Going rate Floortime Lakewood

creditcards

Tue, May 16 2023, 11:38 pm

mom24b wrote:

Shame on those agencies! I have no idea what they would pay, but I’m guessing not very much. Any agency that is doing this, is taking advantage of parents. The agency claims they are providing Floortime therapy but are most likely providing “glorified babysitting “. I don’t see how it’s possible to “lightly train” someone to provide effective Floortime therapy. It seems to me the agency is trying to mimic the ABA “technician” model, but is impossible to do with Floortime. ABA is very black and white charting that anyone can be trained to do. The greatness of Floortime is that there is no “textbook formula “. Floortime is about building neuropassages,. We focus on creating functional play, purposeful and meaningful circles of communication. The only way to do that is to meet the child where they are at. Every single child is different. Their level of development and engagement will widely vary. You have to have knowledge and skill . There is no checklist to follow. Floortime therapists draws on her knowledge and creativity. There is no playbook on how to take a child’s non purposeful play (like spinning wheels of a car) and turn it into meaningful play while engaging child . What worked with one child may frustrate and stress the next child. You can’t be lightly trained. You need proper knowledge to be a Floortime therapist. A Floortime therapist holds the knowledge in mind while drawing on her own creativity and imagination to determine course of therapy. This will change throughout a session. I can’t imagine someone can train you in this . It is imperative the therapist matches child’s state and modulates affect and tone as needed. The “script” will change as you go . There’s no way you can be lightly trained. Most importantly the Floortime model requires family participation. One of the main roles of Floortime therapist is to model her sessions for parents and teach the parents. How can someone “lightly trained “ that doesn’t have the necessary understanding or background teach and guide the parents?? In my opinion this is nothing more than a scam. If they are preying on desperate parents, how generous pay do you think they will give you? You are most likely better off (financially and morally) taking a different job. I’m sorry for my rant. I can’t stomach ppl taking advantage of those with disabilities and families that are truly suffering. These agencies are looking to make a quick buck off a family’s pain. They aren’t providing adequate therapy. They are misleading the parents. Parents believe they are getting their children the best therapies. If the Floortime “therapy” yields little result, the parents will believe their child has reached their limit of growth and give up. In reality if the child has made little progress, it’s liklely the “therapy” the child was receiving was no different then the interactions mom has with child constantly. I don’t see how anything a “lightly trained “ provider does can be anymore effective then a teenage babysitter. You can’t possibly be providing effective treatment without the appropriate knowledge. This is a crime in my opinion.

According to your post, creativity and intuition plays a big role in floortime therapy. This quality is something people have a nack for. It's their nature. I can see someone who is very talented in this area and has a good understanding of kids, can be amazing and pick it all up with minimal training. On the other hand, you said there is no textbook formula, that means even if someone is highly trained and certified might not be that amazing at all. It depends mostly on the talent of the provider.
My daughter has autism. I see for myself how a chesed girl that never had any training at all can be amazing and teach her skills with her own creative thinking. That kind of girl wouldn't need very much training to do a good job. On the other hand, I sometimes see a therapist that just doesn't know how to relate to kids, even though they have lots of training.

mom24b

Tue, May 16 2023, 11:49 pm

amother Nasturtium wrote:

I don't work for an agency, but I work in the field and I have seen both (children working with private pay therapists or through agencies) and I see that the model of lightly trained therapists under supervision can actually be an amazing, effective model.
If you have a very skilled and dedicated BCBA, who does proper ongoing training, and a para (lightly trained) under her, who is doing the actual sessions, you can definitely see progress and success.
The para is working with the child 20 hours a week- far more hours than most besides the wealthy can afford privately....
While the child working with a private pay (very experienced) therapist will be seeing her once or twice a week at max....

We are talking about Floortime and you are talking about ABA. The therapy is not comparable

mom24b

Wed, May 17 2023, 12:16 am

creditcards wrote:

