Play Group Run by Therapist

Hello,
Did you start a group? If so, where do you have them?
I have a 15 month boy that will not eat so is stuck at home a lot and cannot do normal daycare because of it. He also goes to ST 2x week.

K.
Valley Ranch

I would consider attending the play group. I have been looking for one to have my daughter participate in. I know that when she had her first pediatric appointment the pediatrician noticed the skin attaching her tounge to the bottom of her mouth was closer to her teeth than normal. I was told it would have to be cut at the age of one. Otherwise she could run into speach problems later in life. But when she reached one they never addressed it. She is almost two now and no one has mentioned anything about it. I would be willing to pay a one time fee per year or maybe a reasonable monthly fee. I'm not certain what would be reasonably fair. Please let me know if you are going to follow through on this. Thank you.

I would be very interested in this play group. My son is 2 1/2 now and is not where he should be as far as language development he has just started the ECI program and we need all the support we can get. I live in Allen TX. I don't know what to say about the pay would you pay per visit or a monthely fee or weekly fee? Please respond back Im very interested.

Greetings A.!

I would be greatly interested in such a group. I am an occupational therapy student and I have a five year old who has Down syndrome who is amazing. However, he tends to be overly zealous with his affections towards others and has trouble recognizing personal space boundaries. Learning appropriate social behaviors and understanding the feelings and boundaries of others would be an important area to me. Also, more important would be parent training so that when I'm out with him and his sister at other playgroups, the park or other social situations, I am able to facilitate appropriate interactions.

Please let me know how I can help and be a part of this group.

Best regards,

R.

Absolutely!
I am physical therapist and mom of a 12 mo old, currently working in pediatrics. So my viewpoint may be skewed. But great idea!!

I would be very interested in this. I would be interested in the speech therapy part...How much do you charge? We are in Allen.

A. -

Is there any update on your program? My daughter is 6 1/2 and has epilespy, dyspraxia and sensory intergration dysfunction. She has been in the ECI program and will be going into the LIFE program at GISD. She recieve speech through the school and also privately twice a week. She struggles with her gross and fine motor skills due the brain damage she has suffered from the seizures. If you have started this group or I believe I read about a camp, I would be very interested. Please provide an update if there is one. Thanks!

I would be interested. I live in North Dallas. I'm not sure about the fee....I haven't done play groups before.

Email me if you decide to get one together!

You have a wonderful idea and it is much needed. I have a 7 year old daughter with congenital hydrocephalus with a VP shunt. She was a 30 week preemie and had several surgeries as an infant. She has developmental delay, ADHD, sensory integration dysfunction and a communication disorder (cognitive/processing). However, she is doing great in public school. She just completed first grade and made "B" Honor Roll. She's reading ahead of some other kids, but really struggles with reading comprehension, math and social skills.

I have desired to get her involved in a social skills group but the only one I could find was Dr. Susan Istre and she is very expensive. My daughter has no medical insurance because no carrier will take her with her medical history. In fact, I was hoping to find a summer camp facilitated by therapists where she could have fun but at the same time get some therapy in sensory integration and speech.

It has been difficult to find any good programs in East Dallas or near downtown. Most of them are in North Dallas, Plano, etc. I would be able to pay about $35 per session. Although I'm sure you would have to limit your group size, you could have a group of 10 to 12 children with two therapists and charge them based on a sliding scale according to their income. You could put a minimum of $35 and go up from there based on their income.

Something else we've tried hard to find is a summer camp for her. The only places we know of, other than Camp Summit and other sleep-away camps that she's not quite ready for, is the ARC of Dallas, Bachman Recreation Center and the Achievement Center of Texas. Unfortunately, they are either inconvenient to get to or they are all full (and expensive). I've even thought of starting my own day camp for children with special needs. I teach early childhood music and movement at local preschools during the school year and do some Kindermusik summer camps during the summer. But, I've thought of just teaching my music classes during the fall and devoting my summers to facilitating and teaching at a summer camp for children with mild to moderate delays or other special needs.

Please keep me informed of your progressing program.

You know I wondered the same thing. I am a speech-language pathologist who stays at home currently with my 2 and 1 year olds-- although I do teach a class at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders in Fall & Spring. I worked in Early Childhood in Plano ISD for 2 years prior to staying home. So, I know the preschool age group really well.

My son has recently graduated from ECI (mild speech delay that remedied quickly with tubes). When ECI was coming out, -- I kept thinking about how neat that would be to do a playgroup with little buddies that also had speech issues.

I'm curious to see what responses you get. I live in Frisco. Do you mind giving me a synopsis of what you find out. Thanks, L.

What is an 'Occupational' therapist?
I'm interested in anger management for 9and 5 year old boys in far n.Dallas. TEMPERS!

I would be interested. Having an OT and ST would be a huge success! I have 4 year old twin boys. They have been in private ST and one is in OT. No big problems, just articulation with speech and oral motor with OT. We don't start school for another year, but I am hesitant to put in them in with "teachers" (mothers day out) not trained to handle even slight delays. Feel free to email me if you would like.

I also live in Allen and have twins that are almost 2 1/2, which we adopted from Russia. So they naturally had some speech delay. We are already in ECI, so their language has improved greatly and they've been home since Dec 2004. So as time has passed their language has gotten better and better.
I would be interested in this type of playgroup too so that my kids can continue to progress. Also, my son is probably still a little behind so something like this could help him. Please keep us informed and let us know what the cost would be for this type of thing.
Thanks
A.

Hi, I am a mother of a almost 6 year old daughter that was dx PDD-NOS about 3 months ago and we are looking for someone to evaluate her from an OT point of view and provide therapy if necessary. Do you do this type of work? We are not sure if she has true sensory issues or if she is just hard headed. My phone number is 972/578-3809. thank you R.

I live in Rockwall and have a 4 year old son recently diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. His issues lie in the area of modulation, defensiveness and auditory. Without help from insurance, the PT has become quite expensive to keep up with twice per week for 45 minute sessions. Perhaps with your help, we could reduce our formal PT to once per week and meet with your play group once per week.

I am interested. I have a three year old with a communication delay. He was specifically diagnosed with a receptive language disorder but we are seeing great improvement with his OT & Speech Path at OCH Baylor. I am doing a program called STAR Music as well thru the summer to promote communication/social skill. However, I'd be interested as in a playgroup/support group for children like mine. Feel free to call or email me anytime at ###-###-#### / ____@____.com

Thanks,

M. Roberts
Plano, Texas

A.,

As a speech-pathologist, I'd love to know more about this... if you need other therapists, etc. Since moving to Frisco, I've stayed at home and miss my "kiddos." Please email me with more information and/or if you need therapists @ ____@____.com

Thanks,
D.

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www.mycmsite.com/daniellemohr

I would love to chat about this further. I have a five year old daughter (5 June 21) who has been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder. She has been going through speech therapy 2 x week for 1/2 hour sessions through the school year. However, we don't have any special activities for her through the summer. Would love to hear from you.

A., I dont know if you are still thinking about that idea. I have a 3 years old boy that needs therapy. I would like to know more about that possibility. I live in Addison, work in North Dallas. Please let me know in what stage are you now regarding this project and how much are you charging? I am really struggling with my finances to get him what he needs. Thanks a lot for your time. God Bless you. R..