I have observed an interesting pattern in V's services. If the speech therapist comes at 10:00 a.m. for a session, not much work gets done, but if she comes at 4:00 p.m., she can get a solid hour of work from V. When the occupational therapist came for a visit the very first time, over a year ago, at 10:00 am, V had the biggest tantrum I had seen in years. Yet, when the same OT came for 2 visits recently at 5:00 p.m., she was received peacefully and with cooperation and interest.
Now, I have specialist services scheduled at 4 or 5 in the afternoon on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because I can see that V is not receptive to doing work in the morning, but is interested and willing to participate later in the day. It makes me look back and wonder if this is not part of the problem that we had with resistance to school activities. I now see that she is at her best when the school day would have been over.
It is an observation that has some interesting implications for service delivery, and worth looking at as we continue to schedule activities.
As you plan a program of services, remain flexible in your scheduling. If it doesn't work at one time of the day, try another time and see if that makes a difference.
