Greetings,
My daughter, Kiriana is 2.5 yr old. Currently we have PT once/month, speech 1/month and education 2/month. Kiriana isn't walking yet, but says three words and uses 41 signs. We've been thinking about increasing her PT to 2/month since she is not doing well in gross motor. We know speech will be hard for her and wonder if we should increase that to 2/month as well. However, if we increase these, will it be too much? Is it ok, not to have so much therapy?
Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
nic

Hi.
I think the honest answer is that most of us do what the doctors and insurance companies tell us we can do.
I'm not sure what "too much therapy" is, although I know what you mean. It became obvious to us that some of Emma's PT/OT was a waste of time, due both to her resistance and the lack of an intern therapist's abilities. I think you have to make your own judgements based upon the information you should be getting from the professionals, along with what you see. They see the "measureables", you see the whole person. I'm not sure if more (often) therapy would necessarily accelerate Kiriana's progress substantially. If she's resisting it, more might not be better at all - negative reinforcement. If you're not already, you can duplicate much of what they do at home . . .
Anyway, my random thoughts on the subject.

Callum has therapy 5 times a week (PT twice a week, OT once, Infant Stimulation once and swimming once) and we're going to be adding speech in the not too distant future. It sounds like a lot but Callum responds well to it, likes all his therapists and it never seems like too much for him.

If Kiriana enjoys her therapy then increasing it is probably a good idea, if she dislikes it then she's going to resist even more.

This is solely based upon my experience with Abby and what her drs and therapists have recommended...
Abby has PT, OT, speech, and early intervention each 1x/wk for 45 minutes. The PT has mentioned increasing her therapy to 2X/wk but she's progressing so well we haven't increased(she's 14 months and pulling up, standing independently, and trying to take a step). We will reasses our speech in a couple of months and may increase that to 2x/wk.
I agree that when deciding the amount of therapy, you must consider how your child responds, how it fits into your life, what the experts say, and unfortunately, for many of us the expense involved. I would definitely increase the PT and speech if you feel you can based on your description of your child. Since she's 2.5 and struggling to walk, I would want to get her up and going and since we know that speech is usually a struggle for our children I'd want extra there as well.
As Jeff says, "That's my two cents worth." Hope it helps!

My Matt gets PT once every 2mths, no OT, no ST (starts at 18mths) and what you call Early Intervention once a month. Here in UK, we don't get the amount of therapies you have. OT is only offered if a child is particularly struggling with something when they are older. PT only continues until the child is walking. For us, we have a choice whether to access PT or not, but Matt is doing well physically, so he doens't go much,though once a month is the most you can get.

Our system here in UK must be very different to yours, but our kids still progress pretty much the same.

Helen

Get PT once every 2 weeks

no OT and meant to have ST every week but its a sore point with us cos we don't get it

and we have special education teacher come once every 2 weeks to help develop motor skills and co-ordination etc to help integration into mainstream school

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Briar gets OT 3 times a week for 30 minutes each. He gets Speech 4 times a week 30 minutes each. We have not found out about PT yet. The therapist always tell me what they are going to do. Alot of it depends on their schedules and our insurance too.

Lori mom to Will and Briar

Gianna is 20 months and gets no PT or ST, sees a OT in a group session once a week but the OT does next to nothing, and sees a special educator once a month for 30 minutes. Despite this Gianna is performing in the normal range on everything, and I don't think things would have been much different with more therapy. Mind you, I wouldn't knock back anything that was on offer!!