speech therapy at home

My lo's are both getting speech therapy at home and it is for difficult than I thought..
the therapist which they both like, wants to work with one at a time which is a bit difficult...
I try to take the other to another are or upstairs, but either the one staying downstairs cries
when I leave or the one with me ones to come down to see what the other one is playing with...
and she wants them to sit... she put my dd in a high chair and she does stay..but my ds
wants nothing to do with it... we only use the high chairs to eat and do everything else
on the floor (read, play, etc)
any ideas?

 

How old are your kids and are they already talking? Communicating?

No matter the answers; it sounds like you're dealing with a couple of different problems. So, first things first. It's probably worth it to explain to your therapist that you don't sit your kids in their high chairs a lot, so it might not be the best place for your son. If she wants him to sit, how about sitting on the floor? In a comfy chair in your family room?

The other issue where the one who's not getting therapy wants to go see what the other is doing... just say no. Or find something interesting to do with that child during the other's therapy time. How about a walk in your yard to count flowers? Or hide a few toys at the beginning of the week and bring them out -- they'll be new and exciting.

 

We do speech therapy for my ds and he sits in the high chair every time. He knows it's time to play ( that's what we call it) and I take Aly and Ethan to the back rooms with me. I make sure they can't get to the kitchen because they would disrupt him and his therapy and I make sure that I don't let him see me until it's all over. I would try my best to keep the kids seperate and to make sure it's a FUN thing that he gets to go do. Does the therapist help make it fun in the high chair? There are days when Jake is being a bug and won't work with her and she said that those days she just lets him draw or pulls out the bubbles.
Good luck!

 

Oh boy, I've been there! Both my boys get speech and DT. For the first few months speech was on Tuesday's and DT on Wednesday. My one son would act the same way as your's. When it was his turn, he wanted to know what I was doing with the other one. When it was the other's turn, he wanted to go upstairs to see what was going on.

I would take him outside, but he would stand at the front door wanting to go in. So then I started taking him for a walk and actually taking him to the park.

We tried having them do the sessions together, but that was not very productive.

What I finanlly decided to do was have speech & DT come at the same time on the same day. One stays up with Josh and the other works with Jake downstairs. I stay with Jake because he'll freak out if I leave.

Now we've added OT for Josh and Jake is acting the same way. We have to include him in the session which takes away time from Josh.

Early on, the also hated sitting in their chairs for therapy but over time they got used to it.

You can ask about having therapy outside your home. They don't like to do it but it is an option.

 

My boys are starting next week and I have to say...if the therapist wants my boys to sit in the high chair I will be finding a new therapist. Floor time therapy is the best model (IMO) for this age group. I am a prek special ed teacher and have done ei so I am familiar with speech therapy models. I will not put my kids in chairs to work the therapist. I have seen kids in my classes who have made tremendous progress. I know it's primarily used for children with autism, however to expect a toddler to be strapped in a chair (while not being fed) is asking a lot.

ETA- I use the term floortime very loosely. I am moor referring to play based therapy...on the floor.

 

I actually thought the same thing but after watching and talking to a very close friend of mine that is a Speech therapist (for 30 years) this is a great way to keep their attention. It's not torture and my ds LOVES it! There has to be a lot of eye contact and that can be very difficult when they are running around on the floor. Also it keeps distraction to a minimum and the therapist is able to sit directly in front of him. My ds had a really hard time keeping eye contact and so we all had to wear these funny glasses also wear bright red lipstick. This way he could see us move our mouths while we spoke.
We also do a class therapy but they are very different and I don't feel that he gets as much out of it speech wise. He is very shy around other kids and has maybe said 5 words in the class therapy in the last 9 months. However he talks to the therapist all the time because he has gotten to know her and he feels comfortable with her.
I appreciate your point of view but I just want to add that I think both have their place and can teach speech, however each child learns in a different way.

 

Interesting.. My boys have terrible stranger anxiety so i guess it is hard for me to picture them sitting in a chair with a stranger. Maybe after a few months when they are comfortable that may be an option.

 

My Jake was the same way! His speech therapist is just awesome and the first month (once a week)when she came over she sat in their playroom and played for an hour with the twins and I (dd doesn't need therapy), and that helped sooo much!
I had never thought about the high chair and now we do so much in them. That's where we do almost all of our art projects, especially during the winter when we can't go outside. Like finger painting and shaving cream stuff.