Quick ST advise needed, PLEASE

lovelyboy

Member
Hi all....please could you all give me your opinion and advise please:
My son has had his ST assessment done in December last year...has attend 5 sessions with great therapist.....BUTshe is leaving the practice so other, young therapist will be taking over in 2 weeks time....My son has alot of auditory processing problems wich they have been working hard on....
I need to make a choice now.....at their school is a good ST....met her yesterday....my son knows her, and would like to go to her.....she will be seing him at school, so he wont be that tired of traveling.....she is also a mommy and from talking to her she has alot of experience and insight into living with difficult child kid, not herself but just being around for longer.....she is very helpfull and I get the feeling she will treat my son as a whole person and not just pure ST.....
The thing is: the practice where he currently attend is focussed purely on auditory processing....so he goes in, does his thing and out.....this therapist at school says she also does auditory processing and focuss more on what they need to succeed in school.....sheis willing to look at his assessment scores and report and then tell me if she can work with that.....
What to do|: do you know if ALL ST is trained to do auditory processing.....the one at school says she does have an auditory processing program she can use.....or do I stick to the younger purely auditory program he has been following the last month?
Thanx for reasing all this......
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Is there any way he can do both? The school ST will focus on school issues. The other ST will help with ALL aspects of his life. If you can do both, go for it!!! If you have to choose, see what the ST says and then decide. You don't have to decide if if the school ST hasn't seen the evaluations yet. If she's that good, ask her about skills for outside the school environment. Can she do that too or does she HAVE to focus on school issues? I don't know if all STs are trained in auditory processing so I can't answer that question for you. You might need to wait for Buddy (an ST) or someone else with knowledge in that area to respond.
 

lovelyboy

Member
Thanx TeDo.....unfortunatly we cant do both....it will be to expensive...we need to pay cash for all therapies!!!! :(
And my son doesnt have that emotional capasity......
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Then get the evaluations to the school ST as soon as you can so she can decide if she can help or not AND if she can generalize to "life" issues rather than just school issues alone. JMHO
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
My gut reaction is... can you hold off the current ST-office hand-off until the school ST has time to respond?
If you can only do one... you need the best you can get.
So... find some way to have both "on the line" until YOU get a feel for both of them - their approach, what they can cover, etc.

If you are having to pay for ST at school, then you "should" have some say in what gets covered (JMO)
 

buddy

New Member
What kind of auditory program is he in the middle of. there are some that need a certain amount of time to be effective. So, if he stops then you may have wasted your time doing it.... I am suspecting that is nto the case, as these tend to be highly intensive types of listening programs that take hours daily in the program then after they cant use ear phones any more etc.

Can you along iwth the assessment ask the one in the school if she has used the exact protocol that the auditory processing specialists are using?

RE: if all speech therapists can do it... well, it depends on how they are trained there. Here we are trained in all areas to a degree, have to put clinical hours in following the classroom training hours, in each category (language, neuro, artic, etc...) and within those categories you might pick sites that are more like what you eventually want to work in. so for my neuro stuff, I picked children who had been long term diagnosis. and were learning non-verbal systems. You have to test competently on a national test here too. But bottom line there is far to much to know to be an expert in everything so just like with PT, Occupational Therapist (OT), and even doctors, you get the broad training but focus your learning and training on the areas you are truly planning to work with. SO, if the school person is really not into it so much... well then you might stay with the other. But it sounds like she is saying she IS comfortable with working on processing... (talk to her about what specifically she would do... see if she is just saying it or if she really can off the top of her brain tell you what kinds of actual activities she would do with him).

Any chance to do a few months more of the other to see if their methods start to have an impact THEN decide whether to switch??? I know a change again could be really hard, so sorry if that seems dumb.
 

lovelyboy

Member
Buddy....I asked his currant ST what is the programs name....she only said something about auditory assosiation program or something....then when I asked again she said it is a program that the head therapist got somewhere and it is not comersialy available....that she has put some different things together and that is what they use....that they choose wich parts is applicable to the child......she gave me the lists of words that they did every week, so maybe I can take it with and show the school therapist.....it's stuff like "what is the word mart when you put an s infront of the word....smart....exct. Or categorizing or listening to story and answering questions or explaining why one word doesnt fit in with other words......The school Occupational Therapist (OT) said she does refer quite a few kids to this ST with AP problems and that this ST is very good.....
 
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