Speech delay

DD will be two in two weeks and she only says four words.. She is extremely bright and has excellent comprehension skills. If you say specific instructions to her like "bring me the red train and put it on the second shelf" or "put your cup on the table to the right of couch" she will listen. She knows what's going on.. Just has trouble with expressive language. Do you think it's a good idea to get her evaluated? She was very delayed with gross motor skills but here she is now climbing on top of tables jumping off lol. Part of me feels she just needs some time, and part of me figures what's the harm in it even if she doesn't qualify.. Her two year appt isnt until october so i cant even tAlk to our doctor. Our ped is pretty old school and will probably say just give her time anyway.. Do you think I should get her evaluated? How do I even go about it? Thanks!!

Re: Speech delay

That was my son and I had him evaluated at 21 months and within a month, he was getting speech 2 times a week/45 minutes a day... He had so much more going on with his speech and fine motor skills then I knew. He was also diagnosed with low motor tone and hot OT 2 times a week... You can contact EI in whatever county you live in.. You DON'T need your dr...

Speech delay

Ok thanks for your response! I think I will call them this week.

Re: Speech delay

Go ahead and call, but she sounds like she is doing great. Receptive speech is more important right now.

you can also count sounds (animal - moo, choo choo, etc) as words.

Re: Speech delay

When getting evaluated as part of EI receptive and expressive language scores are grouped together. If there is a significant difference some students get services. Also articulation does not count. As a pp said approximations and sounds count too. An eval will not hurt your child and is free. If you are concerned there is no harm for getting piece of mine.

Speech delay

Thanks for both of your responses! Unfortunately she doesn't say any sounds like those either... I really don't think she'll qualify but I think I might as well call.. Is it a long process once I call?

Speech delay

My ds receives speech. At 18 months (15 adjusted) he had no words and very few sounds. The eval process is very quick. We called and he was eval within 2 weeks. Services started 30 days later but that was because of my schedule. He has been getting speech twice a week for 3 months now and has had some improvement. He will be 2 next week and says mama, dada and "baybee". But he is definitely trying more.
Like a pp said when he was eval they found other questionable issues as well. But the ST and teacher that evaluated him also gave me tips to help him out. I knew the day of the eval that he would be approved for service. So you will know right away if service will be approved.

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my son is 20 months old and we had him evaluated. He didn't qualify. He says 3 things and 2 of those things he rarely says.

He understands everything you say to him.

He scored a 77 which is a moderate delay. He needed to get a 70 or below for a severe delay to get services trough EI.

We are now going through our insurance for it because I think it's completely necessary. Even the 2 evaluators have said pretty much the same thing, even though they couldn't outright say that to me. Unfortunately funding is tight and the guidelines are very strict now.

Speech delay

You mentioned your child was delayed with motor skills. Are you in the EI system already? Has the therapist ever said anything about speech? My son had delays with motor skills & will be 2 in October. We have had EI since 3 months of age. He didn't need speech but my other Twin son did. He only had for about 6 months & is now speaking sentences, says colors, counts to 10. I would call for evaluation ASAP. Good Luck!!

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Speech delay

So DD did not get approved as her scores were too high receptively, as I knew would happen... We had scheduled an IFSP for Monday when I first went to the EI office. The agency said I should get a call or paperwork cancelling that appointment, but I never did. Should I just assume that it was cancelled?? I'm just worried that I'm gonna get a phonecall from them Monday asking why I'm not there??

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Speech delay

You might want to try getting it through your insurance. My daughter is 5 now. We started her in EI when she was about 21 months old. She, too, had high receptive scores but had essentially no words and the lack of words was enough for them. She got 2 times a week and then 3 once the therapist they sent fought hard for the additional time. Our child went to a language based pre-K right before she was 3 (late fall birthday) and it was the greatest thing we did for her. The speech really came once she got to the school and was immersed with special ed teachers who could work on it constantly (and I am forever grateful to her EI therapist who was wonderful but never got to really hear her talk since that didn't happen in time.) I think we were lucky because her receptive language skills were always very strong and maybe someone else testing her would not have approved her for EI. I obviously don't know your daughter at all but the little bit you said reminded me of mine (and my hesitancy calling EI in the first place since I knew she was very bright).

Re: Speech delay

I would try going through insurance. Its kind of tough to qualify for EI at this age, particularly if her receptive language is good. Just because she doesnt qualify for EI, doesn't mean she may not need some help...its just hard to qualify for EI, especially at that age. The earler she gets support if she needs it, the better the outcome

Message edited 4/1/2014 11:32:31 PM.