EI eval is today- what to expect?

Mrs.LisaP

For those that have kids in the EI program, or were evaluated using their services what is it like? What can I expect today? The lady is coming to my house.

I am being very proactive here, she is almost 18 mo and I self referred for speech. But I would rather get her started in something if needed as soon as possible.

dulcinea03

We just had the evaluation for the girls 2 weeks ago. The coordinator had both a speech therapist and occupational therapist come out to evaluate the girls at the same time. They spent an hour playing with the girls, asking us questions, and beginning to give tips and ideas for us to help them with things we were concerned about. At the end of it, they let us know what services we qualify for, gave us a list of providers to call and interview, and what we needed to do to start receiving services.

Both of my girls qualify for speech, and Jules qualified for OT but Kit did not. We've selected our OT, and are in the process of finding our speech therapist. All the services will be in our home until the girls turn 3, and the girls will be re-evaluated every 6 months. If they still need services at 3, they will be referred for preschool services, which also initiates the IEP process here.

LuckySunshineBaby

Ours lasted about 2 hours.  We also had only speech concerns.  A developmental interventionist (special education teacher) and a speech therapist came out.  They played games, asked me questions (lots) and observed DD doing tasks.

At the end they told she wasn't eligible based on her scores.  However, there was a clinical override option (which my understanding is if your child doesn't meet the criteria but the clinical opinion of the team is that she should receive services, they can override it).  DD had to score 33% below the in one category or 25% below in two.  Her speech score (given an age range approximation as to her receptive and expressive language) is how they evaluate that.  

I found the team to be very helpful and friendly (as I think the entire EI process is overall).  If your child doesn't qualify they can give you tips and resources for you to try on your own.

Good for you for being a proactive Momma!  My Pedi tried to blow my concerns off and gave me an EI referral but it was very "I don't think it's necessary" kinda way.  I'm glad I did.

I would be happy to answer any more questions after the eval (email me at ar underscore miller at verizon dot net).  I was more familiar with the older child IEP part of the process (education background) but have learned a lot!

gringa78

I'm an SLP and used to do EI evals with a team.  I would go with a special ed teacher and sometimes an OT and PT.  We would mostly interview the parents because they know what is typical for their child and we only spent an hour or so with him/her, so they'll ask you a lot of questions.  We also do a series of activities that are just like play, so the kids usually have fun doing them.  We were usually able to tell parents right away whether their child qualified or not.

That's great you called to have her evaluated - very proactive like PP said.  The sooner you can get your child enrolled in therapy, the sooner they get the help they need to become good communicators, walkers, etc.  I became very close with the families I worked with - EI is a great program on so many levels.