EI moms -- advice to a mom who is new at this. I'm about to pull my hair out!

DS was evaluated by EI on 8/4 and approved for services on 9/9. There is still not one service in place!

He had speech therapy for about 2 weeks. Then the therapist called out sick, then did not show up for the next scheduled session (I found out later that she quit to take a DOE job). I'm still waiting for the EI coordinator to find me someone else. She said she had to switch agencies.

He was approved for special instruction, but EI coordinator had to switch agencies for that as well because they didn't have anyone who worked with our schedule.

OT was originally denied (despite the evaluator's recommendation that he needed it), but I appealed and he was approved. Still waiting for the paperwork to go through on that.

Is this typical? Should I find another coordinator? Ask to talk to her supervisor?

TIA.

Re: EI moms -- advice to a mom who is new at this. I'm about to pull my hair out!

To me it's not typical and I would ask to speak to the supervisor. You want a reliable agency. When they showed me the long list of agencies my jaw dropped so many. I researched on here and also asked around on which agency to use. I've been very happy with two that I've used for my kids. I don't like procrastination when it comes to this.

Re: EI moms -- advice to a mom who is new at this. I'm about to pull my hair out!

My experience with EI was very different. They were more than happy to give us the services my son needed. It took a while to get an OT but that was because there is a shortage of OTs in the area and my son's schedule was already mostly booked with ABA. And even then we eventually got one and were happy.

Is it the county or the agency you are having trouble with? If it's an agency, that is a fairly easy fix -- just switch agencies. If it's the county, that's another matter. Good luck.

Re: EI moms -- advice to a mom who is new at this. I'm about to pull my hair out!

I think there could be a couple of things going on.

Is your schedule not very flexible? That could be part of the problem. When my DS started speech, I was supposed to be there for sessions, but I work FT so it made scheduling very tough. I think my EI coordinator had to go to 3 or 4 different agencies to find someone.

OTs are very hard to find right now, so I imagine that could take a while even if your schedule is very flexible.

The other thing that makes it challenging is that a lot of the therapists will already have set schedules before the school year started, so if you are starting after September, it can be tough to find someone.

If your EI coordinator is dropping the ball, you can request another coordinator, but with all the layoffs and cutbacks in government, they could be overwhelmed too. I would just keep calling the coordinator to find out what is going on.

EI moms -- advice to a mom who is new at this. I'm about to pull my hair out!

Thank you for the responses and the perspectives. My schedule is fairly flexible since I work from home. However, the coordinator mistakenly thought I was only available after 5pm (she must have confused me with someone else), which delayed things.

My main focus is getting him the speech therapist because that is where he needs the most help.