EI Appt Next Week (cross posted)

nikkisun54

..and I am terrified. Anyone know what I can expect? DS just turned 13 months, so yes, he is on the younger end of the spectrum for evaluation.

I have no idea how the appt. is going to run, and DH isn't supportive of the whole thing to begin with, so I'm pretty much on my own. After much internal debate, I scheduled the appt a couple months ago after DS stopped waving and pointing. He's picked up clapping, but the other two big milestone gestures have yet to return and we still don't have any real words. He's a super interactive, smiley little guy, and will still do the "whole-hand point" (if that is a thing), but the regression of these skills has had me worried.

I get both sides of the equation pretty regularly "you should get it checked out" vs. "don't worry! he's FINE" so to ease my confusion we're going ahead with the evaluation. I have no idea what to expect and am absolutely terrified at the results. 

Filling out the paperwork now. T&Ps please!

Pips09

Our eval and treatments were play based. The therapist sat on the floor and played with her, trying to get her to show different skills and asking me a lot of questions about skillls and activities. Try not to be worried; if there does happen to be an issue, you are doing the best thing possible by getting it checked out early so you can help him work on it. Good luck!

verticgm

I echo PP's statements. We had a speech eval yesterday for my 2 year old DS. They are wonderful and do an excellent job. DS wanted nothing to do with the therapist but she persisted and finally he warmed up. The developmental therapist, the speech therapist, and his EI caseworker have been marvelous at working with us.

I was even embarrassed we were having the eval because it his language EXPLODED between the referral and the 4 or 5 weeks it took to get all the evals and intake arranged. I apologized and all 3 ladies said it happens all the time. I was worried they would be mad we were wasting their time.

You are doing such a great thing for your child! Don't be nervous!

nikkisun54

Thanks, ladies. That sounds like fun (for him at least, I'll be over in the corner watching anxiously!). 

@ChickenOnSunday I am mostly nervous because I suppose I'm afraid that they'll confirm my fears that there is a delay. I know that even if that is the case, I am doing the best I can for him by getting it checked out early. I'm hopeful that I'm being overly cautious and that they can intellectually explain to me what I should/shouldn't be looking for rather than using the internet and my uneducated interpretation of a checklist to determine if there's a problem. 

He's also in an in-home daycare right now where there are eight kids and he's the second youngest (only two under two are allowed in our state). Most of the kids are between 2-3, so it's very focused on that age range. Part of me is also curious to see if they think some of his "delays" could be improved by some more one-on-one communication, as I think that is very limited at his current daycare. 

LucilleAustero

DD was much younger when she was eval'ed and it was for gross motor due to Torticollis, but I imagine the process is fairly similar.

The first meeting, a caseworker came and took information about DD, and about my husband and I. She agreed that an evaluation with a PT was warranted and that was scheduled for the following week. The PT came with a social worker. The PT evaluated her gross motor according to the state scale, while the social worker questioned me regarding her socialization, what sounds she was making, did she recognize faces, things like that.

The anticipation of it was so much worse than the actual eval. Good luck and I think it is great that you are getting him eval'ed at an early age.