suevv, I can't help you re the frequency of OG, except that from what I've heard from a few parents I've known who've had their children in it, 3 times per week is typical. Although we haven't done OG, we've done other therapies privately, both during school and after school. After school has it's downside as well - it cuts into a child's downtime, and no matter how fun it is (my kids have enjoyed therapy sometimes, other times not so much - but even when it was fun it was work) - so when you add it in at the end of a long school day, it's a lot for a young child. If you try to fit it in on Saturday, you're often squeezing it into precious weekend time or having to miss fun activities because of it. We still tried to do our therapy outside of school whenever we could (to avoid missing school), but I'm not sure it's something I'd worry about too much if it's not doable due to schedules etc.
When we had regularly scheduled therapy during the school day, I usually tried to schedule it around lunch and recess, and that usually worked well because in elementary school my kids' classes also usually had a "cooling down" or "refocusing' activity right after lunch (like silent reading etc) that wasn't essential to the curriculum, so that gave us a piece of time that was large enough to pick up, go to therapy, and get back to school before the meat of the afternoon's learning/project work etc occurred. My kids ate their lunch in the car either before or after.
Re whether or not the school believes in the therapy, I see that as a non-issue. *You* know your child needs this, and you know that it's better to remediate now than to put remediation off until a later point in time and you know that 3 times per week is better than 1 time per week etc. Our schools haven't given us a hard time about it at all - but otoh, I didn't give them an out to question it. I told them this is what we are doing to treat x diagnosis and we will be taking child out on y days each week at z time. Period. I did, if I wasn't sure how best to arrange the times for appointments, ask for the teacher's input. Just try to keep it in perspective - the school is just going on what's normal and easy and typical, but *your* focus is on what's best in the long-run for your child, not what's easy or convenient for the school.
I also honestly (and I don't mean this negatively, just how I see it) feel that it's better to miss school in the early elementary years than missing school later on. It's a disruption either way, but I really don't feel that my kids missed anything significant by being pulled out of school during the day in early elementary. OTOH, they made tremendous gains by having the opportunity to be pulled out and go to therapy.
One last thing - I know this may sound simple or silly, but there is one side benefit that I feel my children and myself received from the private therapy appointments - time in the car together driving back and forth during the day. It was a chance for each of my kids to have one-on-one time with me, we had some really wonderful conversations, I was able to stay tuned in closely to what was going on in my children's lives, and I think it helped pave the way for open communication with my kids as they grew and got older.
Best wishes,
polarbear
