I'm at a quandary, I hope you can help. My son is receiving EI services for speech, etc. For Occupational Therapy they sent us a young girl just out of school. A Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). I don't think she has enough experience to assist us as my son has sensory issues (sensory seeker) too. Would I be wrong in asking the coordinator to get us a Certified Occupational Therapist not an assistant? I feel like my son's therapy is getting jipped because she's only an assistant. What do you think?
It's your job to advocate for your kids. I would tell whomever your administrative contact with the EI services what you wrote here and ask for a full OT. You may have to put up a fight for it (hopefully not!) in which case having a nicely worded letter from whomever referred your son (doctor, perhaps?) using words like "it is essential"/ a necessity, to make progress an OT is required, etc will be helpful.
The difference is two-fold. Amount of schooling and COTA's are not licensed to do evaluations. I'm a PT in EI. You aren't necessarily being shortchanged bc she is a COTA. I work with a PTA who I would recommend as an ongoing therapist over lots of PT's. However, you are right. As a new grad she may not be appropriate in treating your child's sensory needs. She is supposed to be supervised by an OT who should be coming once a month to supervise her. Has that happened or have you been told that? If you have you could discuss it with the OT. However, you are definately within your rights to request a new provider if you feel you haven given her a valid try. Speak with your service coordinator. A word of caution. Tell your service coordinator you would like to keep receiving services through your current provider until a replacement is found. There is an OT shortage in some areas so if you flat out get rid of the COTA it could be awhile until they find someone to replace her. Hope that helps.