Moms of DC who received EI for speech--did dc graduate or transition at 3?

bebemama

Liam gets speech. ?He has about 75 words, maybe a bit more. ?His speech is still pretty unclear with some of his ?words. ?He has his 6 month review coming up and the service coordinator asked me if I wanted her to start the paperwork to transition him into preschool where I assume he would be continue to receive services if he still needed them. I believe she said his EI services would stop at the end of 2010 so he would be 3.5. ?I am thinking it is still possible for him to be caught up by then, but of course if he isn't we want to continue getting him help. ? I asked her to hold off on sending in the paperwork until we could talk about it further at his meeting next month. ?I wanted more information and for my husband to be there as well.?

Did your DC graduate by 3 or did they transition to a preschool where they continued getting support? ?If they continued what was the preschool and the services like? If they didn't were they completely caught up with the other kids when they started preschool?

My guess is we will start the paperwork since she said it can take up to a year to process and then if it turns out we don't need the services we can intervene and stop the process. ?

Just curious what your experience was??

meghans30

Not sure where you are, I'm in Ma.

 

Trevor aged out of EI @ 3. I think most EI services wnd at 3, which would force you to either go through the school system or through private insurance. We started the transition paperwork @ 2.5 (ONLY 3

Mominator

I don't know the answer to your question, but can I ask you one? When did you start your DS in EI? The pedi mentioned at my DS's last appt that he is a little behind in his speech and if he didn't have 9 words by 18mths that she would want to have him evaluated for EI. Well, he is 16mths and is still not talking. Honestly, I am not that concerned, but the pedi is and I fell like I might be doing a disservice to DS if I don't at least look into it. What were the signs that your DS needed to be evaluated? How did you know that it was the right decision? Sorry to hijack your post, and thanks.

meghans30

Don't know what happened with my last repsonse.

We started the transition process only 3 months into EI due to Trev's age and the length of time the process takes. I had no idea whether or not we'd need it, but figured it wouldn't hurt to put in the paper work. He was evaluated about 2 months before turning 3. He was still severly delayed (basically non-verbal). He recieved the dx of severe Apraxia of speech.

The school system now provides Trev. with half day preschool 5x per-week (transportation included), 3 sessions of speech therapy, 1 session of OT, as well as 2 hours of speech per week for 6 weeks during the summer. At this point he is still about 1 year behind his peers in terms of articulation, but has come a long way.

I'd go ahead and start the process. Maybe he'll need it and maybe he won't, but it won't hurt to have the school evaluate him. We've had to fight a bit with the school system, but I'm happy with the services right now. HTH. 

 

bebemama

That is awesome. ?Glad to hear he is making such improvement and it sounds like it he is getting great services. ?I am certain we to will begin the paperwork process as well. ?It can't hurt. Thanks for your input. ?I have had concerns about apraxia as well, but as of yet neither of his 2 speech therapists have mentioned it. ?I have asked them both if they thought it was something muscular or neurological and both have said no that they didn't see any indication that it was. ?We will see. ?It sounds like your little guy is doing great though!

Before preschool, did he get just one hour of speech a week? ?Also, did he go to daycare or did he go from being at home to this full day that he has now? ?Did he transition alright??

debs1018

I am in NY and I assume EI works pretty similar in other states. EI goes until 3. You would start the evals at around 2.8. I would definitely do the paperwork now. You dont know where he will be in a few months, and I am sure you wouldnt want a gap in services.

bebemama

Mominator:

I don't know the answer to your question, but can I ask you one? When did you start your DS in EI? The pedi mentioned at my DS's last appt that he is a little behind in his speech and if he didn't have 9 words by 18mths that she would want to have him evaluated for EI. Well, he is 16mths and is still not talking. Honestly, I am not that concerned, but the pedi is and I fell like I might be doing a disservice to DS if I don't at least look into it. What were the signs that your DS needed to be evaluated? How did you know that it was the right decision? Sorry to hijack your post, and thanks.

I mentioned my concerns to the pedi at 18 months. ?He really didn't have many more words then he had at 12 months. ?I realized then that a lot of what he said at 12 months was just mimicking which he seemed to do less by 18 months. ?She wasn't concerned at all, and acted like I was paranoid and ridiculous. ?She basically walked out of the room on me. ?

DH was also saying that he didn't think there was an issue and that we should just give him time since he also was a late talker (no words at all until after 2), I agreed that if he wasn't making progress by 21 months I would call to have him evaluated. ?He didn't seem to making progress by 20 months so I just decided on my own to call regardless of whether DH or pedi thought it was necessary. ?DH isn't around other children our sons age and I try to trust my instincts. ?I also viewed it as a win/win situation. Either they will say he is fine and doesn't need help or he will start getting help.?

Anyway, they came and evaluated and he was being especially quiet that day but they asked me and DH lots of questions. He did really well on all of the puzzles and such that they gave him but basically wouldn't talk or respond to them. ?He qualified. ?

We looked for a new pedi, none of which we liked. ?When I came back for DS 24 month appt. ?I asked the pedi, if she sees kids catch up often 24 months when they are late talkers and she replied with attitude saying that he wasn't just a late talker but that he was delayed and didn't answer my question. ?

I need to do more interviews for another pedi. ?

My advice would be to have him evaluated. ?It really is a win/win. ?You don't need everyones support. ?You just have to call, they make it super easy for you.?

meghans30

bebemama:

That is awesome.  Glad to hear he is making such improvement and it sounds like it he is getting great services.  I am certain we to will begin the paperwork process as well.  It can't hurt. Thanks for your input.  I have had concerns about apraxia as well, but as of yet neither of his 2 speech therapists have mentioned it.  I have asked them both if they thought it was something muscular or neurological and both have said no that they didn't see any indication that it was.  We will see.  It sounds like your little guy is doing great though!

Before preschool, did he get just one hour of speech a week?  Also, did he go to daycare or did he go from being at home to this full day that he has now?  Did he transition alright? 

 

By the time he aged out of EI we were recieving 1 hr of speech, 1 hr with a developmental specialist, 2 hrs with an OT and 2.5 hrs of playgroup! As he got closer to 3, they gave him more services in the hopes that he would catch up. Trev. did not attend daycare, and the transition was a bit rough. He just turned 3 when he started (April birthday) and wasn't even potty trained, but this was not an issue due to him being elligible for special services. we're moving onto year two of pre-k. I'm hoping that he'll be able to transition into a regular ed. preschool with some accomodations.