Yes you are correct not all therapist’s abilities are equal and some are better than others. This is true in every field. A loving, engaging teenager can be wonderful with children on the spectrum and even teach them new skills, no doubt! A Floortime therapist is connecting and building new neuropassages. A Floortime therapist is knowledgeable in stages of brain development. Each stage of brain development is necessary to be appropriately developed. As a Floortime therapist I am looking at what developmental stage the child is at in terms of motor planing, socializing, eye tracking, communicating, purposeful play….. I am not looking to “teach skills”. I’m looking to expand the neuropassages, ensuring each stage of brain development is fully functional to be able to master the next level. So yes a teenager can teach your child a “skill” but has she closed the gap in communication circles? Has she expanded the necessary neuropaths to ensure optimum brain performance. Most likely not. A Floortime therapist is not just playing and engaging a child creatively (although it may look that way to someone without understanding). I engage in a very purposeful manner, taking into account the child’s current level of development and creatively engage in a manner that expands their level. When that level is
mastered, I go on to expand higher levels of brain functioning. One needs to know what are the necessary stages of development, how to foster them and ensure they are developed appropriately before going on to next stage. A teenager might teach a child a skill that is not actually developmentally appropriate for that child . If previous stages were not properly developed there will be a gap and deficits in child’s abilities. It’s great to have a teenager that’s able to engage the child, but it’s not Floortime therapy, it’s not comparable. It’s not just a knack and good understanding of kids. It’s knowledge. It’s the study of brain development. Knowing how to expand and develop each stage appropriately. Being creative, good with kids , and intuition are all important qualities. Those qualities don’t make a Floortime therapist. They enhance a Floortime therapist that is armed with the appropriate knowledge.

Last edited by mom24b on Wed, May 17 2023, 12:27 am; edited 1 time in total

creditcards

Wed, May 17 2023, 12:26 am

mom24b wrote:

Yes you are correct not all therapist’s abilities are equal and some are better than others. This is true in every field. A loving, engaging teenager can be wonderful with children on the spectrum and even teach them new skills, no doubt! A Floortime therapist is connecting and building new neuropassages. A Floortime therapist is knowledgeable in stages of brain development. Each stage of brain development is necessary to be appropriately developed. As a Floortime therapist I am looking at what developmental stage the child is at in terms of motor planing, socializing, eye tracking, communicating, purposeful play….. I am not looking to “teach skills”. I’m looking to expand the neuropassages, ensuring each stage of brain development is fully functional to be able to master the next level. So yes a teenager can teach your child a “skill” but has she closed the gap in communication circles? Has she expanded the necessary neuropaths to ensure optimum brain performance. Most likely not. A Floortime therapist is not just playing and engaging a child creatively (although it may look that way to someone without understanding). I engage in a very purposeful manner, taking into account the child’s current level of development and creatively engage in a manner that expands their level. When that level is
mastered, I go on to expand higher levels of brain functioning. One needs to know what are the necessary stages of development, how to foster them and ensure they are developed appropriately before going on to next stage. A teenager might teach a child a skill that is not actually developmentally appropriate for that child . If previous stages were not properly developed there will be a gap and deficits in child’s abilities. It’s great to have a teenager that’s able to engage the child but it’s not Floortime therapy it’s not comparable.

How long does it take to teach those concepts to a smart girl that catches on fast and is good at what she is doing? You don't need her to have a whole college degree to learn just floortime and be good at it.

mom24b

Wed, May 17 2023, 12:38 am

creditcards wrote:

It takes time to develop the skills properly. I have been described as the “smart girl that catches on fast” but this requires time and skill. Each child is their own individual. No 2 profiles are the same and takes time to figure out how to engage each child in the necessary way. It takes time to determine what stages need more expansion(especially in higher levels of communication and reasoning). There are often gaps and an earlier stage wasn’t fully mastered and it takes an educated eye to be able to determine that as the cause of current learning challenge. It’s not necessarily that clear cut. In all honesty I have gone back to my notes to review the stages to try to identify what stage may not have been fully developed and therefore exhibiting challenges in higher level reasoning, processing, learning…. It’s not always that obvious. Especially in older children that on surface seem to have mastered earlier stages of development. You don’t need to have a degree to be good. But you do need proper DIR/Floortime certification.

creditcards

Wed, May 17 2023, 12:51 am

mom24b wrote:

How long does proper certification take?

amother

Snapdragon

Wed, May 17 2023, 8:40 am

creditcards wrote:

I agree with you about the knack. My daughter was (I think) really good..She really relates deeply to SN kids, it's natural to her. She has tremendous patience and love. I remember her telling me how she reached a child she was working with who is severely autistic. The child likes to tap, so DD started tapping too. She would do patterns with tapping, and the child responded by copying the patterns. On subsequent occasions, she would start tapping out those unique patterns as soon as DD showed up! During that time, DD worked with her on feeding herself, and the child responded because she was being reached where she was at.

It's a shame but DD switched to a similar but different field, as the pay and schedule made no sense for her.