My son received occupational therapy at Children's Therapy Center for two years from age 7 to age 9. He attended therapy twice a week, which was covered by UnitedHealthCare.
Over the two years, he made enormous progress not only in terms of coordination and endurance, but also in terms of attitude. Ms. Donna has very high expectations of her older students. She knows that they are uncomfortable moving their bodies in ways that are difficult for them. For my son, tying his shoes was difficult. He knew most other 7 year olds in his class had mastered the skill, but he struggled. She was not only his biggest cheerleader as he learned to do it (for he would do things for her that he would not do for me at home), but she was also really good at eyeing when he was taking shortcuts. Getting through the attitude to strengthen muscles and coordination was his largest achievement. He worked with Ms. Donna for the majority of his time at the Center. The last six months he was there, he worked with other therapists, which he liked. :-) He always said Ms. Donna was tough. She raised the bar, and he knew it. But he also knew she had his best interests at heart.
In addition, Jada, who runs the office and has the not-so-delightful job of dealing with everyone's insurance company, was a wonderful advocate. Our insurance did not have another OT that was in-network within 30 miles of our home, so we were approved at in-network prices because of this. However, even though we had gap authorization approval, every quarter, she would have to resend the information to the insurance company because they would have covered it as if it were out of network. Then when that failed, I'd have to send a letter. And eventually UHC would get things together and pay the provider properly.
You get attached to providers you see multiple times a week as your child goes through often multiple diagnoses. Ms. Donna went to my son's school to see how things were working there. She was helpful in discussing things for his IEP, and she and I had the most delightful and informative conversations during his reviews where we were able to look at his progress notes and see how he was steadily improving.
Now I have a 9-year-old who can tie his shoes, he's always working on core strength, agility and endurance. But his attitude toward his disability has changed in a positive manner. We will always be grateful for Donna and her staff for all of their support while we lived in California. read more
