United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I was just wondering how many times do all of your kids go to OT & PT a week? Tyler is almost 3 months post Mod Quad and we are doing therapy 4 times a week. Does that sound normal? Between both my husband and I working full time (he's actually out of town right now), school activites and a 2 year old, we hardley have time to breath with all of the therapy and well....life. I feel so overwhelmed right now. I had to hire a nanny to pick Tyler up from school and take him to all of therapy sessions all week long. Is going 4 times a week really neccessary, or am I over doing it for him? I am just following Dr. Shenaq's orders, but I don't recall him telling us how long he needed to go that many times a week.

~Laura

why dont you discuss this with shenaq?

I would call Dr. Shenaq and discuss this with him. Matthew had therapy 3x a week after mod quad, however two of them came to the house through the early intervention program.

Cindy

I know our early intervention therapist also sees children at day care facilities if they are not at home during the day.

We are eventually going to get switched to California Children's Services for therapy, and will have to go to their facility instead of having our nice weekly visit at home I'm hoping they take their time approving our application...

Kate

After Bradleys surgeries, and his splint was off during the day, we went 4 times a week. One Pt would do mfr, one would do aqua therapy, the OT would do fine motor stuff. We mixed it up, Bradley just looked at it as time to play. Our PT's office was 20 minutes away back and forth with a 4 and a 1 year old was not fun. My husband travels alot too so I had to handle it. I'm glad those days are over. It's weird how you just do what you have to do. Great idea hiring help. It sounds like you've got a full plate.
We were assigned a new case manager and now have three sessions per week, two of which are at our house. That was a blessing. Bradley's almost three now and has a mind of his own. If he is having a rough time, or is giving the therapist a rough time, I make them stop or move on to some thing different. Bradley's usually pretty easy going, however, I know the day is going to come when he will need a break, as will I:-)
We are still seeing progress at this point with his arm so we will continue therapy.

I know how difficult it can be to juggle everything and as difficult as it may be you have to stick with it until you get the okay that you can cut back or end entirely.

Our son spent 5 years in varrious therapies but we were fortunate that he never required more than twice a week.

As someone else suggested you can look for therapists who can come to daycare or your home and there may actually be services that would pick up your child and take them to therapy for you. Ask around how you can make this work for you. Every state is different.

The suggestion about having the therapist come to the house or daycare is a great one, but Tyler is in the first grade and goes to school all day. He attends an extended care program at the school, but it's a private school, so I'm not sure about how that would work with a therapist. As far as one coming to our house, with my husband being out of town right now, I'm at work all day, so that really wouldn't work. I don't think we qualify for early intervention because Tyler is six years old. They only do until the age of five, right? We're managing, it's just hard right now because it consumes us. I feel like I neglect our 2 year old sometimes. But, I love Tyler to pieces and if I have to run around like a crazy person for the next few years or so, then so be it. I am however going to call Dr. Shenaq's office and see how long we need to keep him in OT/PT 4 times a week. Sometimes I just need to vent about it, that's all. So, thanks for listening to me whine for a few minutes.

Laura

Early Intervention where we live (NY) only runs to age 3, then your local school district picks up from there. I'm not sure how private schools run it or if you would still rely on the public school the offer the services, but that they may be held at the private school. I would suggest contacting the CSE office at your son's school and maybe even the public school district you live in. Start there as they are the ones that would coordinate the services for the school.

Good luck.

Tanya in NY

I never thought of calling the local school district. I just figured there was nothing that could be done since he was in a private school. I'll call them in the morning then. Great suggestion!!!

My son had mod quad about 2 1/2 years ago at a little over 2 years old. Dr. Shenaq did the surgery. We were only told we needed to do therapy once a week. We did formal therapy once a week and then worked with him at home. That worked okay for us and our busy schedules. Andrew is doing well now. We are ony doing formal therapy about once a month now and the therapist is monitoring him. She said there will probably be times when we will need to come more often, but for now it is working well.

Just thought I would share our experience. I don't think there is any one right or wrong thing to do in this situation. I think we all just do what we can.
Good luck with your son's recovery.