Does anyone else find this weird?

T

TeDo

Guest
For those of you that don't remember, difficult child 1 had a major meltdown at Occupational Therapist (OT) last week because she "changed the rules" and also the routine she established. He went back today but was anxious as he usually is around people who've seen him in that mode for the first time.

She had him start on the swing (normal routine) but then started doing social stories. I found that odd. She didn't do ANY of the physical stuff with him. Instead, she sat on a chair while he was swinging and threw "what if" scenarios at him. He said "you're not supposed to do those" to which she replied "it's so you can learn to see other people's point of view".

difficult child 1 says he's not going back and, knowing him as WELL as I do, there is no way I will get him anywhere near there. Sometimes I get sooooooo confused by these "professionals".

Am I the only one that finds this odd? Is this something an Occupational Therapist (OT) typically does?
 

keista

New Member
Sounds like she changed the rules again. Without consulting you? Seriously messed up.

Guess you'll be shopping for a new Occupational Therapist (OT). Make sure to tell this story to the new one so the new one doesn't make the same mistakes.
 

buddy

New Member
Well, for the question as to whether or not they can use social stories, sure....for something that you have planned to work on and so it follows the goals you planned for her to work on...if it is a method that works for him fine..

BUT that does not seem to be what went on here....It is not something they were using to work on his Occupational Therapist (OT) goals, not something you discussed and it is actually AGAINST what you asked her to do and that is to stick to the routine. If things are going to be changed then it needs to be by schedule, planned with his (and your) input.

I think she is more than a little clueless.
 
T

TeDo

Guest
That's kind of what I thought. His goals are to increase upper body strength, increase balance, and develop ways to self-calm. I don't see how a scenario about what you should do if you find a watch in the park or hear a little girl crying has to do with those.

He was doing GREAT with her and was making progress....UNTIL...she changed the rules and routine. To ME, it would have been logical to go back to the routine and honor the rules you established.....NOT totally give up on those goals altogether and go off on some strange tangent. I just don't get it!!!
 

buddy

New Member
I wonder if she panicked, asked some people about what happened and is trying to solve the whole world of problems now??? She is actually doing some of what maybe could have been used in the speech sessions with the clueless Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)!! LOL...could have done a social story about feelings and feeling words and then done activities, games etc. to work on those....

Do you think she is afraid of him??? Is there another Occupational Therapist (OT)? I know you have limited options out there....
 
T

TeDo

Guest
I don't think she is afraid of him and she works VERY closely with that bleeping Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Apparently she felt that working on his "perspective" issues was more important that the Occupational Therapist (OT) issues we were getting her help with. There is no other Occupational Therapist (OT) unless we want to go back to driving an hour each way for a different one at the place we used to go to...BUT....the Occupational Therapist (OT) he worked with there (who was AWESOME by the way) isn't working with kids anymore so he'd be starting over AGAIN.

It's a lose-lose either way. I just know that I won't get him back there again.......grrrrr!!! I just want someone that knows how to work with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids. I didn't realize that would be so much to ask....but then again, I am living in the middle of nowhere and it's NOT the first place a GOOD professional would want to be. Our Occupational Therapist (OT) dept actually doesn't even work with kids, they just did difficult child 1 because this Occupational Therapist (OT) did her internship with our old AWESOME Occupational Therapist (OT) so she made the call/referral.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
It sure sounds like she totally missed the fact that her area is Occupational Therapist (OT) and only Occupational Therapist (OT), that she is NOT the one who has to solve those problems. Can you meet with her alone and then have HER contact difficult child and promise to go back to the old rules? Can you get her boss to see how she truly ruined the chances that difficult child has of improving with her shenanigans and get the boss to push her to change? in my opinion this was incredibly unprofessional of her - she had no right and no BUSINESS going into all that if it was not in his goals in the plan that SHE was hired to work on. Not his entire set of goals, the ones that she is tasked to address.

I would at least contact her boss and tell the boss what a HUGE problem she has created and ask how Occupational Therapist (OT) is going to fix this and convince difficult child to go back because you are unable to force him to return and you woulnd't try anyway because she totally blew his trust by changing things with no notice and that is NOT how a professional works iwth someone with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or aspergers or most types of problems that she would encounter.

