But Barros, finding the daily drive to see her son at the nursing home stressful, decided to stop working and take him home after seven weeks. While therapists and nurses came to help care for Jack, Barros said she sank into depression and despair. Because their children's needs are so complex and profound, parents said that it is likely that if the centers closed, the children would end up receiving at-home care again. Home-based services, the parents said, tend to be less effective because the children might be irritable and unreceptive at time a therapist is scheduled to come to the home. And therapy was only once or twice a week for one hour at the most.
Children attend the centers four hours each weekday.
It was a real strain on her, because she couldn't do the same as the other kids.