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EVA116
member
Intro from nervous mom
EVA116
member
Hey,
My DD just turned 16 months and last week we had her evaluated by a speech and developmental therapist. The speech therapist will now be coming once a week and developmental will be coming every two weeks "for extra support for mom"
What she really needs to see is an OT. The development suggested that she may have a senory seeking disorder. We still have to get her ears checked next week as well.
She likes to always have two things in her hands at all times. She doesn't say any words but mama and her social skills are not very good.
I have read quite a bit on this board and I do feel she has a delay or disorder of some sort. I have felt it in my gut for quite a little while.
I just feel very overwhelmed by all of this.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Intro from nervous mom
Sorry you need to be here, but welcome. This is a great board.
Have you set up an appointment with a developmental pediatrician? I'd recommend it in addition to EI. They often have terribly long waitlists so setting it up sooner rather than later is a good idea.
No I have not been told to that yet...I will look into it.
Nice to "meet" you. There are a lot of really nice ladies on this board and its typically a pretty safe place to go for questions as far as the boards go. Don't be afraid to ask for help or reassurance here. DD is deafblind and has severe delays across the board. We did early intervention until she aged out at 3. Before DD, I worked in the field. EI can take a while for getting started with therapists. Some parents consider looking into therapy outside of EI. You can usually find these through your local hospital, children's hospital, or can typically find local therapy centers by googling your town and the type of therapist. Some therapists will accept insurance. Others will be OOP.
You may also ask your EI if they have recommendations on places that you can pursue therapy during the wait. Also early intervention will sometimes be willing to send somebody for a one time "consult" visit during your wait if you ask them. The idea with that would be that rather than establishing a long-term relationship with that therapist, they would give you a list of ideas to try implementing in the mean time before regular therapy. And of course, when they had somebody available to come regularly, they'd still need to send that person for the alloted time on your IFSP. Doesn't always fly, but definitely worth a shot so you can feel like you're moving towards something.
Also wanted to share that this is a very normal way for therapists to work. Since they're not coming very often, early intervention is often about showing parents the tips and tricks that the professionals have studied to most effectively maximize teaching. If DDs Dad is available for therapy, you may want to have him come to the first few as well, so he can see the recommendations and be part of any "homework". Please don't feel like this in any way is a reflection of your not knowing how to parent. It sounds like you're really on the ball with noticing what's going on and are doing a great job advocating for your daughter.
This board is great so ask any questions you have. There are a lot of moms with a lot of wisdome on this board and not a snarky one in the bunch.
I felt the same way when we were starting therapy. I was very overwhelmed at what my DS had to overcome. He started EI at 17 months. He's now about to age out at 3 and he's made SOOOO much progress. Once you start seeing some progress, you will feel much better. The initial part of the process is the most difficult. We also saw a developmental pedi for an autism evaluation. That was ruled out. We still don't have an official diagnosis, but EI is working on his issues. We also have speech, developmental, and OT.
Just to give you some idea, my DS was 17 months and could say dada. He wasn't communicating his needs in any way. He also had major issues with food textures. He also had little to no social skills. He now talks non stop, is trying new foods every day, jokes and kids around, can play with other kids relatively well. In the last year, he's a completely different kid. He still has more to work on in pre-school, but EI has made tons of progress.
Welcome, OP. I agree with the above, wholeheartedly. I SO wish we had called a dev. pedi earlier.
Also, if you feel like your child needs OT, ask your EI team about it. I learned not long ago that my EI program is very low on funds and staff, and if I don't call to remind our coordinator every day if she has an action item for DS, nothing happens. Yours may not be that way, but I find polite, persistent attention really helps things move along. I usually call and play dumb, like I forgot if I called her yesterday, but I didn't want to forget to remind her that...whatever. It's been working really well.
Best of luck, and (((hugs)))
Just a quick hello and our youngest has been in EI for a while but we are holding off on starting to work with an actual speech therapist for a few months because 1. we are all in agreement that we have other health issues more important right now than the speech and 2. she isn't quite ready for what a ST could offer she needs more of a developmental/educator before we go to ST.
I'm hoping that with a few months of natural development she will start to emerge with some language. She says "ut oh" and that's about it. She has on occasion said something that sounded like a word, never again to repeat it. She just started walking about a month ago.
GL!
Yeeeaaahhh, trust your gut over well-meaning-but-often-ignorant "advice" like this. I second-guessed myself so much because the people around me (who didn't spend nearly as much time with DD1 as I did) kept telling me that I was looking for something to be wrong, or paranoid, or expected too much from a young child, etc.
My DD1 always liked to have two things in her hands as well. She'd pass them from one side of her to the other, pick them up and do it again, over and over.
We also thought she was just reserved/shy/an observer -- but what I read later, and turned out to be true, is that sometimes when a very young child has a hard time joining/participating in an age-appropriate activity, it's because they don't know how. Not because they don't want to. It's a social skills deficit.
My DD1 was diagnosed with autism at three. At that point it was too late for us to do EI, so I think it's great that you're so on the ball and attentive to this. I'm not saying that you're looking at autism, but whatever the issue is, early attention and help are huge positives.
This is a great place to post. A lot of us have been where you are re: evaluations, and we're a very supportive bunch.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010