therapeutic strategies

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There are so many questions.

Does my child need occupational therapy (OT)? What is OT? What is the most effective language program? How many times a week should my child receive speech and language services? Is floortime better than applied behavior analysis (ABA)? What about nutritional supplements? What’s Tomatis? Should I seek special education services from my local school district? Who’s going to pay for all this?

Indeed. One of the most difficult tasks and financial drains on a parent is coming up with an intervention program and finding a way to pay for it. [Under a federal law, known as I.D.E.A., all educational programs and services related to your child’s disability, such as occupational and speech and language therapy, are supposed to be paid for by the state in which you live. But the law doesn’t always work very well, particularly in the District of Columbia, where special ed ghettos abound, and the financial burden often falls on the parent.]

While we can’t tell you what’s appropriate for your child, we can help you understand some of the more popular therapeutic strategies and the financial and emotional commitment that they require from parents.

These intervention strategies are included in our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). They include:

n Applied Verbal Behavior

n Floortime

n Vision Therapy

n Auditory Integration Therapy

We also link to descriptions of 10 major intervention programs and an evaluation of them.

For specifics on what your child needs, consider a full-scale evaluation by a speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, psychologist and possibly even a psychiatrist. (See Find a Therapist for a list of professionals and organizations that specialize in evaluations.)

If you plan to focus exclusively on one type of therapy, we urge you to at least keep an open mind and consider a “mixed-methods” approach. And, if you’re convinced that an alternative therapy is the right answer, we urge you to follow this advice: Protect your resources.