Come in if you live in PA and benefitted from EI

Re: Come in if you live in PA and benefitted from EI

• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  I don't know wtf happened with all that weird text on the top (I guess Bump frowns upon typing something in Word and then copy/pasting it to the webform?)

  And no, I don't know how to make a link clicky. Help! 

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• rsweethart member

  October 2012

  This makes me sad, my DD would not have qualified

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• rsweethart member

  October 2012

  OCDEL- PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning is who drafted this plan.  It is on their website.  The name listed on the letter we received at my work (I work in Early Intervention) is Barbara G Minzenberg, Ph. D.  She is the Deputy Secretary in the Office of Child Development & Early Learning.  I can forward the draft on if you want to see it.  

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• rsweethart member

  October 2012

  I think its the first pdf that comes up https://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?parentname=SearchResult&space=SearchResult&in_tx_query=eligibility+announcement+for+early+intervention&parentid=11&in_hi_userid=2&control=bannerstart&cached=false

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• rsweethart member

  October 2012

  Calculating in my head so this may be a little off but a two year old would have to have a 6 month delay for the 1.5 standard deviation.  At two my DD who is Apraxic tested expressively at a six month old level and receptively at four years old...she would have never had a chance to qualify.  

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• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  auntie:

  It's interesting. I can't find anything but political posts on the proposed changes; mostly at change.org or mom blogs. It looks like the first half of what you posted was Camp;P'd from such a source. I know Corbett's all over tweaking Medicaid but I can't find a singlenbsp;article from a legimate news outlet verifying this. Can you supply one? Who is your source on this? Historically I have seen teachers and service providers use scare tactics when their jobs are on the line. Like when a county changes service agencies or a school district makes noises around furloughing teachers during contract negotiations.

  I assure you I did not copy and paste anything. That is 100% my writing. As I said already, I typed it up in Word first and copy/pasted it. Actually, I believe I started to type it here, CPed to Word, then back again or something weird which caused the weird text. nbsp;Anyway, here is a link to the newspaper article that first alerted me to these changes; this is the website for a paper in Lancaster, PA. Very similar changes have already been put into place in other states, by the way i.e. NJ. I don't get why you'd question me...?https://lancasteronline.com/article/local/757165_Therapycutsaresourceofworry.htmlAgain, sorry I don't know how to make links clicky. Hope that helps!nbsp;nbsp;

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• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  -auntie-:

  Have you contacted your local house representitive about this? I plan to when I see mine next week.

  I find those change.org petitions a less than ideal way to make my concerns known.

  Yes, I did also write a lengthy letter to my state rep. (I promise, I wrote it! This English teacher doesn't plagarize, tyvm).

  I knew most other people who aren't directly affected by this issue wouldn't bother taking the time to do that, so sharing the simple petition (on facebook and here) seemed like a great way to still get the word out and encourage my friends to help in SOME way. 

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• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  -auntie-:

  Have you contacted your local house representitive about this? I plan to when I see mine next week.

  I find those change.org petitions a less than ideal way to make my concerns known.

  Yes, I did also write a lengthy letter to my state rep. (I promise, I wrote it! This English teacher doesn't plagarize, tyvm).

  I knew most other people who aren't directly affected by this issue wouldn't bother taking the time to do that, so sharing the simple petition (on facebook and here) seemed like a great way to still get the word out and encourage my friends to help in SOME way. 

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• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  I actually agree totally with your friend about the helpfulness of EI with Apraxia. It was "sort of useful" to us in that they first mentioned the possibility of Apraxia and pointed us in the right direction to get the "real" help (private PROMPT therapy) we needed. When it became apparent that our DD was more than just a "late talker", the only "help" we got from our pedi was to tell us to call EI. Unfortunately, I think that is often the norm in Pediatrics around here with developmental issues. She didn't ever suggest an eval from a private SLP, or seeing a dev pedi (as we finally did when DD turned 3). If we had just called EI as our pedi instructed, only to be told DD didn't qualify, I probably would have gone on thinking DD must be "fine" for a good many more months or a year!

  Each speech therapist we had through EI was truly subpar - and I really did my homework to try to get the best ones available. Even the "best" one we had cancelled at the last minute for just about every other session. So yeah, I definitely have my complaints about EI. However, there are other people out there who A) don't have private insurance that will help pay for private therapy (our does not whatsoever), cannot afford to pay for private therapy out of pocket, and C) don't have the knowledge/time to seek out other methods for funding, i.e. grants, medical assisance. The EI program is critical for these apraxic kiddos, as obviously some therapy would be better than nothing... which is what they'd get if these proposed changes are passed.

  I've posted on this board before, although very infrequently, and you have answered my questions before - and almost always with a pessimistic outlook. (Obviously I don't remember the exact words, but you didn't seem to think I had any chance of winning a fair hearing against Gateway Health Plan [MA] last February, but I did - twice! You then were less than enthusiastic/congratulatory when I posted that I'd won. I'm not looking to pick a fight, but just know that that's how I've remembered you.) I was, quite frankly, offended to be accused of plagiarism, and I really think you owed me an apology for the questioning of my authenticity. However, I *get* that as a frequent poster and mod, you would see that kind of thing here often, and that you wouldn't remember me. You've obviously had a long road and are a wealth of knowledge for the posters on this board... but how about a little more seeing the glass as half full? 

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• WYEngTeacher member

  October 2012

  Well, actually you said "It looks like the first half of what you wrote was CPEd from [a blog]" and then you asked me to supply a legitimate source. If that isn't an accusation of plagiarism, I don't know what is. Just sayin'. You certainly have an authoritative "if I haven't heard of it, it can't be true" air. However, I dont know, maybe that is, indeed, the case most of the time. I have no idea how old you are, but 13 years on the "special needs" road does sound like a long road...no? Just the two years since my DD's apraxia dx has felt like a lifetime.
  
  Again, not looking for a net battle here. Best of luck to you!

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