS to perform for others when I am not there because once he's in pre-school, I won't be there at all kwim.

Don't feel guilty for not staying and getting things done. I actually feel good about getting things done during sessions so I can focus ALL my attention on Jack when he's not in session.

FM any time

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

No, I dont stay in the room. I can hear everything from the living room. Plus, I have to keep Matthew occupied. Usually the last 10 minutes, they incorporate Matthew in on the session.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

When he was younger I did always but now that he's 4 I let him work alone with the teacher. His feeding therapy we do together and w/his baby brother- who's learning so much at a young age!

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

Yes, I am there for every session. My husband is also there if he is home. We like to see what they are working on, and what we can carry over.

My son usually attends better if we are in the room. If not he is looking for us, especially my husband.

We don't have ABA though. We have speech 3X45, and Ed. 5X60. It gets to be a lot, and sometimes I really should be doing other things, but I love seeing his progress.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

We get parent training which is obviously for us, and Speech 2x's a week and our speech therapist asks me to leave. She finds him easier to teach without me there. She spends the last few minutes going over things with me ...

Message edited 4/9/2009 10:17:24 PM.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

In our case it is better that I am not there. When I am there all he wants to do is cling to me and it isn't productive. My son has bad separation anxiety though so it just worked better for us to do sessions at daycare while he's already out of my care and the therapist calls me at work after the session.

Re: Do you participate/are you present in all DC's therapy sessions?

When Nicholas was getting EI services, I always left the room. I usually did my laundry, etc. He was less distracted without me around. I could always hear what was going on though.