I actually was working (teaching) and working full-time on my PhD at the time (still finishing up the PhD, finished teaching for now).
Timothy had some problems (specifically with speech), and we were told that he might never talk. He couldn’t locate sounds in a room, etc, when we had him evaluated Doman-style through a lady trained by Family Hope Center. So when we got a program for him that involved creeping a mile a day, olfactory ten times a day, sounds ten times a day, and all the cards. We did it every day like our lives depended on it!!
I had a checklist that we went by everyday, and I wouldn’t even check my email until we were 3/4 finished. We paired things together (for example, we’d do eye stimulation, vestibular, word cards, bit cards, dots, and a set of crawling at a time). I set a timer for every 15-20 minutes, and he knew when the timer when off it was time for another set of everything. We crawled all over the house and set up different stations…we’d crawl to a set of word cards and then crawl to do olfactory. It was kinda fun. Swimming was in the afternoon as a reward.
It helps that my husband is home 3-4 days a week, and when he was home we’d team off–I’d do an hour and then he’d do an hour so we didn’t get worn out.
How did my son benefit?? He tested out of speech therapy at the beginning of the year and they had to do an IQ-type test as part of their concluding process (it was through the government). I don’t feel comfortable sharing the exact number, but let me tell you it was extremely high. Most importantly, though, my son can (and does) talk–all the time. About everything. He’s learning his 3rd language. He sings us songs. And he really, really enjoys learning. I can’t say that we’ve been on a walk and he’s said “Look! A two-spotted ladybird beetle” or anything of that sort, but I know there’s so much going on in his head.
It did really wear me down, though, and I love what we do now much better. If we have another child, though, I’m sure it will be full Doman again.