I also recommend the book The OUt of Sync Child Has Fun and doing the activities that would help with the needed areas. It has ways to manage them cheaply or find resources in your area to use to help. I found it remarkably helpful that way and the whole family truly enjoyed the activities. We also had a long drive to a good Occupational Therapist (OT) and instead we used the book. school was ONLY willing to work on handwriting and tech assistance, so we did it ourselves with the book and ideas from the Occupational Therapist (OT) that we loved. For thank you at least it worked that the things he really liked to do were the things he really needed in hsi sensory diet, so he didn't fuss about it.
 

Ktllc

New Member
Tedo, you seem to be in the same position I am in: very limited choices when it comes to professionals.
The question: can you "use" her, is she salvageable. It sounds pretty synical, but it is what it is.
If YOU lay the rules, and watch her like a hawk, can she be helpful to difficult child?
Like Susie suggested, I would too contact her boss and be VERY clear with what you expect from her. Don't hesitate to intervein during therapy, not to be too obvious in front of difficult child you might have to ask for a short break in the hallway where the conversation can't be heard. This way, if she slides again, you can fix it on the spot.
It is SO frustrating to work with poorly trained people but you have to keep the pros in mind at the same time. When your choices are limited, you can't just disregard one person and move on to the next.
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Thanks Susie, I will look into the book.

Her boss is the administrator of the entire hospital and since they don't normally work with kids, I can't see him doing a darned thing about it. I think we are better off finding resources to work on those things at home. It is just so sad.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Just because he is the hospital admin does not mean he won't care. As this is in a hospital, call the main number and ask to see the patient ombudsman. This is the person who investigates and tries to fix problems for patients. I thought they only worked with people admitted to the hospital for a long time, but when I had a problem with a person as an outpatient I was sent to the patient ombudsman for help and she was awesome.

The hospital admin also might be interested. Is this the only Occupational Therapist (OT) at the hospital, or the dept head? because every dept has a head and if that is not your Occupational Therapist (OT) then that is her boss But the hospital admin is the big boss and often you can get better results going to the top. Mostly because the person at the top does NOT want to be bothered by little things so when they DO get contacted about them, they get upset with the employee who upset the patient/client/customer!! Or that has been MY experience, even with hospitals.

One of the things we found when we did Occupational Therapist (OT) at home was that ALL of the kids benefited, even Wiz. The Occupational Therapist (OT) told us taht past age 7 they didn't work with kids because ti didn't really help with sensory stuff and the kids were so resistant because it was "baby stuff" in their minds. I thought she was nuts because the brain is always developing and that is what many therapeis help. I talked to the older 2 and said that I wanted to see if she was right or wrong using them and myself as guinea pigs. she wasn't. We ALL developed more ability to cope with the sensory things that made us crazy and we were ALL more calm and happy overall. I personally noticed a HUGE change in myself, to the point that if I had a brush with me in the car and used it just before I went inside, I could ENJOY being in the mall for an hour or so. Generally I just can't - they are too noisy, too stinky (from the potpourris and perfumes mostly), too overwhelming esp when you add in an overwhelmed kid or three! Normally we manage maybe 20 min and that is a big accomplishment we reward with a trip to a bookstore for a new book (we go to the mall because that is where our eye doctor is and she is great.)

So doing Occupational Therapist (OT) at home can be a good thing. It also provides MANY unplugged activities for the whole family that are more fun than "therapizing". My kids would get so sick of this therapy and that therapy and the next therapy that finding a way to help that did NOT seem like therapy was a great gift to them. It also helped us interact in different ways with-o a huge fight over turning off the video games or tv.

One thing from the book that I LOVED was called a crash pad. It is a ginormous pillow that can be jumped on, used to pad a jump off of something else, cuddled on, etc... I used two twin sheets (we dont' use flat sheets because the kids kept tying them to things or hiding nasty things like a box of ice cream bars in them and NOT washing them after they melted) andleft one short edge open. I stuffed it with the out of season blankets, pillows and sheets. I did buy a couple of comforters at a thrift store and then our church thrift store gave me some free comforters that they were not going to sell because they had small holes or stains (nothing gross of course - the manager adores thank you!). So it was cheap, easy to make (very simple to sew the sheets together, even by hand it just took a bit of time as I watched tv) and was used for so very very many things, including rolling up in like a burrito for deep pressure.

thank you used it for EVERYTHING and loved it, so did the other 2. We just didn't have room for 2 of them, so they had to share it. Lots of times J and T ended up cuddled together in it to watch tv or read - something they NEVER did at their ages (10 and 6).
 
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