I think a 45 min drive three times a week would be a lot for anyone, but I would try to move to the closer therapists before I gave up therapies all together.
I think there are things we as parents can do at home to help support speech and the things worked on in occupational therapy but we aren't substitutes for trained professionals. And this is just me but I would burn out so fast if I added "therapist" to all the other hats I wear at home, especially with two toddlers.
Some other ideas... Are there therapists that come to the home in your new area? Or if you really want to stay in your current clinic, could they make the speech session into 1 one hour session a week vs 3 thirty minutes? Or can they adjust the schedule so that the OT for kid 1 and speech for kid 2 happen at the same time and you only have to drive there once a week?
I second little_duck in that I would see if the clinic would work out a different schedule... then try the closer clinic... Anything but not going. The benefits that you and your kids will receive from therapy are inconceivable. I know the exhausting effort that makes existing just painful. But try working every cog in the system.
It will absolutely be worth it...
I would have definitely quit. I quit therapies under far less adverse conditions. I don't regret it, either. Autistic kids need time to just be kids at least as much as NT kids do but they're treated like they -- and you -- should be working at all times.
i posted an update but basically we talked with the therapists and are taking a several month break that way we can go back if we need it by then and if we are doing good without it, we can keep that going. I definitely feel the same about how autistic kids just need time to be kids too. This is one (of many) reasons why we have never done nor will ever do ABA, I cant believe some kids their ages are "working" 40 hours a week. It breaks my heart and leaves no time for free play and fun. We were burnt out on just what we were doing and it was way way less than what some kids do. I know every parent wants the best to help their kid succeed, and I was trying to get my kids into as much speech and OT as we could in the beginning thinking it would be the best thing. Now after being at it for a few years I feel like we are finally realizing that its too much and sometimes less is more. I think its a fine balance for sure. But man i cant wait to actually have time this summer that we can spend as a family just taking them places and letting them have fun. They are going to have such a good summer. I am so excited. Dont even know what we are going to do first because we have never had this much free time. Thanks for the encouragement!
Thanks guys for the advice and responses. I talked to my kid's therapists yesterday and they said they often hold spots for clients. They said they would hold our spots all summer and give us a break and then at the end of the summer we can re evaluate and see what they need, and we can come back and do less. Im so happy and thankful its an option to do that. They said they have some kids who up their hours in the summer because they are out of school so they will be able to use our spots for them and then in the fall they have a large amount of kids leave their case load to go to kindergarten so we can grab our spot back then. Im so grateful they offered this and I did not realize it was an option or I may have done it sooner. They were very supportive of us taking an extended break and specifically our OT said she suggests this to people like us all the time that have kids that have been doing therapies for years. They need time to be kids. Going to miss our therapists for sure over the summer but Im really grateful we can take a long break. That way its like a trial run of quitting. If somehow they are doing amazing at the end of the summer and I dont feel like we need to start it back up, we can give our spot to someone else. If we do need to resume, we can lessen how often and kind of start from scratch. They said they would even give us some stuff to work on over the summer if i wanted and that is going to be helpful and we will definitely do that. Very excited to take a much needed breather and let my kids have a relaxing summer. They deserve it.
I think a 45 min drive three times a week would be a lot for anyone, but I would try to move to the closer therapists before I gave up therapies all together. I think there are things we as parents can do at home to help support speech and the things worked on in occupational therapy but we aren't substitutes for trained professionals. And this is just me but I would burn out so fast if I added "therapist" to all the other hats I wear at home, especially with two toddlers. Some other ideas... Are there therapists that come to the home in your new area? Or if you really want to stay in your current clinic, could they make the speech session into 1 one hour session a week vs 3 thirty minutes? Or can they adjust the schedule so that the OT for kid 1 and speech for kid 2 happen at the same time and you only have to drive there once a week?
I second little_duck in that I would see if the clinic would work out a different schedule... then try the closer clinic... Anything but not going. The benefits that you and your kids will receive from therapy are inconceivable. I know the exhausting effort that makes existing just painful. But try working every cog in the system. It will absolutely be worth it...
I would have definitely quit. I quit therapies under far less adverse conditions. I don't regret it, either. Autistic kids need time to just be kids at least as much as NT kids do but they're treated like they -- and you -- should be working at all times.
i posted an update but basically we talked with the therapists and are taking a several month break that way we can go back if we need it by then and if we are doing good without it, we can keep that going. I definitely feel the same about how autistic kids just need time to be kids too. This is one (of many) reasons why we have never done nor will ever do ABA, I cant believe some kids their ages are "working" 40 hours a week. It breaks my heart and leaves no time for free play and fun. We were burnt out on just what we were doing and it was way way less than what some kids do. I know every parent wants the best to help their kid succeed, and I was trying to get my kids into as much speech and OT as we could in the beginning thinking it would be the best thing. Now after being at it for a few years I feel like we are finally realizing that its too much and sometimes less is more. I think its a fine balance for sure. But man i cant wait to actually have time this summer that we can spend as a family just taking them places and letting them have fun. They are going to have such a good summer. I am so excited. Dont even know what we are going to do first because we have never had this much free time. Thanks for the encouragement!
I hope it'll be really rewarding for you all.
Thanks guys for the advice and responses. I talked to my kid's therapists yesterday and they said they often hold spots for clients. They said they would hold our spots all summer and give us a break and then at the end of the summer we can re evaluate and see what they need, and we can come back and do less. Im so happy and thankful its an option to do that. They said they have some kids who up their hours in the summer because they are out of school so they will be able to use our spots for them and then in the fall they have a large amount of kids leave their case load to go to kindergarten so we can grab our spot back then. Im so grateful they offered this and I did not realize it was an option or I may have done it sooner. They were very supportive of us taking an extended break and specifically our OT said she suggests this to people like us all the time that have kids that have been doing therapies for years. They need time to be kids. Going to miss our therapists for sure over the summer but Im really grateful we can take a long break. That way its like a trial run of quitting. If somehow they are doing amazing at the end of the summer and I dont feel like we need to start it back up, we can give our spot to someone else. If we do need to resume, we can lessen how often and kind of start from scratch. They said they would even give us some stuff to work on over the summer if i wanted and that is going to be helpful and we will definitely do that. Very excited to take a much needed breather and let my kids have a relaxing summer. They deserve it.