No time for therapy

I think it depends on your child’s level of functioning. If he or she is basically able to keep up with class, I would miss specials—music, art, ect. If the child is seriously behind, then they are better off missing reading/math and doing it in a resource or tutoring environment.

I take my son for private therapy. Last year he missed academics because frankly it didn’t matter. He was clueless anyway and going in the morning was beneficial because he was fresh. Now he is doing much better and we schedule appts. at the end of the day when the less academically central work is done.

Music - Tone deaf and ADD. The teacher was always annoyed that he could not stand up straight and still. It was a blessing.

My son does therapy 3 hours/week on-campus at our private school. He misses P.E. one day, Social Studies another day, and recess the 3rd day. It is M-T-W which is nice at the beginning of the week. He uses the same journal for his language therapy work that is used in class. And I MAKE him bring his journal home everyday. It is great, because everyone can see the other things he has been working on. His teacher can also write notes to his therapist & me about journal assignments that he can work on during therapy or at home on the computer. He sometimes brings his language arts book to use for reading exercises. His therapist does not focus on his schoolwork activities, but she incorporates them into what she is teaching when she can. In language therapy he works 2/3 of the time on Alphabetic Phonics and reading fluency. The other 1/3 of the time he works on writing. I wish he didn’t have to miss recess and P.E., but it works. His teacher lets him make-up Social Studies work if he misses something that would be graded. Otherwise, we don’t worry about it. He is in 4th grade.

We would like to move one session to early morning before school since our son is a real morning person, but his therapist does not have that slot open right now. It is great not to have therapy after school. My son has time for some sports and fun stuff and occassionally some time to relax. The previous year, my son worked 2 therapy times during his lunch. It was not so great, but the therapist had only a few available slots. This second year has been a better schedule.

We definately did not want our son to miss any Math. We chose to keep him in language arts so that he could try to track with the rest of the class. Another option would have been to negotiate a deal with the school where he was taught language arts just in therapy and at home. But, we are trying to minimize the modifications that he has in class. He definately struggles with his writing in class, but he’s improving all the time. He wrote a 3 page story about a month ago that amazed us all. The handwriting and spelling was a mess, but he did it all by himself. It had a beginning, middle, and end. And it demonstrated that he CAN get his thoughts on paper when he is motivated.

Although, he is not crazy about missing recess, he likes having the one-on-one time in therapy. His therapist is really nice and encouraging. She works him hard, but he gets treats and a break from the big class for a while. I also think it really helps his teacher to not feel anxious about him as a student. She knows that he is getting the extra help that he needs. Everyone has worked very nicely as a team this year.

We all worry about him at times. But, we have each other for sharing and bouncing around ideas. Good luck working out a schedule. It can be tough coordinating a good time and situation. It takes time and patience. It is also important that your child’s therapist/tutor be very respectful and supportive of the teacher. You don’t want the teacher to feel put-down or irritated by things that the therapist does.

Take care,
Rosie