Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 8/1/2009

Question
Hi Valerie,
You were so kind to help me with my son who just started speech & special ed.  The first 2 days were special ed.  He did great on the 1st session (30 minutes)of play activities and he was able to do all the activities; 2nd session he did good for like 10 min and then didn't want to conform to completing a puzzle game.  He tantrumed for like 10 minutes and then we were able to get him back to do another 10 minutes with blocks and a book. We used speech but it wasn't the focus it seemed more like play therapy .

Speech was much different.  The SLP's approach was for me to hold him at the table while he did a play activity.  He made my son point to the block, the SLP said the object, and then made my son put his hand to his chest and say "Me".  Once those 3 steps were completed he gave my son the block and he could build with it.  He did this like 15 times.  My son got v.frustrated with the 3 steps but the SLP made him do it by using his hand.  My son wanted to just build but he was stopped to do the steps which mad him real mad.  We did this for 2 sessions with different play activities.  My son clearly does not like doing the steps.  he gets really mad and will cry and not look at the SLP until he gets to do the activity like cutting, building, etc...and loses interest fast.  The SLP says he is v.self directed and he needs to be able to do parent directed activities so we have to push through it.  Believe it or not he did point once or twice during the session but mostly whined & cried.

Is this what you had in mind for speech therapy?  He told me to put him in a strapped chair and try for like 10 minutes to repeat what he did in the sessions.  This is going to be a tough one.

I also pointed out his behavior b/c it was the first time he has done it while a therapist was there.  He ran and looked down at the train that was on the floor.  He did it 2x and then walked away.  He said it did look maybe like a stim & told me to keep and eye on it.  Once in a while he will look out the corner of his eyes as he walks past my dining room chairs.

The special ed teacher said no to autism, the speech therapist said he doesn't diagnosis but at first meeting he didn't appear to be.  

I am going to the neurologist, i feel like i need to know what's wrong.  I still want to know if this is the RIGHT therapy.  Will the neurologist be able to guide me to be sure what this team is doing is the right therapy?  I am getting worked up again.  Forgive me, this is really difficult.

Answer
Hi Concetta

This would not be my approach, though I understand that he wants to try and get your son to be compliant. I guess everyone has a different way of operating. I wouldn't strap him into a chair, however there are really good cube chairs that keep him in place and are comfortable for a young child. I am surprised the therapist doesn't have one of those. Here is the link:
http://www.ed-cetra.com/educube--cube-chair.html
That is what I use to keep little kids in their place while working with them.

Keep me posted.