Continuing physical, speech and occupational therapy can help students with special needs retain their skills during breaks from school. Long absences from the learning environment during summer vacation, the holidays and absences for surgery or illness can hinder the disabled child’s education. Continuing with therapy during these times helps special needs students to continue to progress and help them from loosing skills they worked so hard to achieve.
It may be easier for the family to discontinue therapy during summer vacation and other long absences from school, but the child who is struggling to make progress will benefit from continuing the therapy. Having that structure of schedule provides them with consistency in their environment. It is something they can depend on occurring on a regular basis. What many people see as a short break can actually be confusing to the special needs student.
The constant introduction of new ideas provided during therapy sessions stimulates the brain. It is less important what the student is studying than it is important that they are constantly learning and expanding their minds. Mental exercise keeps them alert and active even when they are not attending school every day.
Therapy is also an important time socially for students that are home bound a large portion of the time. They build deep relationships with their therapists that they miss greatly when the therapist isn’t around. Keeping up this regular interaction helps them form bonds that they can maintain and helps them build other relationships in the future.
Many therapists maintain a year round practice. Find out if the therapist that your child sees regularly at school is available for hours during holidays and breaks. These appointments can be scheduled at the school, the home or another facility. If your child’s therapist is not available, look into other alternatives for keeping them physically and mentally busy during long periods away from the school environment. Structured learning time and free play time are both important for healthy development and long term success.