Our schedule has finally settled down. From start to finish, it took about two months from when I started to make phone calls to experts asking if I was worrying too early, to having Ava’s therapy schedule in its current final form. That’s pretty quick. I feel lucky. I’ve read stories from many other parents talking about it taking much longer. In that time we had Ava evaluated by our state’s early intervention program. She qualified. We had our IFSP meeting and a therapist was assigned. We also found two different private therapists. We had her hearing evaluated unsuccessfully twice, found out she had fluid in her ears, had surgery to put in PE tubes, and during surgery had a hearing test done to confirm that she can hear.
So, this is what the complete picture looks like now. I do focused therapy one-on-one (with no brother around) with Ava at least three days a week for about 30-45 minutes. My therapy is guided by Ms. J. Ms. J. is a local therapist who is an expert in apraxia. She has a private practice but she only sees her private clients two weekends a month. So Ava works with her for an hour twice a month and then she tells me what to focus on for the next two weeks. Once a week for an hour we receive services from Ms. A who is our early intervention therapist and a former student of Ms. J (who works at a university). In addition, Ava gets pulled out of her preschool program twice a week for half an hour by Ms. E., the first local therapist, I contacted.
Tuesday, Thursday – 30 minutes at school with Ms. E
Friday – 60 minutes at home with Ms. A
Every other Sunday – 60 minutes at private practice office with Ms. J
At least three weekdays / week – 30-45 minutes with mama SLP at home
It’s a bit of a patchwork quilt and in an ideal world I would love a bit more consistency, but it seems to be working so I’m not complaining. That’s what we’re doing right now. If you’d like to share, I’d love to know what you guys are doing with your little ones.
