I've edited to reflect some changes in my child's therapy.
Utah House has provided excellent therapy. We looked in many other places and ran into problems of people not taking our child's explosive behavior seriously or not knowing what to do about it and so blaming autism or blaming us.
Utah House gets it right. We wanted somewhere that understood that our child was actually struggling with explosive behavior, defiance, and lying because of trauma, ASD/ADHD/ODD. We don't want him shamed or blamed. We don't want excuses. His behavior was unsafe at home, and we were concerned that he was headed down a path that would lead, at best, to a very sad, lonely life.
Utah House doesn't blame or shame kids who have problematic behaviors. They use respectful, safe, affirming, evidence-backed methods to appeal to children's wants and needs, help them understand emotions, consequences, and how changing their behavior and expressing their emotions and desires differently will get them more of what they want, and they also help kids understand when things they want are truly not safe and the answer needs to be no. They do it with compassion and respect, by building rapport and genuinely caring.
I will always be grateful for the wonderful service they gave my child when no one else could.
I've lowered my rating, however, because there were many severe organization/communication problems and some unprofessional behaviors. I had to repeatedly remind several of the therapists that we expected them to never randomly turn a session into a 5-minute check-in or half-session because "he's having a good day" or "we're building rapport." I have no idea if the insurance was billed differently on those occasions.
I had to frequently remind therapists we needed video links or call the office to get one sent, and it was often difficult to get someone to answer the phone.
A 24-hour-notice for cancelation or paying a fee is fair. Having to also reply to texts for each of several regularly scheduled, recurring weekly appointments, though, is tricky. There was no time given when the reply was needed, but if it wasn't received "in time," our regular session would be double-booked. We wouldn't find out until the therapist ended the session halfway through the allotted time because they were scheduled with someone else, as well.
I wasn't pleased that, when my son's original therapy team quit, the office told us he was being placed with new therapists "to give him a fresh start." Please don't treat my kid as an easy target because your business is struggling. His therapists said he worked hard and behaved respectfully. He didn't need or want a fresh start. If there's high turnover, just be open about it.
Finally, getting accurate information about the new schedule with the new therapists became very difficult. We set up a new schedule and agreed on it. We ran into troubles, though, where we received reminders and links for times that were different that than scheduled and people who weren't the right ones for the schedule, and when we asked about it after waiting for a therapist who didn't show up, it turned out none of the agreed-on schedule was available. The hours offered were limited and unusual and didn't work for us.
We finally canceled service. It's hard to find kids' therapists who offer what the Utah House provides--a quality, caring approach to an underserved population. But having to constantly wonder whether the appointments are going to take place at all isn't workable. I hope that the Utah House is able to get its scheduling and communication issues addressed. When they handle those things well, they're the best kids' service around. We'd love to be able to work...
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