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D.C. Area Babies
Talk to me about early intervention
So I am really concerned about LO's eating issues and decided to self-refer to Early Intervention so that we can deal with this sooner rather than later (I am pretty sure that our pedi is planning to refer if LO doesn't meet the weight goal he set for us at our next appointment, and we're not on track to get there).
They just called and scheduled the first two appointments - one for information, and then the assessment/evaluation.
So what can I expect? What do they test/do?
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Re: Talk to me about early intervention
The process for EI all depends what county you live in. I can only give you my experience in Fairfax County, which I've learned from others on here differs from how other places to do it.
Anyway, we had our first appointment a few weeks ago. This was the intake appointment. Two evaluators came to our home (we had two evaluators b/c we are having both kids tested), and they talkd to me about our concerns, played with the kids for a bit, asked about their skills and abilities. They just watched P&F for a little while and took notes. They also gave me the full run down on how EI works in FFX County.
When they left, they wrote up a report, which was then assessment by two therapists, who are responsible for determining if the child is at least 25% delayed for adjusted age (I think you had a 36-weeker, right? they'll take that into account). Your LO has to be at least 25% delayed to get services. Within 2-3 business days, they had to get back to us to let us know what the therapists thought. In our case, the therapists determined were at least 25% delayed in verbal skills, so then we scheduled the full evaluation (which is what your second appointment will be).
At the second appointment, we go to their office and they'll evaluate all areas of development. We don't have that appts until Feb.17. After that evaluation, they'll write up a therapy/treatment plan for the LOs. Most of the treatments/therapy can take place right in your home. The cost for the treatment varies. We were told that in FFX County, if the therapy isn't covered by your insurance (and most insurances won't cover it) and if you don't qualify free services according to their income eligible sliding scale (I think the maximum household income was $50K), then you pay a fee equal to your regular dr. copay for each session.
That's all I know so far. We also did a free hearing test with the county b/c our concerns are with verbal skills. So far, everyone we have dealt with have been super nice and easy to work with. We even left some favorite books at the hearing test office and they offered to mail them to us.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
I did EI for DD#1's delay in gross motor skills. The first meeting was an introduction to the services and we did some paperwork. During the evaluation, they basically did an assessment where they observed DD and also asked me a bunch of questions. Then they wrote up a report and let me know DD qualified for services. After that, we did physical therapy monthly (based on my choice). I found it to be extremely helpful. The therapist did some work with DD but also talked to me a lot and explained some activities that I could do with DD to help. I felt much more empowered and felt that I was armed with the tools necessary to keep my daughter's development moving forward. I had a very positive experience and I hope you do too.
VTK, you're in MoCo, right? The person on the phone was very pleasant and we scheduled the first two appointments - the intro appointment and then the evaluation.
If you don't mind me asking - which gross motor skills were behind? When did she end up crawling and walking?
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
I don't mind you asking at all. At her 9 month appointment, she was not crawling or even getting up on all fours. That's when the pediatrician said we could check out EI if we wanted. On one hand, I wasn't overly concerned because I know children develop at different paces but on the other hand, I was concerned as a parent and wanted to make sure there wasn't something else more serious going on. I also wanted to make sure I was armed with the tools to help support her.
I think I miss-spoke in my previous post. I actually did PT every two weeks. They offered it to me every week but I decided that I only wanted to do it every other week.
I believe she started crawling around 11 months and she didn't start walking until 17 months. However, I'm happy to say that she's perfectly on track now and you would never know that she was a late walker.
Yes I am. They were really great and I made a good connection with the physical therapist we had.
Also, shortly after we finished PT, I was concerned about DD because we were moving, we had another baby on the way, and I was moving her to a new daycare. I asked my PT if she could refer me to a child development specialist to discuss some of my concerns and get her advice. I was able to speak with another person on the phone about all of the transitions we were making and she gave me some really helpful advice (and also reassured me that I was doing a lot of the right things). So, overall, I was very pleased with MoCo's services.
WNW - for us the eating issue was not only refusing foods, but gagging on anything with any texture. DS couldn't keep anything more than puree in his mouth for more than a second before gagging and choking on it. Turns out he is an "immature chewer" and that's what we're working on with him now. Trying to get him to use the chompers he has. We may never know, but we're going on the idea that DS had so many tummy issues, allergies, asthma episodes and ear infections... he never eats when he doesn't feel well, and he spent a good part of his first year not feeling well. So he couldn't progress with eating skills the way other kids can.
We've made great strides with chewing because he now eats "hard munchables" like graham crackers. And he knows how to use his teeth to bite.
He also has an aversion to touching or chewing anything soft and has other sensory issues - that's a little more of a gray area.
He's made the most obvious progress with his gross motor, the eating progress is very slow.
I don't know if picky eating = an eating "problem" per se, but def ask the pedi!