MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

At my DS 15 month appt. the ped gave mea number for a speech eveal bc he wasnt saying too much.I ended up calling and today a developmental specialist came to do an overall eval and later a speech evaluator is comnig. To my surprise the developmenatl specialist is referring him for an OT and PT eval. I am sure he will qualify for speech as that was my main concernand really only concern.
My untrained eyes never noticed what the person saw today. Some things she saw were frequent falling( to me he was tripping over things) low muscle when he sits up and he drools a lot so she said thast is sign of low muscle tone too( he is also teething).

I want him to get whatver services he needs and i am willing to go along with what they say.

I really dont know what i am asking except maybe your experiences with EI? How old was you dc when theystarted? How long did they recieve services? How often.? Any info appreciated. TIA,

Message edited 8/21/2009 12:24:20 PM.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

anyone?

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please comin

I think it's different for each state but I'm in Illinois.

DS was 17 months when we first had him evaluated and he didn't qualify. They told us to bring him back in 3months if he still didn't have a increase in his speech. When we brought him back at 20 months, was just over the 30% mark that was needed to qualify for speech therapy. It took about a month to get a therapist assigned to us.

DS got speech therapy once a week at our home until he was 3 yrs old. At that point IL wouldn't cover it unless his delay was severe. We decided to continue with services privately with the therapist twice a month until he was 4yrs old.

He has done great. If you talk to him now, you would never know that he ever had a delay and received therapy.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

We noticed feeding and speech issues at 15 months still. At 18 months after working very closely with DS, I called EI. I never realized there were more to it and it down spiraled to an eval for special ed, OT and a psychologist. We never had a PT eval. Now that I am aware of things with DS, 6 months later I just asked for an eval PT.

We started the process right around Christmas last year. We had an IFSP meeting to confirm what DS qualified for. We are in Nassau and we had to wait 2 weeks to get the services started after the IFSP.

So it took 1.5 months to get all the evals done, the reports back and starting the actual services.

Our case is also "complicated" according to EI so there is a lot involved.

DS is getting per week 12 ABA sessions of 90 minutes each, 4 speech sessions of 45 minutes each, 2 OT sessions of 45 minutes each.

BUT we also have parents training every week for 1 hour per week. And we have a monthly meeting with all his therapists that is usually at night when DH is home and it lasts about 1 hour.

Message edited 8/21/2009 2:14:04 PM.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

We started the process today, DS had an evaluation with a speech pathologist.

DS gagged a lot a little before a year when we introduced table foods and had trouble making that transition. A couple months later, he did much better with them, but now, at almost 21 months, he still refuses to eat meat (unless it is mushy or pureed), pasta of any kind, and veggies. This was not really why I called EI though, I called because his speech is delayed. He only says 5 words consistently at this point, and has lost a few he used to say along the way. But like you, I was surprised at what she picked up during the evaluation--I think she was more concerned about his eating than his speech and said he has low tone in his cheeks and tongue, though not his lips. He has his cognitive eval next week, so I want to ask more about this--I was reading about low tone after she left and learned that it can affect his whole body, so I'm wondering if his toddler tripping is due to this or is it just ordinary tripping?

To qualify for services, your child needs to score 33% below his/her age level. Based on what she saw today, the speech pathologist said he probably would not qualify since his receptive speech is higher than expected for his age level. But she does need to tally up all the tests she did and wait for the cognitive assessment. If your child does not qualify but you feel he/she doesn't make progress, you can request another evluation in 3 months.

fm if you need to talk!

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

well, all of my kids recieved services so far... all for different reasons..
i have used marion saloman and up wee grow and have been very happy..
my first was/is Autistic.. i say was because you'd never know it now.. he's the most "normal" kid i know.. :)
He started services around 2.5 years.. he went to JUST KIDS in middle island 5 days a week on the bus :( he got every service imaginable, pt ot, speech, integration, social integration, ABA, sensory integration EVERYTHING.. i had a great experience and by the time he was 5 i took him out of there and he went to private school and we worked with him at home.. He has since been diagnosed with aspergers and is absolutely amazing.. he is 10, in honors and gifted classes and has tons of friends, is a black belt in Karate and plays several sports and is also an awesome competiton swimmer.
don't mean to brag but I can't believe he has come this far! I was told he never would
My second son Has PDD and ADHD.. he had muscle weakness in his muscles in his mouth and couldn't drink, chew, or speak properly.. He had speech until first grade, starting at 3 years old. He also had OT for gross motor deficits. He still has a lisp, but he is doing great .. He is 7

My 3 year old... had a seizure at age 15 months old which prompted a vistit to the neurologist, who told us that Spencer was Autistic as well.. he wasn't answering to his name, he was spinning objects, he had no expressive or receptive speech at all....
we opted out of the ADOS testing then and decided to call EI.. they offered us speech and special education. Within 3 months he was running circles around friends his age!! It was an amazing transformation and unbelievalbe to watch as his parents.. BY the way, he is sooo far from autistic, and in fact is a social butterfly..
so ... that's my experience.. if you want to ask me ANYTHING.. FM me :)
I remember what it feels like to be in your shoes so if i can help let me!

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

between 12 and 18 months we noticed he wasn't making progress in speech. I also initially called for a speech delay and I was surprised when the ped. and the evaluators wanted an OT eval as well. It turns out there was a lot I wasn't seeing either RE: some sensory issues and muscle tone.

He receives speech 3x, OT 2x, and Special instruction 2x a week. He's doing really well. His FAVORITE is OT - He LOVES it. Don't be afraid to see the process through to the end - it can only help.

If you have any questions - feel free to FM

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

Just wanted to add, I am using Marion Salomon too at the recommendation of some Moms here (our case counselor thought well of them also). And so far, I think they have been great.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

my son who is now 5 starting rcvng EI for speech w/ spec. ed @ 18 months.. Its not a hard process, its just an involved process.. Didi they give you a diagnosis for your child? your case worker should help you with picking the agency that you'll use.. FM me if you have questions

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

Noah started gettng speech at 19 months twice a week, we got Parent training once a week to help with some other issues.

We used Marion Salomon and we like them a lot.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

Just wanted to add also that we also use Marion Salomon and it's not a secret that just based on the scheduling lady I would NEVER recommend this agency.

I do love the therapists though.

I think it's "easier" for that person to do scheduling for easier cases but if you have multiple therapists, that woman has no sense of urgency. She is easily confused.

That's MY personal experience with this agency.

It became such an issue that we have my EI service coordinator's boss involved with that lady's boss. I refuse to talk to her. I talk to her boss.

Re: MOms whose DC got early intervention services of any kind please come in

I called EI when my son was 15 months to have an eval done for language. He really couldn't say or understand anything.

He was evaluated by a SLP and educator. He had a 3 standard deviation delay in both receptive and expressive language, as well as a 1.5 SD cognitive delay.

At first they gave us 2X45 for speech, and 2X45 for ED. They later gave us 3x45 for speech, and 5x60 for ED.

Unfortunately my son had some medical issues that went undetected. He was also mis-diagnosed with autism twice. It was pretty crazy.

Once we started treating his medical issues he started speaking single words a week later. In Jan. we had tubes put in his ears, he started speaking in sentences.

EI has been totally amazing. My son has made huge progress. At this point he is almost all "caught up" although he still has a minor speech delay.

That is our story.

My son also had low tone in his mouth. I honestly wouldn't worry about that, it cleared up on it's own in a month or two.

As far as the falling goes, have you had him checked for fluid?

Message edited 8/21/2009 11:23:59 PM.