EI eval...WWYD

jaxmom1

DS was 13 months on the 10th and is not walking.  I know that in and of itself isn't a HUGE red flag, but he is also not crawling with his belly off the floor.  He does sort of an army crawl sort of thing and does it very well.   He will walk holding my hands (2 hands) but immediately sits down if I take 1 hand away.  He can sometimes pull himself up on the furniture, depending on its height, etc. and can slowly cruise around the furniture holding on.

I have been toying with the idea of having him evaluated by the local early intervention program. 

I have discussed with his pedi - he says it "bears watching" but he is not overly concerned at this point.  I just don't want DS to get too far behind before we do something.

Thoughts?

SaranJonathan

Here is my thoughts. At 18 month appointment I expressed concern about DDs speech. MD said lets wait and see until 2. I expressed concern about wait time, paperwork, etc. She then said okay call me at 22 months if you are still concerned. I ignored her and called EI. The whole process is taking us near 3 months. I would call and you could always decline therapy later. But get the long process started.

ANJ410

I would either have the evaluation done or take him to a physical therapist for a second opinion. I know someone who's LO was EXACTLY like you describe your DS and it turned out her son had a dislocated hip.  In his case it was most likely from being breech in the womb. Everyone had missed it from the time he was born. There was nothing wrong with him developmentally but the hip problem kept him from being able to distribute weight on his legs.

jaxmom1

SaranJonathan:

Here is my thoughts. At 18 month appointment I expressed concern about DDs speech. MD said lets wait and see until 2. I expressed concern about wait time, paperwork, etc. She then said okay call me at 22 months if you are still concerned. I ignored her and called EI. The whole process is taking us near 3 months. I would call and you could always decline therapy later. But get the long process started.

Good to know.  Thank you.  I didn't even think about how long the start up process could take.

lite-bright

I think I'd go with your pedi on keeping an eye on things a bit longer, at least until 15-18 months. I'm not sure that crawling-with-belly-off-the-ground is an actual milestone? Some kids army crawl, some bear-crawl instead of hands-and-knees. I think the fact that he's crawling, and doing it well, is the important part. 

And I wouldn't be worried at all about the walking. DD1 didn't walk until 14.5 months, and my pedi said if she hadn't walked until 15 months, it still would've been a perfectly average time to hit that milestone. I don't think they're considered delayed unless they're not walking by 18 months or later. 

SaranJonathan

jaxmom1:

SaranJonathan:

Here is my thoughts. At 18 month appointment I expressed concern about DDs speech. MD said lets wait and see until 2. I expressed concern about wait time, paperwork, etc. She then said okay call me at 22 months if you are still concerned. I ignored her and called EI. The whole process is taking us near 3 months. I would call and you could always decline therapy later. But get the long process started.

Good to know.  Thank you.  I didn't even think about how long the start up process could take.

This is what happend with us. I called the program. A week later I got a call to schedule with a social worker in the home. She came out and said yes we would evaluate her. Then we made an appointment with the therapist who had 8 days to create a report. Then we met with someone else today who said it takes 4 to 6 more weeks to finalize the paperwork. If I would have known this (and that I could have used my private insurance) I would have called in the first place on my own our hospital speech therapist.

WiscoMom67

I would definitely get another opinion and have him evaluated.  If it turns out to be nothing, then you have peace of mind.  If it turns out to be something, you'll be glad you didn't wait...

If you don't do anything (and just "watch it") and it turns out to be a problem that you could have been doing something about, you'll be kicking yourself later... and maybe for a long time.

My 14 month old doesn't talk... At all.  (Well, he makes a lot of noise, but no words.)  I had EI evaluate him for a speech delay.  They said there was no significant delay yet, but they'll re-evaluate at 18 months.  Even though there was no "problem," they were able to discuss some things we could be doing with him to help encourage development.  You may find the same in regards to gross motor skills.

 Good luck!

kar5162

IMO, he doesn't sound too behind since he's meeting the minimum milestones (crawling in a way, pulling up and cruising).  But since he's not pulling up and cruising well, it's a little concerning and more importantly, you sound a little concerned.  EI can take quite a while to get through the process so there's no harm in calling and getting him checked out.  In my state, it seems to take about 2 months before you get through the evaluations process and start getting therapy if you qualify.  Better to do so sooner and have them just give a few suggestions and have you come back if he doesn't qualify and you still have concerns than wait a few extra months and miss an opportunity to get started now if he does.

Kingston54

I agree that you know your child best.  If you think it's out of the ordinary, it can't hurt to seek some help.  Worst case they tell you the same thing you thought - to just wait.  But at least you'd have peace of mind.

jaxmom1

Thank you for your input.  I was a late walker according to my mom and so was my brother.  Both of us around 14 months.  I know a lot of it is my fault for not putting him down a lot early on.  That's why he crawled late.  But I do think I would like EI's opinion.  If there are some exercises, etc., that we could be doing to help him I would like to get going on them. 

Thanx

Bride2bMO

Take this with a grain of salt. I do have a special needs child, and our pediatrician was very laid back. If I had it to do over again I would have self-referred to early intervention earlier. They'll either find an issue or they won't. You'll either have peace of mind (and usually some great professional advice stemming from the eval) OR you'll start receiving necessary services. Having been through it, I can think of no downside at all to inquiring with your early intervention service agency.