How much time is enough?

[hopecounts]

Fortunately DH defers to me because I am the one who does the research/meets with the team/works more with DD on skills (SAHM so am with her all day) so he usually listens to what I think.
Personally, I err on the side of more if it is not going to overwhelm the child.
The brain is still so open at this young age that I feel that the more you do the more gains you will likely see since the brain is more able to relearn things and create new pathways.
Since social skills are currently his greatest weakness I would do the group since it could help.

[craftyone]

I too make the decisions more so than my husband because I SAH and deal with the kid activities/therapies etc. My 4 year old (almost 5) is switching to a full day ABA program plus 2 hours at home one on one ABA/ 5 days a week. It's a lot to cram in a day and in the fall I expect my older son to do cub scouts and another sport.

You can always try and see if it works, if not you can drop the class if it doesn't meet expectations or it's too time consuming. I know for my son he doesn't mind being active, he is a ball of energy and agree at this stage I think my son needs all the therapy I can get in.

[mividaloca]

I would try it. Maybe he can go every other saturday.

[auntie]

It's so hard to say.

If he's tolerating the therapies well and gaining skills, I'd push for as much as he can handle now in hopes that you can fade some of them by the time kindie starts and potentially spend at least part of the day mainstreamed.

It would also depend on what his social deficits looked like. I'm mostly used to older kids who are identified at 6+ years of age who are said to primarily have social issues but who didn't qualify for SLT, OT or ABA as preschoolers. Is he a disengaged kid with peers? Does he avoid them?Attack them? Wish to interact without understanding social behavior?

The biggest piece for me would be the nature of the class- is this an EI freebie or one of those situations where an EI vendor is selling a service to clients.

In the past, DH and I have placed DS in structured recreational activities in lieu of social therapy at his psychologist's suggestion because he was generally a little more socially competent than the kids in the groups.