Early Intervention Service Coordinator? (long)

LuckySunshineBaby

DD is in the process of receiving Early Intervention services.  I sought a referral for speech concerns and after her evaluation, we were told she is bright but has un-labeled speech issue.  It's not apraxia, not a "typical" speech delay and doesn't meet the criteria for a intelligibility or age adjusted articulation issue (I guess meaning her minor articulation issues are on target for her age of 2.5). 

At the process to identify and plan services, our service coordinator arrived early and engaged DD in play.  DD was NOT a fan.  About an hour into the meeting with the original eval team (speech and D.I.) DD went from being suggested one hour of speech services weekly (she only has 6 months before she ages out and they don't anticipate her qualifying with our local district for school based services) to needing D.I. therapy for a host of issues, all not "labeled" or "identified by a name".  The service coordinator threw out auditory processing delays (citing one minor interaction she had with DD) amongst other potential issues "that she is too young to diagnosis".  The service coordinator tried to scale our speech back to one hour a month. 

I respect her experience, but the Eval team felt she was out of her mind (attempted multiple times to respectfully disagree, pointing out items from the Eval and her current behavior).  I wouldn't agree to a change in the amount of speech services, so we are now set to receive DI and Speech one hour each, every week.  

The Eval team (and my DH and I) felt that the Service Coordinator was EXCEPTIONALLY off base.  Her statements were in clear contradiction to both the Eval the team gave us, her new preschool teacher's feedback (DD just started one month ago, first school experience) and myself and DH's thoughts.  She threw out a ton of "potential issues" basically indicating that my child could be given a early diagnosis at 3 of ADHD or a "spectrum related issue".  The D.I. from the Eval team lost it on her at those words and even circled the block to come back and tell us how off base the Service Coordinator was (FWIW, my background in school was education and I created a tutoring program for children with attention disorders, so I'm pretty familiar with the characteristics and am positive that it is not a huge concern for us).

We aren't opposed to D.I., because even if DD doesn't have any of the "issues" named, it can only benefit her, like most services.

To what extent does the Service Coordinator have control over what services you receive?  Anyone experience this type of issue with a Coordinator?

TIA

Assembly_Reqd

I am not under the impression that the service coordinator is allowed or even qualified to make a diagnosis. I would ask this question to her superior. If she continues to provide her "professional" opinion I would ask to see her credentials. 

Since it seems like the rest of the eval team was pretty affected by her statements, it is possible that they have a loose cannon on their hands.

There is no way I would trust any diagnosis stuff from our coordinator. My impression is that she is basically the paper pusher for the EI program.

sare_bear

I agree with all of this.

 (oops, I forgot to quote Asssembly)

cranberry27

I agree with Auntie that you always have to have an open mind to possible development of new evidence.  

That said, I also think it sounds like your SC went on a big of an ego trip.  It's something I've witnessed.  The SC usually is not trained in any of the therapies you actually receive.  Most of ours were social workers, which is a good fit usually because they're supposed to manage the whole situation and be there for the parents.  But you sit in enough of the meetings and hear enough reports, and suddenly you think you know everything about every discipline.  I've known SCs and therapists like this, and I've been at meetings where one person is pushing hard in an unexpected direction.  SCs in my area tend to have high turnover/burnout because there is so much paper pushing and phone work when they really want to be out there in the field doing therapy work.

If your IFSP says something you're comfortable with, then there should be no reason to change it in your remaining 6 months.  There really isn't anything she can do to force it at this point.  I'm glad you were able to stand your ground and get what you felt was appropriate.  But again, like Auntie said, it's good to keep an open mind in the future so something subtle isn't missed.

Florak8

Assembly_Reqd:

I am not under the impression that the service coordinator is allowed or even qualified to make a diagnosis. I would ask this question to her superior. If she continues to provide her "professional" opinion I would ask to see her credentials. 

Since it seems like the rest of the eval team was pretty affected by her statements, it is possible that they have a loose cannon on their hands.

There is no way I would trust any diagnosis stuff from our coordinator. My impression is that she is basically the paper pusher for the EI program.

This exactly. No disrespect to ours, but she is there to coordinate, not make diagnoses or push an agenda.

You should be able to request a different SC. 

TriciaJoy

I would be pretty defensive, too. Our OT has pissed me off so many times over the last few years, I'm sure people who hear my rants about her think I'm just in denial too. BUt sometimes people are just nuts. And like to make diagnosis they have ZERO business making. Like our old OTa who told me my son have apraxia of speech when he was barely over a year old. His speech was very behind for some time, but he's now 2y8m and his speech is 100% caught up. Guess it wasn't apraxia, huh?

Hell, we just ended all therapy services this week and even at the IFSP meeting, his OT had a whole list of things he couldn't do. But our developmental therapist had tested almost all of those things (stringing beads, unscrewing a cap etc) and he did them all completely fine w/o any prompting at all. Our OT just sucked.

Sounds like your SC sucks. Honestly, I'm surprised because none of the SCs we've seen have ever given any input at all about diagnosis. We've had four over the 2.5 years we've been in the EI program and never has ANY of them even hinted at a diagnosis. That's the job of qualified therapists, not an overworked bureaucrat. At our discharge on Tuesday, I asked everyone in the room (SC included) if anyone had any concerns about our discharge. She looked to the therapists, they all said no.. and we were done.

Because you did get the services you required, I'd probably just go forward. Hopefully you won't have to interact with her much and since you're aging out soon, it may not be a big deal. If you want to be transitioned to the school district, if your SC is such a chicken little, maybe that will be good.. she will push for that.

But if you don't, you have the right to decline services no matter what she says.

 

charlies-angel

FloraK8:

Assembly_Reqd:

I am not under the impression that the service coordinator is allowed or even qualified to make a diagnosis. I would ask this question to her superior. If she continues to provide her "professional" opinion I would ask to see her credentials. 

Since it seems like the rest of the eval team was pretty affected by her statements, it is possible that they have a loose cannon on their hands.

There is no way I would trust any diagnosis stuff from our coordinator. My impression is that she is basically the paper pusher for the EI program.

This exactly. No disrespect to ours, but she is there to coordinate, not make diagnoses or push an agenda.

You should be able to request a different SC. 

I agree. Our coordinator was just there for paperwork and asking background questions. It is not their job to recommend therapies/diagnoses/etc. That should be left to the evaluators.

elli2010

Our SC approves all our therapies and finds therapists to fit our sons needs (she is SC to both our LOs) but she doesn't diagnose, or give opinions on what is happening, she allows the therapists to do that. She just approves the hours they get. We love our SC