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EI seems useless

oandmplus1oandmplus1 member
in Special Needs

We have been in the special education 0-3 program for over a year now. We started out with an hour in our home with a PT once a week, but quickly discovered my DD needed an OT more so they changed our services to an OT once a week for an hour. EI has never really seemed very beneficial to us, we do private therapy every day during the week (speech once a week, OT once a week and ABA the other 3 days). My DH and I also both work full time and are having a hard time fitting it all in our schedule and our private OT is much more beneficial. 

They have mentioned DD possibly transitioning about her 3 rd birthday to the special education program preschool. My question is, would it be a bad idea to drop the EI services? I am just concerned it would make the transition to preschool more difficult. 

 I forgot to say, DD has ASD with lots of sensory issues as well as vision issues. Also, I don't find EI beneficial because they don't really seem to accomplish much, I feel like they come and try to play a few games with her, but mostly seem to just be observing her progress and writing their weekly form .  

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Re: EI seems useless

  • earlyspring1earlyspring1 member

    I work for Early Intervention as an SLP. I don't think the problem is with the program. It is probably an issue with the provider. Just like any other profession there are people who are good at what they do and people who aren't. I'm not sure what state you are in, but I would discuss the issue with your ongoing service coordinator. He or she should be able to set you up with a provider that will better suit your needs. Or at least that's how it works in NY. Hope that helps. 

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  • Assembly_ReqdAssembly_Reqd member

    School services are supposed to be based on needs not on if your child already has services. I wouldn't worry about dropping the services for the summer, especially if you are sure she would qualify later based on educational need (self-care, feeding, holding a pencil etc)

    I would ask for a different therapist. Sometimes a switch up is needed to breath new life into therapy sessions. I would at least try a new one a see if you get a winner. If they are not worth your time, you can always tell EI that. How will they know that they suck and you aren't feeling' the love unless you tell them? Don't be afraid to speak up. Squeaks get oil.

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  • kcisthebombdotcomkcisthebombdotcom member

    Ei was an amazing resource in the transition. They came to the meetings and really pushed what his needs were. He got speech twice a week- a one on one session once a week and a group session with two other children once a week. He is a a full year younger than one child and 8 months younger than the other. The other children have worse issues and are older yet get less therapy than he does. 

    I think expressing your concerns to your service coordinator is a good first step. When my son was around 2y4m I expressed concern that my son wasn't progressing at all and I wanted more services. While I didn't get more services, my existing therapists changed their approach and my sons language explosion came a month later. 

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  • oandmplus1oandmplus1 member
    You're right, I think it is more that I just feel like our provider doesn't really connect with DD the way other therapists do. I really liked our PT, but at the time, the sensory issues we struggled with were what needed to be addressed so they switched our provider. I am in Michigan, I think they just don't have enoug resources. We started in a program only getting therapy once a month, and when they realized it wasn't enough, they switched us to once a week. From what I understand, they take a look at the individual kid and pair them with a provider that is appropriate so for us an OT, who also provides basic help with our other needs as well, but they don't give therapists for each discipline. We just had her re eval at her 2nd birthday in March and nothing changed. She was basically at a 1215 month level in most areas, but really delayed in speech she isn't speaking yet at all other than babbling.
    The thing they have been great at is getting us connected with referrals and resources, they had noticed DD's ankles were turned in and had the PT take a look and then helped us through the process of getting a referral for orthotics.

    Edit sorry for poor punctuation, mobile bumping. Nope not 42 weeks pregnant, i have a 3 week old now, but the bump didn't save my new ticker
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  • oandmplus1oandmplus1 member
    We just added in the ABA a few months ago and since then she has made a lot of progress. She is finally comprehending some speech and learning to point, and she actually is starting to imitate. It seems like she is learning something new every few days now. I am happy with the private OT and SLP as well as ABA, I feel like the ABA has helped her with her other therapy as well.
    She is home with DH in the morning, she has all her therapy in the morning, then has a nap and lunch with DH and then goes to daycare for about 4 hours before I pick her up. They try to work with her on some things, but I doubt to the level we do at home, we have so much homework we don't pass it all on to them, but we try to convey a few key things to work on, such as getting her to respond to her name consistently, eye contact and limiting her stimming behavior as much as possible unless she is doing it in an appropriate way. Michigans EI program just doesn't seem up to par compared to other states.
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  • Jinsy80Jinsy80 member

    I've had a few issues with EI, but it's they've been super helpful lately. She receives OT and special ed once a week. Speech therapy is twice a week now. We are transitioning out of EI early and getting her into a special needs preschool in September (she is a November baby). Her on-going coordinator can be difficult to reach and her first speech therapist was horrible. She used to receive PT too...didn't like that lady either. Her team is great now! We can't afford any outside help, so EI is it for us. Find a different EI provider, and see how it goes.

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