OT's:How does my child qualify for OT services through his school?

Question

He has been evaluated and qualifies for PPCD, but not OT. He is now in Head Start, and they're going to "screen" him to see if a full-eval is warranted. I'm afraid he won't qualify again b/c he can sit, color, etc. However, he is extremely lacking in focus, doesn't have the ability to sit for more than a minute, and he has problems with fine motor skills. For example, he's potty trained, but cannot pull his own pants down/up.

What sorts of things should I emphasize to the OT so that I can improve my son's chances of qualifying for OT? Any ideas??

He has seen lots of doctors/neurologists. We have no diagnosis--maybe speech apraxia and possibly ADD.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

This is not an answer, yet. How old is your child? The severity of the problem is often determined by how many years behind his appropriate age group your child is. That may make it impossible for a JK/SK child to qualify as he won't look more than maybe 2 years behind.

We got OT services privately. It was very hard to afford and insurance wouldn't cover it but I couldn't wait until the problem was big enough to warrant school intervention. He would have had to be already failing at school to warrant it and I didn't want put him in the situation of falling behind. The OT was great for giving us exercises to do at home which we still do sometimes.



A diagnosis of ADD will not get you OT services nor would speech difficulties. You would probobly have to have fine motor problems. The pants thing is a problem and I would emphasize that. Is it simple pants like track pants he can't manage (4 years old can usually do that) or is it button pants (many 4 year olds can't do that).



I"m not an OT but did go through getting assistance for my son. I have been teaching for years and in 18 years of teaching elementary school I've once had an OT come into my class to work with a child; he had cerebral palsy and he got through OT through Home Care services, not the school board. You may wish to find out how many OT's your board has which may give you an idea of how likely you are to get service.



Sorry to sound negative but the reality of limited services is one we need to be aware of.



Try to post your son's age (since he's in Head Start I"d guess he's 3 but it's better to be exact.) Also, you say he can sit and colour but later say he can't sit for more than a minute. Is he sitting for longer than a minute at colouring or some other favourite activity besides TV or computer?

I hope you can get some help for him. Earlier is always better.

Answer 2

The first thing that you have to do is get him diagnosed and than get a prescription from his doctor to give to the school. That means that they have to give him an evaluation and if they don't' agree that he needs OT than you will have to get a private diagnoses. He does not need to see a neurologist he needs to see a neurospychologist. That is a person who tests for learning disabilities. If the pediatrician can't recommend one than call around to the Universities that have teaching schools for medicine and they should have one. Or find a school with a good psychology program but they have to have a graduate program. I don't know what state you live in but your best bet is to find a university with a medical school. I would first work on getting him diagnosed so that you know for sure that he's has the problems that you think that he has. My daughter had trouble pulling up her pants until we got her pants with elastic the other pants are harder to get up. If that is the reason that you think that he has fine motor skill issues that wont' make it. When my daughter was diagnosed with fine motor skill issues she couldn't write I mean that she could not form the letters. She couldn't hold the pencil or crayon unless it was one of the big fat ones.. This went on for about four years until I could convince them that she needed ot. START at the top get him diagnosed to make sure.

Answer 3

The eval that was done to qualify him for PPCD, was this an eval to see if he qualifies for special education?



If so, this is NOT a FULL evaluation and now you have the right to write to the district sped director (NOT headstart) and state you want 'independent educational evaluation at public expense because I disagree with the districts evaluation'.



This is the words you have to use to make it legal. Your reason for disagreeing is that they did not do a full eval to start with.



YOU get to choose the dr. that YOU want to do this eval. THen these results will be used to determine qualification, services, recommendations, etc. The school has to pay for this eval.



And, a dr that you choose will not skew the results to not show the childs true problems, the way that schools do with their own evals.



And about doing a 'screening', this is illegal. Since they have already done an eval, they don't get a second chance to see if he qualifies for a full eval. THey were already suppose to do that.



So write and request the independent educational eval. It is the next legal step you have to take in this process.



This eval will show the TRUE problems the child has and the school can't ignore whats in front of them in black and white.



THere's a lot more to this process, so if you want more help, email me at [e-mail]

Answer 4

Another option is to look into your local early intervention organization. A quick call to your pediatrician will give you this info. Early intervention will come to your home and assess him in his natural environment and then design a program to help him, all of which should be provided in your home. Children his age tend to learn the skills they need better in the home environment where they are comfortable, also the people working with your son will be able to give you strategies to deal with his problems.



Once in the early intervention system, the school HAS to provide reasonable support in the school. They also have to respect the testing that has already been completed. I always advocate for outside testing as it is less biased and will tend to favor the child instead of the education system that is testing him.

Answer 5

"Screening" is illegal now with the new regulations. IF the district suspects any kind of disability they must assess. IF you formally request an assessment they must either assess or give you a letter stating why they will not assess in 15 days (3 weeks). YOu want to mention all your areas of concern, motor, speech etc. Put everything in writing with dates on it..

If you want to "screen" your son yourself try to find a developmental checklist related to your areas of concern and look at the common tasks for his age and note what he is not able to do that he generally she be able to do for a 3 year old and point these out to the OT.

A 3 year old who has difficulty focusing is not that unusual. Attention span at this age is very variable with a large range depdning on the student. Also do lots of activities at home to strengthen the areas of concern.Fine motor activities may include putting coins in a bank, using tweezers and/ or tongs to transfer items from one container to another, pulling stickers off of a sticker sheet pulling small plastic toys out of playdough, stringing beads, doing puzzles and talk to your kid a lot to work on speech things and encourage him to talk also and then expand on his statements. Parents spend the most time with their kids and can often be the most effective "therapists" just keep it fun.

Answer 6

What did your son qualify for? replaced into it high quality motor, seen motor, seen perceptual, etc? Is it an area that has outcomes on his academic overall performance? assessment the IDEIA, and spot if he suits into any of different types below OHI (different wellness Impaired). If his deficit impairs his skill to place in writing legibly, you're waiting to get him in for that below the written language area. As of roughly 2 years in the past OT replaced into granted the wonderful to "stand on my own" in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it nevertheless has to fall below the qualifying aspects. He is additionally seen below a 504. Districts frequently do no longer opt to do 504s because of the fact they get no reimbursement for them, and the pupil nevertheless needs to slot into between the qualifying aspects. final analysis: IF the deficit impacts academics, then the district ought to offer. IF the deficit does not impact academics, the district does not ought to offer AND the OT isn't allowed to offer. a school based OT can in effortless terms supply OT centers if academics are affected. this is against the regulation for an OT to offer scientific preserve a nonacademic choose. does no longer propose your newborn does not choose OT. he will purely ought to get it from a wellness center or private based OT. i understand this is totally complicated. i'm hoping I helped a minimum of slightly. sturdy success.

Answer 7

see if your pediatrician will give you a diagnosis of Hypotonia. (low muscle tone). he would require both ot and pt if you were able to get the diagnosis and that would help tons with the problems you are having.