Early start, how does the process work?

NorcalLinds

I just put a call into Kaiser, the advice nurse emailed logans doctor. Once he gets the referral, how does early start work?

futrkingsley

You actually don't need a referral from a doctor.  You can self refer.  You should look up the Early Intervention office in your county and call them.  They'll do an initial intake over the phone.  Our's sent me a pack of paperwork to fill out and send back.  Once they received it and reviewed it, they called me to make an appointment for an in-person evaluation in their office.  Since he qualified, we were assigned to a case worker at our regional center and from there assigned to a therapist. From my first phone call to his first therapy visit took two months.

futrkingsley

I just realized that your DS is more than 2.5 years old.  The Early Start program eligibility ends at 3 years old so you might be evaluated and get just a few months of services before the provider and services change to the school district (which takes over after age 3 for some issues).

NorcalLinds

Thank you this is so helpful. I called the district and they said the same thing, I placed a call into the regional center in hopes they can help us. I can't imagine waiting 6 months. We might have to pay for services ourselves if it takes too long.

Mrs.K&C

Ditto Sarah - you can self refer. DD was referred by her PT at Kaiser and that process went much faster than the self referral I did for her for speech, but I think a lot of that was the case worker she had for speech is just flaky.From my initial phone call to her actual therapy was over 2 months for speech. For PT it was less than a month, but we were already established with the physical therapist.

I'd definitely try and push to get it going as fast as possible since he'll be turning 3 soon. The in home services seem to be much better than the preschool services in my area. DD didn't graduate according to her ST at her evaluation before she turned 3 so she was referred to the school district program. That teacher looked at her evaluation and thought what the ST was wanting of her (articulation issues, specifically sounds like F and CH) was beyond normal development for that age and she did not qualify. She did have her come in for a brief evaluation and felt she was developmentally right on track. The teacher said the students she has at 3 in her class either don't speak at all (pragmatic delays) or make noises instead of words. So she no longer does speech therapy.

futrkingsley

Mrs.K&C:

Ditto Sarah - you can self refer. DD was referred by her PT at Kaiser and that process went much faster than the self referral I did for her for speech, but I think a lot of that was the case worker she had for speech is just flaky.From my initial phone call to her actual therapy was over 2 months for speech. For PT it was less than a month, but we were already established with the physical therapist.

I'd definitely try and push to get it going as fast as possible since he'll be turning 3 soon. The in home services seem to be much better than the preschool services in my area. DD didn't graduate according to her ST at her evaluation before she turned 3 so she was referred to the school district program. That teacher looked at her evaluation and thought what the ST was wanting of her (articulation issues, specifically sounds like F and CH) was beyond normal development for that age and she did not qualify. She did have her come in for a brief evaluation and felt she was developmentally right on track. The teacher said the students she has at 3 in her class either don't speak at all (pragmatic delays) or make noises instead of words. So she no longer does speech therapy.

*Butting in* Katie, so how do you feel about S's language after her therapy?  Is she talking?  DS was non-verbal when he started so words were such a huge gift, even if there were issues with various sounds.  And I do remember his ST saying that we sucked for giving him a name with the CH sound since it is later developing  in most kids.    DS still struggles with L's (which sound like w's, so his own name is chorwie). 

jsugrin

We self referred as Andrew's pedi was to lax for my taste and since my 23 month old tested at 9 months I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.  From the day I called and asked for an eval it was two weeks until the first person came and she basically decided the type of therapists that should evaluate him.  Based upon that visit he was evaluated by speech, OT and a developmental therapist. It too 2-3 weeks for those visits to be completed and then another week for me to get the evals. In our county they only start services on the first of the month, his evals were completed the first week of Dec but we couldn't start until Jan.  So for us, I called in the end of October and by Jan he was receiving services, so yeah it can take awhile even if your regional center is on top of things. 

I wouldn't wait for the doc to handle the referral, it's unnecesary and may slow the process.  The only thing they needed our Pedi for was the part we billed out to our insurance.

