Last week I went to an Arizona Senate hearing on not enough therapists in Arizona. This week I’m looking for new occupational and speech therapists…
Today Maria’s home and school physical therapists met at school. The school PT still is strongly resisting changing Maria’s stander to prone. I’ve asked her to, the home PT asked her to, I told her a neurodevelopmental pediatrician suggested it, and she still doesn’t want to do it because she thinks it’s fine as is. (Lazy? stubborn? you decide)
We put Maria in the school’s Rifton walker and in the Miniwalk that Barb (home PT) had in her car. She did a LOT better in the Miniwalk (yes, that’s the one that the insurance company denied; I wrote a 6-page appeal letter in response). Home PT suggested nicely 3 or 4 times that school walker was too low for Maria. School PT said it depends on how Maria’s doing, usually it fits her fine. (lazy? stubborn? something else?).
I said the chair didn’t put her at a very good position to the table. Home PT said, hmmm looks like the arms can adjust down, and let’s put the back up straighter. School PT seemed like she didn’t even know the chair adjusted. (can you guess the adjectives I’d use now?)
As you may have guessed, our little get together was a bit awkward, a bit uncomfortable, certainly not a dialogue among colleagues trying to discuss ways to make things better for Maria. Too bad I can’t fire her… Instead, I copied the report from the neurodevelopmental pediatrician and I will highlight the part about changing the stander to prone. I even took pictures of our stander at home (same type as school stander) so she could see how it looks and where the settings are. I’m thinking of having a little chat with the teacher.
We’re looking for a new speech therapist because, as we’ve mentioned, our previous one is now meeting with other therapists instead of kids. We’re looking for a new occupational therapist (fine motor skills) because our current one is not meshing well with Maria. She constantly fights with Maria for the entire session, every session–keep your thumbs out of your mouth, don’t put the toys in your mouth (typical, expected, and encouraged behavior for a visually impaired toddler). It’s fairly obvious that Maria’s not as comfortable with her as with some others, like, say, the new horse therapist… It almost feels like torture to watch. We’ve been quite lucky with therapists, I hope our luck holds. I almost found a new OT, I know she would have said yes if she’d met Maria, but on the phone it’s easier to say no.