I would suggest you try to get yourself back in the sessions. See what's going on. We had something like this happen when DS was younger. It was his first OT (there is a learning curve for parents learning about therapies too). The OT was extremely well recommended, covered by our insurance, etc. The more we went there, the worse DS got. Screaming (and he's not a screamer), crying, just awful. Here's what I know now...
The OT pushed too hard before the relationship between she and DS could sustain that. She did not meet him where he was so to speak, she just pushed too hard.
I watched REALLY closely at the interaction between DS and she. She was not a good personality match. She was VERY unorganized, talked to him like he was mentally his physical age, etc. She spent several minutes reviewing their plan for the day, over and over. He got it the first time and he HATED baby-talk. So by the time she was ready to start, he was done with her. He found her insulting and intolerable. I hate to say it. I've worked and hired enough people in my job that I recognized this was not a good team fit. I couldn't expect DS to be professional at age 2 and work through it, so I asked her to implement a few changes. It never took. We found another OT that was not as experienced, but whom he LOVED. You would not believe what she could get him to do.
It was at that time that I recognized that the support team was like any other working team in the job force. I was the team lead. I had to "hire" the "right" team with the right skills. The other thing I learned is that the "right" therapist may change over time as DS develops.
See what's going on. You could even ask your DS. I recognize he's young, but they are very good at coming up with ideas that work for them if someone is willing to listen. Then make the decision that's right for you and your son.
I hope that helps.
Problem is, with public school therapy I don't have much say in what's going on there. Their big thing from day one was to get him to sit at their little table next to two other little kids he has a 30 minute joint therapy with (speech & OT). There is no way he would sit in a chair so I just bring him in a stroller because he's more comfortable in the stroller. I told them to NOT put him too close to the kids. It will make him very uncomfortable and he will probably snap. Last week, the first time when he was there without me they came back and the therapist said ... oh, we had a little incident where DS hit the boy next to him, the boy hit him back and they just started swinging at each other. So I said I told you not to put him too close and their response was oh, we put him further away but he still managed to reach the other boy. Clearly, giving him 5" or 10" more than usual is NOT going to do it! You want him to cooperate, just let him sit alone! It's not that he doesn't want to be with other kids at all but he prefers to sit or stand alone and just observe other kids and eventually he moves closer to them and plays nearby. I told them upfront to NOT do any repetition with him. It drives him crazy! He remembers what they want, he just doesn't show it and ignores them. It has nothing to do with needing repeated tasks
. It's that kind of thing that drives him crazy. Because of his autism diagnosis they are pushing him to use pictures. He completely loses it over things like that. He is using language at home quite well to communicate. He is now speaking in full sentences at home as long as he's comfortable. I honestly think when he sees those pictures he takes it as an insult! lol
Their main goal is to get him to "comply" and be able to sit at a table and do the school tasks. I get that. BUT he just turned 3! Clearly our goals differ because our main goal for him is to be happy and relaxed enough to function and communicate. We know he can do it. We see it at home and in other places where he's comfortable.
