How much therapy is needed for good results?

Katrina - posted on 01/29/2013

When parents here are stating that their childnisbgetting 20 Or 30 hours per week of therapy are you talking about special preschool ? Or are you literally sitting in with a speech therapist four hours a day?

Katrina - posted on 01/29/2013

When parents here are stating that their childnisbgetting 20 Or 30 hours per week of therapy are you talking about special preschool ? Or are you literally sitting in with a speech therapist four hours a day?

Michelle - posted on 04/24/2010

We started with just a few hours per week and went up to over 20 hours per week. We started with just speech when my son was 15 oonths old, and was getting it all by the age of 2 years. It may sound like a lot, but it was well worth it. Much of the time was spent on ABA. My son got several hours per week of OT and Speech as well.

Michelle - posted on 04/23/2010

It all depends on your child and his needs, but 30mins of speech with only 1 hour a week of playtime is NOT enough for any child on the Autism Spectrum. A child psychologist or a neurologist who specializes in working with children on the ASD would be able to do a thorough evaluation and should give you a recommendation on how many hours of services he needs. As a mother of a 3yr old non-verbal with ASD, I would recommend getting all the services you can for your child. A new study was also release by the University of Washington Autism Center in regards to a new intervention that has shown great success called the Early Start Denver Model. It's a combination of ABA, PRT, & the original Denver Model. It's specifically designed for children (to start) before the age of 3. Of course I can only go off of our own personal experience, but we've tried Floortime, RDI, & ABA, and I've been most impressed with the ESDM w/an ABA emphasis. If you have a child who is non-verbal, I would recommend seeking out a PROMPT-certified/trained Speech-Language Pathologist. Our son is non-verbal for the most part and JUST recently started to say words, "daddy, all done, bye-bye, & uncle," with intent. I hope that helps. Good luck with everything. Warm Regards, Michelle

Jessica - posted on 04/22/2010

I'm an applied behavior analysis (ABA) tutor for kids who are on the spectrum. we work with preschool aged children (2-5) for 31 hours a week and the parents are to work an additional 5 or so with them as well running ABA programs, we have always seen results within a few weeks and within months the children are progressing and doing things the parents thought they would never see them be able to do! it's amazing. now thats just ABA that is 31 hours a week...some children attend speech therapy which is additional time per week.

Amanda - posted on 04/20/2010

I have to agree with everything said here. When Billy was first diagnosed, I took him to speech therapy once a week, sat in the waiting room, picked him up afterwards, took him home and then repeated the process for several weeks. It just didn't feel like anything was happening.

It was only after I got involved with Floortime therapy, which taught me that I had to be intervening with my son every day at ever opportunity, that we started to see real results.

He currently gets speech therapy 45 minutes a week privately, as well as three 30-minute sessions at school; occupational therapy happens 45 minutes a week privately and 30 minutes, once a week at school.

Our whole team has a very developmental approach, and as a result, we've seen significant progress in Billy's communication and interpersonal skills in the last 9 months. If you'd like to read more about our journey, I blog about it at www.AmandaBroadfoot.com.

You're doing all the right things; as everyone here has said, just keep at it, keep educating yourself, keep working with and encouraging your son. And as one of my favorite parent bloggers (www.bothhandsandaflashlight.com) said, "Love is the best therapy."

All the best,
Amanda
Blogging for Billy
at www.AmandaBroadfoot.com

P.S. Are you in Tallahassee by any chance? (You mentioned FSU.) If so, I'm trying to put together a playgroup and would love to invite you guys over!

Melissa - posted on 04/20/2010

When your son goes for his appointment in May, ask the doctor for a referral to your county's early development program. Since he needs speech, they will likely be able to send a speech therapist to your house. In my opinion, it's more important that you get personally involved with his therapy than the amount of time he gets with a therapist. Whenever he gets a "lesson," take notes, ask questions, and practice the techniques at home with your son every single day. Your involvement at this age will be huge for him as he continues to develop.

I love the playtime idea and I want to encourage you to look for other parents in your area who may want to get together on a different day to socialize. I also agree with Renee's idea about contacting the school district. Here they only do screenings in the fall and do not accept children for the extended autism program until 3 y/o, but at least you will know what's out there when the time comes.

Lastly, take the time to educate yourself, not only about autism, but about what theraputic techniques you may want to try. There are many approaches you can use at home in place of (or as a supplement to) office work.

Renee - posted on 04/20/2010

30 minutes of speech per week is not enough. First, is he talking at all? Communicating at all? I would call your local school district and find out if there is a developmental preschool (it's usually available for 3-5 year olds) and is free for special needs kids. Go and see it in action, ours was definitely worth it. They helped me get my son potty trained during the day in 6 months. He talked more, they taught him PECS which we used for years. My son is now 8 and doing great. There is no magic number of hours of therapy it's really whatever is working, but I'm going to tell you that schools and states are cutting services to these kids so go get whatever you can for your child while they are still available. You are the ONLY person who will advocate for your child, nobody is going to come to you with a big basket of services. Make sure you have his diagnosis in writing and make copies you will need that wherever you go to get services. The school will also do an assessment for free when they evaluate him for preschool. Good luck to you!