For those of you who have done OT with your kids

amother

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 8:50 am

How long did you see results?
How many times a week?
Was it helpful?
My DS 5, had his school recommend it
I want to hear from any imas first before making my decision

amother

Begonia

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 8:56 am

What is the reason for him needing OT? There are so many different things an OT can support a child with, this is simply too vague for people to give accurate information.
Many children take a bit longer or slower to develop and that is fine. An OT can support your child and suggest activities or ideas to help them. Yes, many children will turn out fine without OT, but why wouldn't you want to give your child extra to give them a boost if you can?
What I did with some of my children, is we had the OT assess them and then suggest activities and ideas we could do with that dc at home. We then had occasional sessions with the OT for support. But this was for mild issues. And it was helpful.
Remember a therapist working with a child is only working on that skill in isolation during that session. For the therapy to really have an effect, then you need to be following through and also working on it at home.

amother

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:05 am

He "acts up" in class, kicked the teacher on one occasion. At home he doesn't listen to what I tell him to do. He is very destructive. like bangs stuff and breaks things, throws stuff on the floor...
Its not ADHD he has been assessed.
For context, Since I had a baby (maybe even a little before) he changed.
He cries easily.
The reason im asking is, I want to do the best for him and I want to know if OT is the best option or maybe I should try something else
ETA hes very smart, loves music, understands everything hes learning in school, developing well bh

amother

Begonia

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:17 am

This sounds like he may need support around self regulation, which is something an OT can help with.
Is he able to articulate his feelings? It could be he isn't able to process and understand what he's feeling and how to deal with the feelings.

amother

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:26 pm

Thanx for your reply
Hes not very expressive about his feelings.
He would tell me a boy hurt him a week after the incident happened because we happened to have spoken about that boy...
Or he would cry if I cut his sandwich and he prefer it whole, I would say things like you dont need to cry, just please tell me mummy I want my bread whole... this is one example. so I guess he cant articulate his feelings.
Should I mention this to the OT? Will she do different exercises with him because of this or OT in general will help him.
Im sorry im new to this and I dont even know which questions to ask. I just want to get how ever much info possible

mha3484

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:30 pm

My oldest with ADHD I didn't find it helped. He was just straight up impulsive and OT cant make you have better self control.

My next kid is highly sensitive, anxious and sensory and 2x a week OT for the past two years has helped him a lot. She sends me progress reports and I can see with his hand writing (big trigger) willingness to shower, sitting in his desk better. A lot of sensory issues are more manageable. He still looses his cool over specific issues but its a work in progress.

amother

Winterberry

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:40 pm

DS's preschool insisted that we do OT for similar nebulous and vague reasons. I did it once a week for a year with a "top" OT (recommended by the school) and felt that it was the biggest waste of time, money, and effort.

I think sometimes when schools (and parents!) don't know what to do about an issue they just throw anything at it and see what sticks. OT is definitely one of those things people like to throw around nowadays as something that can help with pretty much anything (anxiety, emotion regulation, rigidity, etc) but I have NOT seen it to actually work. Keep in mind these are often young (4-7 year olds) who are maturing and would have seen some improvement in those areas regardless of OT intervention

mha3484

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:42 pm

One example for my son was that he had really poor handwriting due to weak hand muscles. Any time he had to had to write for school he would loose it and it turned into a behavior issue. He also had a weak core so sitting in his desk wasn't comfortable for him. I think tackling the triggers that caused the dysregulation helped a lot.

mha3484

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:46 pm

Also, the OT I used did a full eval with a report she sent me. Once I read the report and saw how he scored on the assessments I decided it could help. You can always do an eval and then decide you dont think he will gain from it.

amother

Hydrangea

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 2:52 pm

The prek teacher recommended OT for my DC and we did the evaluation but DC aced all the tests and didn't qualify. I feel like to it's very popular to recommend OT as a cure-all for behavioral issues... Because there's so many frum OTs. I think for us it was a maturity issue and this year DC is doing better. I hope it works for you or that you find something that does! You can always do the eval and see.

amother

Apple

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 4:03 pm

It's not necessarily part of school based OT services, but OT can help a lot with sensory processing and reflex integration >> which can be reasons why kids are unable to regulate or are naturally more sensitive/de-regulated

I had no clue what any of that was until I listened to a random podcast from the Guttman sisters (they have a podcast called Hands on Approaches) - found it SO enlightening and described so many issues my child was having at the time (I.e. highly sensitive, cried all the time, specifically had outbursts over the tiniest things, anxious, very sensory etc)

If you qualify for free school-based OT (or early intervention, if you're child is under 3 and in the US) then ask your OT about this and sometimes they can work on different sensory exercises to help regulate them

amother

Grape

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:01 pm

OT here- just want to say OT can definitely be helpful but there has to be underlying "OT issues" like sensory seeking/avoiding, weak core, overall weakness, coordination issues, fine motor/ handwriting difficulties etc.. that are causing these behaviors. An eval can for sure be helpful to rule this out.

However at the same time working on parenting skills such as attachment, validation, and increasing positive attention can really go a long way in improving behavior.

amother

Glitter

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:55 pm

I have similar issues with my child and was recommended to start floortime therapy.

ETA- the issues sound really similar. I am just starting the process so I can't say much about it helping or not, but I am hopeful.