Also, I'm not sure you have concerns beyond speech, but to qualify for school district speech therapy after age 3 they must test in the 7% of lower.

NorcalLinds

All very helpful. It seems like such a process. I already got a call back from logans pedi. He sent a referral to Oakland where he will be evaluated.

Mrs.K&C

futrkingsley:

Mrs.K&C:

Ditto Sarah - you can self refer. DD was referred by her PT at Kaiser and that process went much faster than the self referral I did for her for speech, but I think a lot of that was the case worker she had for speech is just flaky.From my initial phone call to her actual therapy was over 2 months for speech. For PT it was less than a month, but we were already established with the physical therapist.

I'd definitely try and push to get it going as fast as possible since he'll be turning 3 soon. The in home services seem to be much better than the preschool services in my area. DD didn't graduate according to her ST at her evaluation before she turned 3 so she was referred to the school district program. That teacher looked at her evaluation and thought what the ST was wanting of her (articulation issues, specifically sounds like F and CH) was beyond normal development for that age and she did not qualify. She did have her come in for a brief evaluation and felt she was developmentally right on track. The teacher said the students she has at 3 in her class either don't speak at all (pragmatic delays) or make noises instead of words. So she no longer does speech therapy.

*Butting in* Katie, so how do you feel about S's language after her therapy?  Is she talking?  DS was non-verbal when he started so words were such a huge gift, even if there were issues with various sounds.  And I do remember his ST saying that we sucked for giving him a name with the CH sound since it is later developing  in most kids.    DS still struggles with L's (which sound like w's, so his own name is chorwie). 

I'm really happy with the year she spent in therapy. She had maybe 20 words when she started, hadn't added any in quite some time and didn't have any expressive communication to speak of (no pointing, nodding, nothing). I really didn't expect her to have perfect articulation at the end, so I was surprised they wanted her to continue. She sounds just like any other 3 year old to me. Hard to understand, ha! I can understand her just fine, her school doesn't have any issues and she talks all.the.time. The preschool program would not have been a good fit for her so I'm really glad we're done. 

AngelaU1971

I just called the Regional Center myself and actually have an evaluation scheduled for Ruby tomorrow morning.  I would call sooner rather than later....it took us about a month and a half from the first call to the evaluation. 

dblhappiness

NorcalLinds:

Thank you this is so helpful. I called the district and they said the same thing, I placed a call into the regional center in hopes they can help us. I can't imagine waiting 6 months. We might have to pay for services ourselves if it takes too long.

It's definitely worth a call into Regional Center. I have heard mixed reviews on how quickly they can get the ball rolling (heard that calling the office in San Leandro gets quicker response but someone feel free to correct me). But since you also have an appt set-up thru your pedi, that's a great place to start as well.  

2bearichards

dblhappiness:

NorcalLinds:

Thank you this is so helpful. I called the district and they said the same thing, I placed a call into the regional center in hopes they can help us. I can't imagine waiting 6 months. We might have to pay for services ourselves if it takes too long.

It's definitely worth a call into Regional Center. I have heard mixed reviews on how quickly they can get the ball rolling (heard that calling the office in San Leandro gets quicker response but someone feel free to correct me). But since you also have an appt set-up thru your pedi, that's a great place to start as well.  

We also went through the Regional Center and it took about a month to finally have Riley evaluated.  She didn't end up qualifying for services, so we are doing therapy through a private practice.

scrapmama2201

We have not gone through Kaiser or the Regional Center as Ty was a bit older but feel free to ask if you have any questions. If you go through the school district, you'd be going to the same testing place/building that we frequent.

kittylove

I think you have gotten a ton of great responces. I just wanted to let you know that the center in Sac (for Kaiser) currently has a much shorter time wait than the Oakland one, so you might ask for them to send you there. In June Oakland was booking October appointments and Sac saw us in 2 weeks. It was a long drive but the appointment lasted 4 hours so it was worth it for us. My understanding was that they could still do services closer to home if needed but this was just for intake/evaluation.