Under IDEA, Occupational Therapy in the public school system is defined as a “Related Service” and is delivered under the EDUCATIONAL MODEL of therapy. The limitations of the EDUCATIONAL MODEL are that a therapist can only work with a child who has been identified as a Special Education student, and has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in place. Therapy is limited to addressing only goals that are educationally rele
vant and relate to the child’s participation in learning activities.
Alternately, the MEDICAL MODEL of therapy is typically delivered in an outpatient clinic and is covered by insurance. The limitations with this model are that therapy has to be deemed “medically necessary”, and the insurance policy dictates the therapeutic techniques, schedule, and duration of therapy that your child is eligible to receive.
It is not unusual for a child to receive EDUCATIONAL MODEL therapy in school, and MEDICAL MODEL therapy outside of school, and still have certain challenges left untreated. These models are broken.
It is unusual for a child to receive the full spectrum of what therapy can do to help your child in one environment, unless you come to us.
At Sense Able Brain, we are not limited by either of these models of therapy delivery. We believe that parents, not the government or the insurance company, should decide what their child needs help with, how often they receive this help, and when they are ready to graduate from therapeutic intervention.
Because we don’t have to limit our therapeutic intervention to an outside-prescribed boundary, we are able to specifically target the underlying cause of a child’s challenges. Every aspect of the child’s life is taken into account when goals are set and treatment is administered. This is the model we use in our office.