Thursday, January 27, 2011

Update on Macie's therapy and evaluation

First I have to say that I should have acted on this sooner, and shame on me for not doing it sooner. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Are you anxious now that I said all that?
I technically "fired" Macie's speech therapist today. There were several reasons for this. First one is: for a few weeks now when she leaves our house I always say to myself "what exactly did she accomplish today?". She has done the same thing every single time she is here. Macie has been in therapy for almost 10 months now. Speech is the only one that she has twice a week, all the others are once a week. I see progress with Macie as far as talking, and receptive language, but I feel she is getting that all from the other therapists. I just figured she does the same thing every time in order to have a routine, consistency, etc. She also seems to be cutting her sessions shorter every time and claiming that Macie is "done" after 40 minutes, and she "doesn't want to push her". Macie is a kid that needs to be pushed, and the person doing the pushing has to be a little aggressive and persistent. Two of Macie's other therapists have made several (at least 3 each) phone calls to her to kind of "get on the same page" with Macie's therapy. They want to find out how she is doing, what works and doesn't work, etc. She WILL NOT return their phone calls. With all those factors together I decided to go with someone else. I need someone who is not so mild mannered, shy, busy, etc. I started thinking to myself, "this is my baby, and her development, her future, and if she can't even call someone back to discuss Macie's development then she's not 'invested' in Macie." I see the passion the other three therapists have for their work, and the children they work with. They ask questions about Macie, they call to see how she's doing if we had to miss a session. When they are here, they are here 100% for Macie. I never got that warm, fuzzy feeling from the speech therapist. Otis apparently did. Remember my story about him humping her? Maybe that was a sign???? Sorry, got off track there.
So.....away she goes. We will be getting another speech therapist soon since there isn't a waiting list at the moment.
I also spoke to the Coordinator for Macie's program, and she has sent the medical diagnosis referral over to Children's Memorial Hospital. They have a great team there, and after doing much research I feel that is the best place to take Macie for her evaluation. This should happen in the next few weeks. Please send us some strength in the meantime. Thank you.
Here is a link to the Dr. that will head her evaluation. Everyone I have spoken to has said wonderful things about her, and she is very respected.

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