Here at Cutting Edge, we work as a multidisciplinary team. In fact, this is a core principle of what we do.
What That Means
This means we take all the disciplines that we offer here (speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, ABA services, and counseling) and use them together in a team for each client.
That said, I love the expression, “Share the road, but stay in your own lane.” A physical therapist will stay in their own lane. An occupational therapist will stay in their own lane. However, they will cross over in caring for the client.
An Example Of How It Works
For example, let’s take a client who has feeding issues. The speech therapist will work directly on the repertoire of food and the chewing of food. Meanwhile, the OT might be working on the process of getting the food to the mouth, whether by a utensil or hands. Physical therapy will be working on positioning, making sure the client is positioned in a particular way for optimum posture to be able to eat. ABA will reinforce all of this by making the food motivating. This is a great example of how a multidisciplinary team works together to accomplish goals in a treatment area.
Care Options
We find that many parents and caregivers are not aware of these care options. We want to spread the word because it is so important that everyone addresses a treatment area the same way. If you have a multidisciplinary team working together, you are getting that continuum of everyone approaching treatment the same way.
Sometimes when you go to a clinic for therapy, the various therapists are contracted for their services. When that happens you don’t always get that multidisciplinary approach. Your child may be getting the benefit of the different disciplines, but the collaborative piece is missing.
What To Look For In Services For Your Child
When you look for services for your kiddo, it’s important that you understand how the team is put together and how they work together. You want everyone to be on the same page, so that when your kiddo is working on something everyone is giving the same type of input, and it’s not confusing. That kind of input across all disciplines is how your kiddo learns to generalize a skill—which is the goal!
Your Next Step
We’d love to answer any questions you might have about multidisciplinary care for your kiddo. Give us a call!
