Monday: ABA 1:45-3:45; speech 5:45-6:30

Tuesday: ABA 1:45-3:45; physical therapy 4:00-5:00; Feeding therapy 5:00 pm-6:00 pm

Wednesday: ABA 1:45-3:45, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm

Thursday: ABA 1:45-3:45

Friday: ABA 1:45-3:45, 5:00-7:00

Saturday: ABA 9:00-12:00; Horse Therapy 2:20-3:30

Sunday: Occupational Therapy 4:00-5:00

There you go. Courtney’s schedule (that goes not include school 8:30-1:30). Every minute of every day is scheduled. I had a meeting with one of my student’s parents recently where we told her that her child has autism. She asked me if she should be putting her son in any outside therapies. I’m very transparent with my student’s parents on my experience as a special needs mom. When she asked this question, I made sure I answered honestly and from both roles that I play. The teacher side told her that outside therapies will only help. The mom side told her that outside therapies have done so much for my daughter but be prepared that it adds a lot of stress. It is not easy keeping up with the on the go schedule that private therapies require. I told her at this young of age it’s probably harder on the parents/caregivers than the child. At this young of age therapy is very play based so the child is usually having a lot of fun. I felt like I had to share this. This part of being a special needs family is exhausting.

This Saturday we didn’t have horse therapy. Horse Therapy is an hour away so it gave us a HUGE chunk of downtime that we are not use to having. I was sitting on the couch cuddling with Courtney who was struggling while Alyssa napped. I asked myself at this moment why it felt so strange to do this. That’s because we typically don’t have downtime to do nothing.

So why don’t we back off on the therapy if it’s that exhausting? If it weren’t for these therapies, I’m pretty certain Courtney wouldn’t be where she is today. Thanks to ABA, I feel like we can be outside with Courtney without her running off on us. Thanks to speech therapy, Courtney is able to communicate her wants and needs. Thanks to occupational therapy, we have strategies to help keep Courtney regulated. Thanks to physical therapy, Courtney’s core strength has increased. Thanks to feeding therapy, Courtney is slowly but surely becoming more willing to try new foods. Thanks to horse Therapy, there is an activity my family can do as a family. This is just a dent of what they have done for us.

We don’t have the crazy sports schedule. We don’t have the car sticker that says soccer mom. Though I do think there should be a car sticker that says therapy mom. This is our life. It is exhausting but we are beyond grateful.