? on Early Intervention Re-Assessment

unm00red

My son was assessed by AZ Early Intervention at 17 months due to regression in speech.  He missed qualifying for services by a few points.  We immediately got him into private therapy.  The SLP we're working with has diagnosed him with oral motor issues and possible apraxia.  We haven't made much further progress with his speech in the 4 1/2 months he's been in therapy since then.

Can anyone tell me how much time needs to pass before I can request a new assessment by EI? Our initial contact was less-than-helpful in providing any sort of guidance once it was determined we missed the cut-off score.   

I really wish I'd known we had the ability to appeal the decision within 30 days but I just discovered that now when combing through their policy manual online.  I'm just trying to figure out what options we have.

Can anyone who's been down this road before help me understand what options we may have to get him re-assessed? 

 

kcisthebombdotcom

That makes me irrationally angry a kid who regressed in language didn't qualify. 

Do you have another ei agency in your area? It might just be that we live near a city but we had multiple options for ei.  

unm00red

KC_13:

That makes me irrationally angry a kid who regressed in language didn't qualify. 

Do you have another ei agency in your area? It might just be that we live near a city but we had multiple options for ei.  

The problem was that they averaged the receptive and expressive language scores.  He scored as "mild delay" on receptive language and "moderate delay" on expressive.  He also scored "moderate delay" on self-help skills.

Apparently you need at least a 50% delay in one skill area to qualify for services.  The fact that he regressed didn't factor into the assessment.  They score the child based on where he should be by age. 

To the best of my knowledge, our county only has one EI office, but I'll double-check that.

kcisthebombdotcom

unm00red:

KC_13:

That makes me irrationally angry a kid who regressed in language didn't qualify. 

Do you have another ei agency in your area? It might just be that we live near a city but we had multiple options for ei.  

The problem was that they averaged the receptive and expressive language scores.  He scored as "mild delay" on receptive language and "moderate delay" on expressive.  He also scored "moderate delay" on self-help skills.

Apparently you need at least a 50% delay in one skill area to qualify for services.  The fact that he regressed didn't factor into the assessment.  They score the child based on where he should be by age. 

To the best of my knowledge, our county only has one EI office, but I'll double-check that.

thats so unfortunate. My son had across the board average scores but maintained eligibility for ei on "clinical opinion." Clearly a kid who lost language skills he once had needs help. 

abs05

Your son sounds very similiar to my daughter.  Her SLP suspects averbal praxia as well, and we will be starting OT soon to address possible oral apraxia.

Our EI experience so far has not been very positive.  I called when my daughter was first 21 months because I felt like her progress had stalled (no new words in several months) and she had lost words.  They wouldn't even come out to do an evaluation because she still had over 10 words.  I called again right before her second birthday and they agreed to come out to do an assessment. 

Based on that assessment we did not qualify for EI.  Her expressive language lagged 7 months behind her receptive language, but they also average the two to determine your total language score.  DD was either at or above where she should be in every other area so they told me she was a late talker, would catch up, and that was that.  I was told I could call back later if I had any other concerns.  I immediately looked into private therapy and we have been doing that twice a week since December.

I just called EI again.  DD still has made very little speech progress, and I feel like *something* is getting missed.  They sounded much more concerned this time and are coming to do a re-eval in three weeks.  We'll see if we qualify for anything this time.  In the meantime, we will be adding private OT on top of ST.  Thank goodness for insurance!

So, that was long, but your story sounds familar.  In TX you can request a re-eval at anytime.  Can't hurt to call again!

unm00red

I'm posting an update just in case another mother comes across this thread who has a similar question...

I finally got hold of our original contact and apparently we can request a new evaluation at any point.  We even have the option of not disclosing the initial evaluation if we're concerned it might somehow negatively impact the result of the first.